The Witch is Dead
This morning Judge Michael Livingstone resigned as an associate justice of the Plymouth County Family and Probate court. The Massachusetts CJC web site contains all of the details, http://www.mass.gov/cjc .
One of our commentators noted earlier that he was able to cut a deal and she was not. Absolutely agree with that sentiment. This deal though is much more fitting of the crimes which he admits to in his Agreement with the CJC.
As Jane Smith and others have noted, this must not stop here but be a lesson from which we as a society need to learn. We must put in place appropriate controls over our judiciary as both the legislative and the executive branches are balanced by. When we cannot even get a press who will air the kinds of problems our blogs have been forced to make transparent then something is seriously wrong.
windowpain clarity 
Amen. This jack***, who has put me through living hell to get my daughter out of a custody situation that she should not be in in the first place is off the bench. I did not even know until today how many other people had problems with this man. I just happened to start Googling, after finding out the opposing lawyer in my case has a father who was a judge… I was wondering if that former judge had anything to do with Livingstone… and I feel like I won the lottery. Now, I should have a fair chance at someone actually reading the facts of the case (Livingstone ruled against his OWN INVESTIGATOR against the welfare of my daughter) and we have all been going thorugh hell. Again, thank God that this man no longer has power to abuse.
Congratulations
Danielle, I sure would like to know who the lawyer is whose father is a judge, so that I can also make sure I’m not in the same situation. Maybe you can tell what dept. the judge is in, or if he is retired, and we can figure out who the child is from that. Or maybe give hints about the child like, male or female, or initials, or town, or something to give some guidance. Livingstone ruled against the investigation findings in my case too.
I am so glad he is gone, but the fight is not over, we do need to keep telling our stories, so this does not happen again. I am so disapointed in our system, in our media, NO ONE made any of this public for the South Shore, WHY NOT? I was made public one time for doing something to save my home, so why isn’t this Judge made public for all he has done??? I am hoping this will be the beginning of Justice now….does anyone have any idea of what to do next? Who decides who hears our cases? How do I ask for it to be reviewed? I was actually in the middle of asking for a reconsideration when I found out Tuesday was his last day on the bench….
Some DSS Investigators and Supervisors have lost an important ally. I lost my daughter to an abuser. I was basically told I coached her. You cannot coach a child into a lacerated vagina after a 6 hour visit with her father. Then have law enforcement and DSS come rationalize it as “a straddle fall”. Injury after injury, report after report of abuse on my daughter’s father. The day I lost my daugheter was the worst day of my life. Seven weeks after he handed my daughter to her father, she sustained a broken clavicle from a 2 foot fall from falling off of a hammock. The media doesn’t care, only if a child dies and DSS had done several investigations into a family over a period of 5 years, then it gets air time with a headline to the affect “Another Child Falls Through The Cracks”. At who’s expense? A parent is left without a child. They will never be able to see them grow. We are put in a situation to protect our children and it is deemed as alienation. Granted there are people that have agendas. But this is a situation you never even want to be in. You bring life to a child and you see all of the good ahead of you. Circumstances that are out of your control take place and you have a decision to make. How can anyone think that is an easy position to be in. It sucks. You do the right thing, you have your child taken away from you. It doesn’t end here it is the tip of the iceberg.
McCauley, was Livingstone the judge who took your daughter away? He acted like there was a presumption that DSS was wrong with all similar situations. You are right–this situation is intolerable. Mothers are caught in the middle, and are criticized no matter which road they go down. A lot of time things aren’t clear. Mothers are blamed for even allowing the idea of sexual abuse to cross their mind, like they aren’t even supposed to entertain the thought. There are manipulative men just like there are manipulative women. Because of the stereotype of the falsely accusing female, a few men have actually tried to get their ex to make that allegation, because it would allow them to get custody! There are also spouses who set their ex up to look crazy or demented. I wish that someone would start educating judges and GALs to make them aware of these tactics. Good luck to you, McCauley!
Sue
Sue
jUDGE lIVINGSTONE IS AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE, HE GOT WHAT HE DESERVED, HE HAS RUINED COUNTLESS FAMILIES AND WORSE CHILDREN, IT IS KNOW TIME TO REALLY PUT THE LAW ON THIS ABUSER , CONTACT THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE AND THE MASS. DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE , IF YOU READ HIA ALLEGATIONS BY THE SJC HE CLEARLY CHEATED ON HIS TAXES, REPORT HIM , HE CANNOT BE PROTECTED BY THE SJC, THE IRS HAS PRECEDENCE OVER ANY AGREEMENT HE MAY HAVE MADE WITH THE SJC, CALL THE IRS.
While my husband and I are not happy that anyone should come to ruin. It is rewarding to see someone as unstable as Judge Livingston be removed from the bench. In all of our dealings with him he never looked up at any of us. He rambled on and on without ever giving attorneys on either side to barely address him. He actually made a ruling, which is tape recorded, and then changed that ruling when the other attorney kept interrrupting him. He then proceeded to deny ever making the first ruling. We would have appealed, but were sure he would retalliate. We truly were happy to leave his courtroom with as little damage as possible, however, we are convinced that he is unstable and prayerfully he will get the help he needs and proper justice can now be followed.