It's commonplace to hear of a parent being held in contempt of court and being sentenced to a period of jail time for failing to pay child support or other financial obligations. And once in a while I've seen a Judge send a parent to jail for other violations of court Orders (failing to obtain insurance, visitation abuse, etc). But sending a parent to jail for taking a child to church? This was a new one for me, but apparently Cook County Judge Ed Jordan will be faced with this very decision on March 3rd. The case is that of Joseph Reyes, who is currently embroiled in divorce proceedings in Cook County. He and his wife have a daughter, and religion has become a topic in their bitter custody battle; Judge Jordan entered an order restraining Mr. Reyes from "exposing his daughter to any other religion than the Jewish religion..." Mr. Reyes was Catholic before marriage, but converted to Judaism for his wife. The restraining Order was the result of Mr. Reyes' decision to baptize his daughter in the Catholic Church -- an event he documented and sent pictures of to his wife. After the Order was entered, Mr. Reyes decided to take his daughter to Catholic Church, after, of course, calling a local news station to memorialize the occasion. As with many issues in family law cases, it's difficult to tell if the issue of religion is truly important to Mr. Reyes, or whether he is simply looking for media attention and/or to anger his wife.
Because Mr. Reyes would be unable to undo his actions, and thus "purge" himself of civil contempt, the issue is criminal contempt. The Judge could (but it is very unlikely) sentence him to up to six months in jail. Judge Jordan's courtroom, as usual, will be very interesting when this case is heard.
No comments:
Post a Comment