In 2018, a Bucks County girl named Kayden Mancuso was bludgeoned to death by her biological father. She was seven years old. After killing his own daughter, Jeffrey Mancuso wrote out a suicide note claiming that his ex, with whom he was involved in a bitter custody dispute, got what she deserved. A Bucks County judge had granted him unsupervised visitation despite red flags from custody evaluators and testimony from the mother about the father's violent episodes. She was corroborated by a teacher and principal at Kayden's school. A psychological evaluation revealed that the father, a man who had once bitten another man's ear off, suffered from depression. Finally, Kayden herself had told the judge she was afraid of her father.
According to a 2022 op-ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer,
"Mancuso’s case is not an anomaly. Since 2008, 856 children nationwide have been murdered by a parent going through a separation, divorce, or custody case — oftentimes, like in Kayden’s case, because family court judges gave an abuser unsupervised visitation. An estimated 58,000 children have court-ordered unsupervised contact with an abuser each year. The Center for Judicial Excellence, a nonprofit organization that advocates for judicial accountability, has identified hundreds of cases, including several in Pennsylvania, where the courts failed to prioritize children’s safety."
The system set up by Custody Master Lisa Tresslar was designed to to prevent any Northampton County child from suffering the fate visited upon Kayden Mancuso. Parental counseling and evaluations are just two of the tools she used.
Unfortunately, Judge Jennifer Sletvold wanted to ignore these tools and refuse to accept them as evidence, Her preference was to push for settlements with as little knowledge as possible to give herself plausible deniability in the event that things go haywire. She could claim the parties agreed and she had no idea anything was wrong.
This is judicial abdication. I'll have more to say about plausible deniability once my research is complete.
Wow! Holy Wow! That's a bombshell. Thank you Bernie for doing the footwork on this. If this is just a bit true, vote no for Judge Sletvold's retention.
ReplyDeleteThank you for covering this, Bernie. These are important issues and our local media should be covering this story but isn't.
ReplyDeleteI am reluctant to link Sletvold's retention to this issue. I consider custody a very important function of the court. Judges are going to make mistakes in some custody cases bc they are human. But they should have every piece of information at their disposal before entering a decision. Yes, you want the parties to agree, but not by browbeating one party.
ReplyDeleteUnless the public is really angry, judge retention is almost always a lock.
ReplyDeleteIn the late 80's we had a "corrupt" Judge in Cambria County, Joseph O'Kicki, get the thumbs down. In 2005 Russell Nigro got booted from the PA Supreme Court after the pay raise issue raised a hubbub with the voting public.
I can't think of any Judge in Northampton County that hasn't been retained and I always vote "NO" just to throw a scare into them (I'm sure those judges quake in their boots every 10 years).
Without a press that covers local issues to highlight any malfeasance, it simply is not going to happen.
Very few judges in recent memory have done as poor a job on the bench as Jennifer Sletvold, nor have they alienated influential people on both sides of the aisle.
DeleteRemoving Sletvold from the bench would send a very chilling but healthy message to the rest of the county judiciary:
Do the job appropriately and within the bounds of law, or you will be out on your ass.
I have witnessed and have proof of the corruption in Lehigh and Northampton county family courts. After reporting and having proof my children were abused, the court gave more custody to their abuser. I’m still battling this. I have been attacked, threatened and punished within the court for reporting the abuse of my ex. This needs to be public knowledge and addressed.
ReplyDelete