A Killer Custody Arrangement, and Mom Isn't Happy About It
Some of the best divorce train wreck stories are born of child custody battles. But what about when you're trying to modify a parenting plan to prevent your children from being killed in their sleep? Let's see how that flies with the courts....
Sad fact of the day: about fifty percent of marriages in America end in divorce. Of course, many of you already knew that, because you’re divorced yourself, the child of divorced parents, or a divorce attorney who is rolling around in money. But however you slice it, some of the best divorce train wreck stories are born of child custody battles.
Parents going through a divorce are willing to fight over anything when it comes to the custody of their children (“How dare you feed little Suzie pasta that isn’t organic and gluten-free?!”). Even when a divorce is finalized, sometimes parents are still willing to pull the trigger on any issues that arise. In some cases, though, custody modifications are warranted.
And in this case, an Oregon mother is actually fighting to keep another woman from pulling the trigger on her teenage sons, because she’s done it before….
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Trisha Conlon, of Silverton, Oregon, wants to keep her boys away from the home of her ex-husband, John Cushing Jr., because she found out that he remarried his ex-wife, Kristine Cushing. At first glance, this seems like a case of jealousy.
But Conlon isn’t the jealous type — she just wants to make sure that her children aren’t killed in their sleep. That’s right: Kristine is a child killer. News sources are calling Cushing “the worst dad ever.” I’m going to go with “Douche All Day,” or DAD, for short.
The Seattle Times provides some background information on the killings:
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Cushing . . . is back together with his first wife, Kristine, who used a .38-caliber handgun in the deaths of their 4- and 8-year-old girls at their home in California’s Orange County in 1991.
She blamed the killings on a bad reaction to the antidepressant Prozac, was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and served nearly four years in a mental institution.
After a decade of psychiatric monitoring, Kristine Cushing received an unconditional release from the state of California in 2005 when authorities determined she posed no risk.
As any mother would do, Conlon went to court to try to modify the parenting plan that was in place. Because really, who wants their kids to spend time with a killer? I don’t care if you were found not guilty by reason of insanity — at one point in your life, you were nutty enough to slay your own children. You don’t need to massacre mine, too.
Furthermore, what kind of crack is dear old DAD smoking? What the hell is wrong with you, DAD? If I had an ex who murdered my children, I wouldn’t want to be within 500 feet of him, let alone get back into bed with him. Readers, we want your opinions on this:
Would you allow your kids to live with a reformed child killer?
- No (97%, 1,607 Votes)
- Yes (3%, 56 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,663
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In the end, the court ruled against Conlon. Commissioner Leonid Ponomarchuk noted that because Conlon’s sons had spent time with Kristine since 2008 without any problems, that there was no evidence that would warrant modification of the parenting plan already in place.
So, basically, Conlon can’t get her parenting plan modified because Kristine has played nice with her children for almost four years. Are we forgetting that Kristine went batsh*t insane and shot her children to death almost four years after the birth of her youngest daughter?
Conlon’s lawyer, Todd DeVallance, agrees that this is all just a little bit crazy:
DeVallance was outraged at Ponomarchuk’s decision to deny.
“There’s not a parent I’ve talked to who’ve said they’d let their children in a home with a woman who has executed her children,” he said.
“It’s absurd to say, ‘Well, she hasn’t killed anybody recently.’ This isn’t right.”
Needless to say, Conlon is appealing the Ponomarchuk’s decision.
Woman who killed her kids at center of custody fight [Seattle Times]
Worst Dad Ever Lets Sons Live With Child Killer [The Stir / Cafemom]
