Judge Matthew Gary Misconduct Victim Describes Emotional Trauma of Illegal "No Contact" Child Custody Order

Family Court Victim Describes Trauma of Illegal Child Custody Order and Mistreatment of Unrepresented Parents by Judge and Court Employees

News Analysis and Opinion by PelicanBriefed

In this exclusive, Sacramento Family Court News interview, indigent, disabled family court victim Susan Ferris describes in her own words the trauma of being separated from her daughter because of an illegal "no contact" child custody order issued against her by controversial, volatile, Judge Matthew Gary. Ferris also explains the frustration of having to represent herself because she can't afford an attorney, going up against an experienced family law attorney in court, and having her attempt to file an appeal blocked by court employees. 

The interview was recorded between Thanksgiving and Christmas, on December 16, 2012. In the right foreground of the video is the Christmas village Ferris and her daughter Megan together would set up each holiday season. Ferris describes the excruciating hardship of having to go through the holidays without her daughter. Megan and her mom were torn apart by six words scrawled on a yellow minute order: "No contact w/child in any manner." Click here to view the order.

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No contact child custody orders immediately prohibit a parent from having any contact with their own children, and have no legitimate basis in law without compliance with explicit procedures, safeguards and on-the-record findings to protect a mother or father's fundamental constitutional right of parenthood, "to be equated with in importance with personal liberty and most basic of constitutional rights," according to numerous court decisions. 

Gary issued another illegal no contact order against another indigent, disabled, unrepresented family court victim, Robert Saunders. At the same hearing, Gary unlawfully had Saunders arrested for contempt of court, and Gary's courtroom bailiff, Sacramento Sheriff's Department Deputy J. Strong, charged Saunders with resisting arrest. Two outside, independent judges who later reviewed the incident determined that both charges against Saunders were unlawful. Click here for our exclusive report. 

Ferris and Saunders, who by all accounts are doting, loving parents, have not seen their children since issuance of the unlawful no contact orders. Due to the unchecked corruption and collusion between Sacramento Family Court judges and the judge pro tem attorneys involved in both cases, it is a virtual certainty that their children will not see them again until they turn 18. The deafening silence and inaction of supervising judges and court administrators - who know the orders are illegal - is unconscionable.

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