On Friday, the Michigan judge who ordered three children to juvenile detention for refusing to see their father reversed her decision. In late June, Judge Lisa Gorcyca of Oakland County held three children, aged 9, 10, and 15 in civil contempt, likening them to “Charlie Manson and the cult that he has.” Gorcyca told the children that they would remain in detention “until you graduate from high school” or until they were prepared to have a “healthy relationship” with their father.
In addition to sending the children to a juvenile center, she took the children from their mother’s custody and said that neither mother nor her relatives could visit the children during their detention. Gorcyca’s ruling horrified legal experts who called the ruling “disturbing” and “unprecedented.
Following a backlash from both the legal community and media, Gorcyca:
“[…] dismissed the contempt ruling after a brief recess and ordered the […] children to be transported to a local summer camp, where their parents can visit pursuant to camp policy – with a parenting time supervisor.”
Both parents agreed to the new terms.
Though the judge revised her decision, she continued to defend her original ruling. The Guardian reports:
“‘There are eight files,” Gorcyca said from prepared remarks, while turning toward the voluminous record of documents at her lectern. ‘No one has reviewed those files and, as of right now, no one has requested to watch any video. As a result, we have a frenzied, and misinformed, misguided public.’”
Image via Getty.