TO ALL BLOGERS & Visitors WE NEED YOUR HELP ON THIS ONE-JUDGE RICHARD PALUMBO
Judge Richard Palumbo Removed After Woman Set On Fire-FELLOW BLOGERS & VISITORS WE NEED YOUR HELP ON THIS ONE
Husband sets wife on Fire after Judge Refuses to Continue Protective Order
BLOGGERS WE NEED YOUR HELP TO SPREAD THE WORD TO THE MEDIA ON THIS please contact oreilly@foxnews.com and express your outrage
2 Excerpts:
...SO IT WAS all a clerical error. At least, that's how a lawyer for Prince George's County Judge Richard A. Palumbo explained his client's decision last month to dismiss the protective order that was shielding Yvette Cade from her husband -- the husband who, three weeks later, allegedly doused her with gasoline at her workplace and set her on fire...
...As the following excerpt shows, he also berated Ms. Cade, as though she were asking something unreasonable of him, rather than simply imploring him to maintain the protection order he had issued some months earlier...
MD Judge Richard Palumbo
http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2005/10/17/PH2005101701846.jpg
[MD]
"Your honor, he's violating the peace order. He's contacting my family. He's still contacting me. He's intimidating my daughter, and he's vandalizing other people's property," she told the judge. She said that her husband was trying to force her to go to marriage counseling and that she did not want to go. "Well, it might not be a bad idea if you want to save the marriage," the judge told her...
More Than a Clerical Error
The Washington Post
Thursday, October 20, 2005; Page A26
SO IT WAS all a clerical error. At least, that's how a lawyer for Prince George's County Judge Richard A. Palumbo explained his client's decision last month to dismiss the protective order that was shielding Yvette Cade from her husband -- the husband who, three weeks later, allegedly doused her with gasoline at her workplace and set her on fire. As Post staff writers Allison Klein and Ruben Castaneda reported, attorney William C. Brennan said Judge Palumbo intended after a Sept. 19 hearing to dismiss the request by the husband, Roger B. Hargrave, to modify the protective order, not to dismiss the order itself.
We don't doubt that Judge Palumbo was, indeed, confused about what was going on in his courtroom. That much is clear from the recorded hearing, and a few comments do suggest that he meant to dismiss Mr. Hargrave's request, though the chief judge of the court disputed the judge's suggestion that a clerk was at fault. But even if he's right, his explanation is only a partial one, for he didn't just dismiss the protective order. As the following excerpt shows, he also berated Ms. Cade, as though she were asking something unreasonable of him, rather than simply imploring him to maintain the protection order he had issued some months earlier:
Ms. Cade: Well, your honor, he's violating the peace order. He's contacting my family. He's still contacting me. He's intimidating my daughter, and he's vandalizing other people's property. I want you to look at these pictures. He has a girlfriend, friend, who's like, contacting me, giving me cards. And I don't want, uh, I want an immediate absolute divorce.
Judge Palumbo: Well, I'd like to be six-foot-five, but that's not what we do here. You have to go to a divorce court for that.
Ms. Cade: Ok. Well, I want you to look at these pictures, because I don't want him to continue to think --
Judge Palumbo: Uh, this case is dismissed -- at the request -- of -- the petitioner.
Ms. Cade: He was trying to force me to go to marriage counseling.
Judge Palumbo: It might not be a bad idea, if you want to save the marriage.
Ms. Cade: I don't want to, because --
Judge Palumbo: Well, then you're in the wrong place. Get a lawyer and go to divorce court. This petition is denied -- or dismissed. I mean it's silly! You have any children?
Ms. Cade: No.
[cross talk]
Judge Palumbo: Just get a lawyer, and get a divorce. That's all you got to do. Get a lawyer and go to family court and get a divorce.
Ms. Cade: You told him that the last time.
Judge Palumbo: No, no, no, no! Ma'am, you can get a lawyer and go. He doesn't have to get it. You can go!
Ms. Cade: He's like stalking me.
Judge Palumbo: Look. Do you work?
Ms. Cade: I do, but I have a lot of bills.
Judge Palumbo: Everybody's got bills! . . . . Go see a lawyer -- a divorce lawyer.
Ms. Cade: A lawyer costs a lot of money.
Madam, if you want a divorce --
Ms. Cade: I do.
Judge Palumbo: -- go get a lawyer. . . . I can't be your lawyer. I've got to be independent, you know, like an umpire.
The problem with Judge Palumbo's conduct, in short, was not that someone checked the wrong box on a court form. It was that the judge, faced with a woman who claimed -- rightly, as it turned out -- to be highly vulnerable to physical assault, could not take the time to figure out what was going on in the case. He treated her as a scammer trying to game the system for advantage in a divorce proceeding. Ms. Cade is grievously wounded; that might have happened even had the order, now belatedly restored, been in place. But at least a court wouldn't have made her more vulnerable.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/19/AR2005101902011.html
http://images.ibsys.com/2005/1013/5092974_400X300.jpg
Family Shares Photos Of Burn Victim In Hospital
Burned Woman's Recovery Slow
POSTED: 6:53 pm EDT October 28, 2005
UPDATED: 7:44 pm EDT October 28, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Eighteen days ago, Yvette Cade, 31, was doused with gasoline and set on fire. On Friday, her family shared with News4 photographs of Yvette to make a point about domestic violence.
The pictures were taken Friday in Yvette's hospital room.
Joyce Cade, the victim's mother, said her daughter wakes up afraid because she fears her husband is coming.
"She's been having some flashbacks from that and at times hearing his voice," Joyce said.
Yvette's estranged husband, Roger Hargrave, is charged with first-degree attempted murder in connection with the attack at Yvette's workplace.
Joyce said her daughter suffered severe burns over all of her face.
"She'll need plastic surgery on both ears," Joyce said.
Yvette is still listed in critical condition at Washington Hospital Center.
Joyce said her family is sharing photos of Yvette at the hospital because they want the world to know what she is suffering.
Yvette's family still is waiting for a response to the complaint she filed against Prince George's Count District Judge Richard Palumbo. He dismissed a protective order three weeks before the attack. Critics have called his behavior in the hearing rude and insensitive.
"The system has to change. It just has to," said Carol Bryant, the victim's aunt. "I don't ever want to see another person go through this."
Barring any complications, Yvette's family is confident she will recover.
"I know that we'll have to constantly reassure her that she's in a safe environment," Joyce said.
Yvette is expected to remain hospitalized for at least two more months.
http://www.amazon.com/Defending-Our-Lives-Domestic-Violence/dp/0385484410/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208150645&sr=8-1
Her family needs help paying mounting medical bills. Anyone who wants to help them out can send donations to:
Yvette Cade Trust Fund
P.O. Box 951
Oxon Hill, MD 20750-0951
http://www.yvettecadefund.org
Or, you can stop at any Wachovia Bank and donate to the fund.
Anyone interested in getting updates on Yvette's condition can click here.
http://www.nbc4.com/news/5200660/detail.html
Email: Kindlivingpress@aol.com
