Category: Parenting Rights Institute

With Roe v Wade overturned, will the Supreme Court target our parenting right?

On By leonkozioljdIn Court Rulings, Family Court Corruption, Family Law Reform Conference, Fatherhood, Fathers Rights, Parent-Child Relations, parental alienation, Parenting Rights Institute, United States Supreme Court NewsLeave a comment
Proud Father Leon Koziol

Dr. Leon Koziol

Director, Parenting Rights Institute

Founder and president, Citizen Commission Against Corruption, Inc.

In his ominous concurring opinion in Dobbs v Jackson, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas declared that other landmark rulings should also be overturned based on the reasoning used by the Court’s majority in striking the right to an abortion. He cited gay marriage and contraceptives as some of his targets given their lack of any textual source in our Constitution. Unlike the right to bear arms enshrined by our Second Amendment which the same Court reaffirmed only one day earlier, these rights are not found in any amendment or bill of rights.

This should deeply alarm all parents because the right to raise one’s offspring is also devoid of any textual recognition in that same venerable document, making it ripe for judicial assault. Indeed, like prey evading the shark, it is a right that may be said to be hiding among those targeted for review. Moreover, it is one that is already being bitten apart in our schools, homes and communities. Simply stated, we parents have taken it for granted much like abortion advocates had for a half century.

However, the parenting right derives from a different source than privacy or that “penumbra” of rights found elsewhere in our Constitution which the high court used to rationalize its shaky decision in 1973. The parenting right exists solidly within the “traditions and history” of our republic, and it was unquestioned by the framers of that Constitution in 1787. It was first given formal recognition 75 years ago in the landmark case of Meyer v Nebraska, 262 US 390 (1923) and expanded to countenance grandparent rights in Troxel v Granville, 530 US 57 (2000).

In the latter case, writing for a plurality of the Court, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor declared this right to be the “oldest liberty interest protected by the Constitution.” Hence it may be assumed that this right will remain protected for the foreseeable future because it rests upon a different prong than abortion and privacy. But given the whirlwind of recent Supreme Court rulings, the renewed drive to pack the Court, and outright bedlam across America, we parents must stand guard.

Here at the Parenting Rights Institute we have been acting aggressively to promote fathers’ rights and parental rights generally since 2010. This is largely due to our growing status as a “fatherless America” which, in turn, has triggered widespread violence and declines in our moral fiber as a nation. To that end, as a victim and civil rights attorney, I have exposed judicial corruption that is destroying our families.

This 12-year crusade for overdue reforms led to severe retributions by my profession leading to the loss of all contact with my precious daughters, closure of my law practice and ultimate hospitalization in 2020 for a life-threatening condition. This is the price to be paid by whistleblowers in our third branch of government while the band plays on.” Hopefully my sacrifices will be a beacon of light for parents immersed in the same crusade who are being ignored and censored by our government.

Hope for Alienated Parents during the Holidays: Help victims by sharing the short video here

On By leonkozioljdIn Family Court Corruption, Parent-Child Relations, parental alienation, Parental Rights, Parenting Rights Institute, UncategorizedLeave a comment

      

 https://www.facebook.com/583583957/videos/299514398777491/

NOTE: The above video is reproduced in text below

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

My name is Leon Koziol, a parent advocate who practiced law in federal and state courts. I am also a parent victimized for my exposure of court corruption. As a result, my livelihood was destroyed and my precious daughters alienated from me.

I am therefore well positioned to address this phenomenon known as parental alienation, and I am here today to give hope to fellow victims. So stay with me, it’s worth your time.

This video may lead to parent-child reunions or, at the very least, prevent harm to families and future generations. It verifies that you are not alone in your struggles. Parent alienation is now a national crisis, and the courts that caused it require overhauls.

But it requires much more. We must unite to get our Justice Department to open a human rights investigation. Because federal funds deliver such outcomes, Congress must also step up with public hearings to study misappropriations. Child custody has become a pay-to-parent scandal as I will elaborate.

To that end I need your help to bring parental alienation to the forefront of national policy. All of us have a stake in this, whether or not a parent, because the injustices harm our extended families, health care systems, community interests, worker productivity, education and law enforcement.

Yes, parental alienation has reached crisis levels, but it is being ignored as part of a lucrative framework for adjudication which still infects our divorce and family courts. Judges there end parent-child relationships with little or no cause to serve the growing demands of a lawyer glut that has invaded our society.

There are now more than 300,000 lawyers in California and New York alone anxious to advance their fee interests. There is scant accountability for the greed they generate through needless conflict, and the resulting carnage is ripe for public outrage. But we have to channel that outrage to achieve overdue reforms.

To begin with, it should be no shock that any conscientious attorney who makes a stand against his profession will be targeted. My whistleblower activity elicited horrific retributions which I seriously underestimated. Their brazen nature can be explained by the gold mine I was threatening.

Despite my unblemished reputation and principled litigation for more than 23 years, I was deprived of my children, assets and income capacity while subjected to inflated support obligations to justify a jail term for violations. It left me alone to pursue recourse in creative ways including a stint in Paris, France.

With that behind me, I can now proceed with undivided loyalty to a joint mission because there is little else that can be done to scare me off. I will get to the hypocrisy of family judges shortly. But for now, let us look at those who facilitate parent alienation.

Despite being charged with a duty of dispensing justice, protecting our liberties and assuring equal treatment, there are too many judges violating that duty when they turn a blind eye to this crisis. But make no mistake, parent alienation is a legalized form of child abduction fueled by profits and revenues.   

If you’re a victim, you already know that these abductions are real. When your offspring are seized by your own government, a part of you goes with it. You then become isolated, dreading these festive holidays because of the pain they bring.

Like a solar eclipse, the lack of love or contact with your children darkens your spirits and may lead to dire reactions. Parent suicides, homicides and child murders are on the rise.

This carnage stems from an antiquated child custody system derived from a day when moms stayed home and dads worked. In contrast with shared parenting models, custody laws require parents to fight over their offspring for a winner-take-all award. It can become a brutal contest that pits loved ones against each other and their government, breeding new forms of evil.

Despite a professed concern, judges welcome these battles because they are rewarded by the number and size of support orders they issue. This comes in the way of federal grants that few know about under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act.

We’re talking billions of dollars annually in revenues for the states and astronomical fees for service providers. Like the tobacco, drug and tech industries, you are merely their pawns, collateral damage to quench unmitigated greed. Sure, you can complain endlessly on social media to wanna-be lawyers with voo-doo advice, but no one with influence is paying attention.

So why aren’t these judges, lawyers and service providers being held accountable? Well for starters, you have to recall that judges are lawyers on the bench. Because they wear robes and enter tribunals with great fanfare does not eliminate that reality.

As for oversight, a single statewide commission that meets sporadically is routinely overwhelmed. Reports show that California and New York investigate only ten percent of complaints. It’s mostly window-dressing as the band plays on.

Beyond that, it would be a hypocrisy for judges to admonish their own, a blemish on high office. So let’s examine a much greater hypocrisy about that high office and its ethics.

My custody judge, Bryan Hedges, was banned from the bench after admitting to sexual abuse of his handicapped five-year old niece. What sort of thought was he harboring while interrogating children in private chambers? I was fortunate to have him removed from my case before my girls could be traumatized.

His replacement, Michael Hanuszczak, was then exposed for sexual harassment of his court clerks. Yet another, Gerald Popeo, was censured for threats and racist remarks from the bench. A record forty trial jurists were removed from my originally uncontested divorce.

Although much of this can be explained by proper self-recusals, others abused office to discredit my public message. Mine is only one case. How can you know if your judge is taking a bribe to fix a custody case as Gerald Garson and Thomas Spargo were in New York? Both were apprehended by chance and convicted.

Or how about Michigan Judge Wade McCree who impregnated a litigant in chambers. He was exposed only because he was a married man. The adversary in that case then sought recourse but was denied on grounds of judicial immunity. It begs the question: Is judge adultery in court a protected act? Seriously?

Then there’s the kids for cash scandal in Pennsylvania and the list goes on. But now let’s turn to the victims. Thomas Ball, a father and veteran, burned himself alive on the steps of a court to protest extended separations from his child. No major outcry, no national exposure. They merely swept his ashes into a sewer.

Joe Longo, a police investigator exited support court only to secure his own justice by committing a murder-suicide at the former marital home using a common kitchen knife. It left four children without parents and a permanent end to child support.

Walter Scott could no longer endure recurring terms in a debtor prison, so it was no surprise that he ran unarmed from a support warrant at a traffic stop. But it was a shock when the cop gave chase and elected to shoot his target dead five times in the back.

That cop is now doing time in a federal prison. Police officers should be doing police work. Instead, they are being exploited as debt collectors. It raises another question of whether government is now killing for money. Without a concealed by-stander and video, this cop would have gotten away with his false reports.

Only last month, Chad Read was also shot dead unarmed by the boyfriend of his son’s mother. That killer interrupted an argument between the parents during a child exchange at her home. Such arguments occur every day across the country.

But now, picking up your children can become a scene from the wild west as the killer’s lawyer claims self-defense under a no-retreat law in Texas. Is it any wonder that many parents today are walking away from their responsibilities, yet another form of alienation? A human being can handle only so much court insanity only to be blamed for it with costly psychiatric exams.  

And how about the children who are supposedly being protected by those courts? Two-year old, Gabriella Boyd, was murdered by her mother in 2018 rather than surrender to a custody change order. She is now serving a life sentence.

Eight-year old, Thomas Valva, died of hypothermia due to the abuse of his NYPD father last year, and two-year old, Kyra Franchetti, was victim of a murder-suicide by her father who burned down their home. A news reporter disclosed that more than 700 deaths are not publicized by child protection agencies.

This holiday season, countless moms and dads will be denied contact with their little ones. Meanwhile parent alienators will be working overtime to brainwash them to hate the other parent. Their motivations are boundless and often psychotic.

Here at my websites, You-Tube channel, publications and reform events around the country, you can obtain highly qualified options for taking action to stop the carnage. Judges, lawyers and politicians only respond to numbers and influence. 

First, visit my personal site, Leon Koziol.com for updates and valuable information. There is no legal fee for this. You can also subscribe to my talk program, Leon’s Library, on YouTube.

Second, log on to the Parenting Rights Institute website. The programs there focus on mediation, self-help and strategies to keep you out of these courts. It may save you thousands in fees.

Third, in dire matters, contact the Citizen Commission Against Corruption, a nonprofit doing the job of oversight agencies. Precedent litigation is among our weapons. Your donations are tax deductible, without which we cannot fight special interests.

Fourth, my newly published book, Whistleblower in Paris, provides education and intrigue. It can be obtained at any Barnes and Noble store, Amazon or major bookseller on-line.

Fifth, I have published a citizen petition against parent alienation on Change.org. All you have to do is sign it, short and simple.  

Finally, you can join any of the reform events I sponsor around the country. They include a three-day gathering known as the Parent March on Washington which I hope to repeat.

In 2019, it featured a lobby day in Congress, expert speakers at a hotel ballroom, a march down Pennsylvania Avenue under police escort, and a candlelight vigil for the lives lost in these matters. Currently a networking program, Amber Appeal, is underway to provide information regarding absentee children.        

Spread this holiday message, a genuine gift for countless victims. You can also contact me directly at (315) 796-4000.

Thank you. Merry Christmas and God Bless!

Leon R. Koziol, J.D.

December 20, 2021

Parenting Rights Advocate Leon Koziol to Testify Before Governor’s Blue-Ribbon Panel on Forensic Evaluation Abuses in Divorce and Family Courts

On By leonkozioljdIn Call To Action, Family Court Corruption, Family Law Reform Conference, Parenting Rights Institute, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Administrator’s Notice:

Parenting Rights Institute Director, Dr. Leon Koziol, has been asked by family court victims to testify before a blue-ribbon commission appointed by Governor Kathy Hochul to report on the forensic evaluation process in New York’s divorce and family courts. That process has become part of a silent epidemic which has harmed countless families and led to escalating levels of murder, suicide, criminal activity, parental alienation and serious harm to society. Much of this is documented in various reports issued by this institute.

Dr. Koziol will focus on the abuses of forensic evaluation orders, the suppression of shared parenting efforts, and the retributions he experienced as an attorney/parent whistleblower. These retributions over a period of years led to forced seclusions and hospitalization for a stress-related heart condition on September 9, 2021. It necessitated a rescheduling of his commission testimony the same day. Koziol’s saga as corruption whistleblower is now the subject of his newly published book, Whistleblower in Paris. A PDF copy is available.

The censorship of reform efforts may render futile the testimony of speakers if this commission is treated the same as the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption. That oversight entity was created by former governor Andrew Cuomo in 2013 to address a “culture of corruption in Albany.” Dr. Koziol testified at a hearing there to no avail due to its premature dissolution that led to federal convictions of the leaders of both houses of the legislature and a top Cuomo aide by a Moreland speaker, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

You can listen in by using the following link and password:       

https://meetny.webex.com/meetny/onstage/g.php?MTID=e65aa488ff9698d6a8a553b7bfaa638c7

Password: NewYorkState2021

Why is Judicial Accountability so crucial to Democracy?

On By leonkozioljdIn Divorce Corp Movie, Family Court Corruption, Kelly Hawse, Kelly Hawse-Koziol, Moreland Commission on Public Corruption, NYS Commission on Judicial Conduct, Parent-Child Relations, parental alienation, Parenting Rights InstituteLeave a comment
  • “I would love to come off this bench and wipe that smirk off your face!” Judge Gerald Popeo to litigant in his courtroom

By Dr. Leon Koziol

Parenting Rights Institute

Why is judicial accountability so crucial to democracy? The answer is simply this: too much power vested in a single person invariably leads to corruption. We see this everywhere today. As it is said, tyranny begets anarchy, and when judges fail to honor the rule of law established by the people, the natural consequence is to take the law into one’s own hands. This is the very underpinning of American society and how our country came to be.

However when judicial power is usurped in domestic relations courts, a more serious form of corruption emerges. This is because families and parent-child relationships have long been considered sacred, private matters. Unfortunately, despite a constitution that created a form of government divorced from the mother country, a judge-made doctrine in feudal England managed to evade our Bill of Rights by finding its way into these courts.

That doctrine, known as Parens Patriae, has been relied upon to invade our privacy rights in ways never before imagined in a free society. As an accomplished civil rights attorney who became a victim of this doctrine, I set out to expose the corruption it caused to me and fellow victims. I sought to convert family court from a lawyer-friendly system to a parent-oriented one. Over time it cost me my professional career, father-daughter relationships and ultimately my very health.

When my ex-wife and mother of my children began to see the consequences of my principled stand, she took advantage of the retaliation by filing petitions that received the favor of judges seeking to suppress my First Amendment rights. Indeed in November, 2015, that ex-wife, Kelly Hawse-Koziol, filed yet another family offense petition having an ulterior goal of removing me from my daughters’ lives. Over the years, all her offense petitions were thrown out, but this one featured a gag order disguised as a protection order on this whistleblower website, http://www.leonkoziol.com.

The illicit scheme was profoundly exposed when I obtained a court order in New York Supreme Court challenging it. Despite motions denied over a six month period, the presiding family judge who issued that gag order (Daniel King), cancelled his hearing on the offense petition and vacated (removed) his own gag order. Weeks later, the same Judge King stepped off the case entirely after three years of harm to my father-daughter relationships. He never ceased his retaliation for my 2013 whistleblower testimony before the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption. There I exposed fabricated college degrees used to elevate my child support obligations for incarceration (contempt) purposes.

Throughout this crusade, my daughters and law license were used as ransom to elicit my silence. For her part, rather than honor the sacred interest in a father-daughter relationship, Kelly Hawse-Koziol exploited the clear retaliation by asserting one false accusation after another which I was forced to defend. I did so to an extreme of seeking constitutional protection in federal courts. But by then the fix was in, the record too tarnished, and any basic rights I might have once had were ignored or shamelessly violated. Hawse-Koziol was never held accountable for her perjuries and abusive petitions.

That favoritism was made possible by a judge made doctrine known as judicial immunity. Under that doctrine, judges can actually abuse public office by maliciously targeting a critic. To illustrate its absurdity, Michigan family judge, Wade McCree, was removed from the bench after his adulterous relationship with a litigant was exposed. It featured an adversary father that McCree placed on a child support monitor to appease his paramour. The father sued for civil rights violations in federal court but was denied recourse based on immunity, leading to the bizarre conclusion that sex in chambers with a litigant is now a protected judicial act.

This website, Leon Koziol.com chronicles more than ten years of efforts to reform this system and the retaliation which has yet to earn an Innocence Project outcome. Critical to my ordeal was a willingness of biased jurists, acting without a jury, to ignore perjury in the petitions and hearing testimony of Kelly Hawse-Koziol. Anything that could be used against me quickly found its way into decisions and orders that systematically destroyed proven father-daughter relationships. The judge prejudice was so extreme on one occasion that I was ordered to cease objections to such testimony under penalty of being removed from the courthouse (Family Judge Daniel King, January 14, 2014 transcript).

That willingness to ignore perjury was well demonstrated at a June, 2016 hearing where I was challenging a city marshal who claimed service of a support violation petition upon me at a local restaurant (known as a traverse hearing). After his sworn service document and testimony were introduced by Hawse-Koziol’s lawyer (one of many she retained), I cross examined him on a segment which claimed recitation of veteran status during the service of the petition. Knowing of an upcoming witness of mine in the waiting area, the marshal admitted that he never gave such a recitation. He then admitted that he had lied on the sworn document and in his testimony before the court.

Although the petition was consequently dismissed, no referral for perjury prosecution was made to the Syracuse district attorney. Such lack of accountability became potentially fatal when a scheme was hatched one year later to have an Oneida County deputy sheriff acting in the capacity of court security to serve the next violation petition upon me during a custody hearing. Unlike all other court litigants, Hawse-Koziol was not charged for this service as prescribed by law and the deputy sheriff was acting outside the scope of his security duties. So disruptive was this unlawful act that it caused yet another assigned judge to step down from my case.

More than 40 trial level jurists were assigned to my family matters over a 14 year period, a national record by most accounts. That alone warrants a federal investigation. There was no disciplinary action taken by this deputy’s superior, Oneida County Sheriff Robert Maciol, and no investigation by the state judicial conduct commission or attorney general, proving clearly that the state courts are unable to police themselves. The unlawfully served petition ultimately led to a “shoot on sight” threat from a traffic cop purporting to enforce a violation warrant issued by Utica City Judge Gerald Popeo. He was assigned to replace the one who stepped down and to avenge a public censure of that judge.

The corruption here was so rampant and unchecked that it forced me to take a bold stand against this irreparably infected process. Law enforcement would be well served by looking into such corruption because it puts them needlessly in harm’s way. One of Sheriff Maciol’s deputies was fatally shot during a stand-off with a parent trapped in a garage during a domestic incident. Had the officers who had him surrounded let time and talk take its course, that deputy might still be on duty today.

Throughout my ordeal in this corrupted family court system, I was proven justified time and again. To cite only a few examples, I filed a motion to remove one of my custody judges from my case and to prevent a private meeting with my young daughters in chambers. Opposing lawyers condemned it as an assault on a judge whose reputation was “beyond reproach.” Only months later, that judge, Bryan Hedges, was permanently removed by New York’s high court after Hedges’ public admission to sexual abuse of his handicapped five year old niece.

Judge Hedges’ replacement, Syracuse family judge Michael Hanuszczak, was forced to resign after a state judicial commission had found that he sexually harassed subordinate court staff. Judge Gerald Popeo, as stated, was publicly censured (when he should have been removed) by the same judicial commission for making racist remarks, jailing litigants for such conduct as a “smirk,” and threatening violence from the bench to remedy such indiscretions. The ethics lawyers who also targeted me were allowed to resign after falsifying their time sheets. These removals are all a matter of public record.

While this is only a partial list, it underscores the problem I set out to correct. A mother truly committed to her daughters and a co-parenting environment that was once so promising would counsel them on the righteousness of my cause. Instead she exploited the clear misconduct for selfish gain. My parenting liberties were so monitored that nothing I did was acceptable. Conditions were imposed that were not only contradictory, something I described as a “contempt by ambush,” but they forced me to avoid all contact with my precious girls.

This ordeal is detailed, in part, in my published book, Satan’s Docket, available on this site and http://www.parentingrightsinstitute.com. I am asking all court victims to carry on this cause so that my sacrifices are not in vain. For more information, you can contact me directly at leonkoziol@gmail.com or (315) 796-4000. Kindly share this post to overcome continued censorship and suppression.

Say YES TO THE MESS? Courts built to dispense justice are being abused for profit.

On By leonkozioljdIn Divorce Corp Movie, NYS Commission on Judicial Conduct, Parent-Child Relations, Parenting Rights Institute, Satan's Docket, UncategorizedLeave a comment

ABOVE: These two dedication plaques on the lobby wall of a city courthouse commemorate the efforts of officials who came together to build a public forum for dispensing justice. Long time civil rights attorney Leon Koziol was instrumental in two capacities. As an elected city councilman, he secure a majority vote for construction funding after years of indecision by earlier council members. He then participated in dedication ceremonies when the courthouse was opened years later as the city’s corporation counsel. New York’s chief judge presided. Ironically a later judge of this city court, Gerald Popeo, was assigned to Attorney Koziol’s family court matters in 2017 to avenge a public censure against that judge which included racist commentary and physical threats from the bench.

Attorney Koziol’s career successes, exemplified by these courthouse plaques, would make any daughter proud. But they were destroyed when a deranged mother, Kelly Hawse-Koziol, made a single call to an unethical divorce lawyer in 2006. He influenced her to start a court battle against this dedicated dad using his daughters and law license as ransom. It escalated to the present day. The increased child support she demanded was never awarded to her. Instead the monthly amounts agreed upon prior to lawyer involvement were retained in a 2008 support order that remains the same today. It was deemed fair and compliant with federal and state support laws. But by then, the damage was done.

Leon Koziol’s ordeal is a John Grisham true story published, in part, in a 2017 book entitled, Satan’s Docket, available at http://www.parentingrightsinstitute.com.

By Dr. Leon Koziol

Parenting Rights Institute

Twelve (12) years of targeting by lawyers and government agents in retaliation for my public stand against family court corruption finally took its toll when I was admitted to the emergency room on December 22, 2020. During my four week stay at the hospital, I learned that another support violation petition had been filed against me by “custodial parent” and mother of my daughters, Kelly Hawse-Koziol despite having my earnings capacity destroyed by draconian family court practices. I also learned that she had stalked another millionaire father replacement after several earlier failures. She was finally getting married a second time.

Rather than direct our girls to a simple phone call to their only dad in the hospital, the soon-to-be Kelly Hawse-Usherwood was apparently busy competing with brides half her age in a “Say Yes to the Dress” competition in New York City. In another world free of court conflict I would have wished her luck and congratulated the new union. But unfortunately the better title for this one would be “Say Yes to the Mess” caused by greed, envy and downright stupidity. This website chronicles over ten years of parent controversy that destroyed everything good about a formerly cooperative childrearing environment.

Had Kelly Hawse-Koziol simply left me alone, our daughters would be enjoying an environment of hope, stability and happiness far greater than the mess that is rampant in their lives today. The psychotic brainwashing and parent alienation she inflicted were off the charts and sadistically facilitated by a so-called “family” court bent on punishing a judicial whistleblower. What rational daughter would ignore their own father, one that not only made her existence possible, but sacrificed everything to remain a part of her life against all odds? How could a model father-daughter relationship be erased from existence after years of wonderful interactions?

Beyond that, how could any new partner of such an evil mom not see how he could become a future victim? A single argument with this woman could easily erupt into a domestic violence call that would require the arrest of Lou Usherwood regardless of his innocence under the current VAWA laws. A successful businessman could have his hard earned reputation irreparably destroyed overnight. There is precedent here in my ordeal. And how is it that a father himself cannot see a serious problem in the situation he is inheriting?

I never asked for the anonymous letters from within my daughters’ school district that warned of a Lou Usherwood playing substitute dad for my daughters. But they cannot be ignored in light of the severe alienation that has the only father here without a phone call from his girls on Christmas and New Year’s Day while hospitalized. Those girls would want for nothing today had Kelly Hawse-Koziol not committed perjury time and again to destroy a lucrative law practice. All her family offense petitions and protection orders were thrown out for lack of evidence over the years, yet nothing was done to hold her accountable for the damage she caused.

My ordeal is the quintessential example of court corruption which begs for a judicial ethics investigation and more. And I am far from isolated. Indeed divorce and family court corruption is common among countless cases being covered up today. There remains a serious lack of accountability for lawyers and judges who orchestrate lucrative and needless controversy among parents and families in these courts.

To be sure, during my reform efforts across the country I was hired to investigate many horrific cases. They include a doctor in Manhattan who spent over $5 million in lawyer fees in a divorce that nevertheless cost him access to his three children, a university professor with a PhD from Yale who spent over $2 million in a divorce with no custody or support issue because his three children were adults at the time, and a stay-at-home mother who successfully raised four children to maturity only to be accosted by them after divorce with the most vulgar of language.

I have seen the evidence first hand and the cases are so widespread that an investigation by the Justice Department is long overdue. Federal Title IV-D funding is being abused on an escalating scale to separate good parents from their children while government priorities remain misplaced on protecting illegal aliens and criminals at our borders. It is a cause championed during the three day Parent March on Washington which I sponsored in 2019.

Help me secure justice and accountability for all victims of this growing epidemic. Let not my sacrifices be in vain. Contribute to our cause on this site and spread the word so that a unified front could be made for change in Congress and our courts. Contact me personally at leonkoziol@gmail.com or call me directly at (315) 796-4000.

We continue to be suppressed and censored, so your part in making this message viral is crucial.

Self-Representation: Be Effective with Expert Trial Advocate Program

On By leonkozioljdIn Book Publishing, Child Support, Civil Rights Report, Conference Call, DC Family Preservation Festival, Divorce Corp Movie, Family Court Corruption, Family Law Reform Conference, Info/Education Product, Parent-Child Relations, parental alienation, Parental Rights, Parenting Rights Institute, UncategorizedLeave a comment

 

By Dr. Leon Koziol

Civil Rights Advocate

After spending more than 30 years in litigation, 23 as a trial attorney in federal and state courts, I have seen the serious pitfalls and adverse outcomes of those who have endeavored to represent themselves. Never mind the adage that a person who represents himself has a fool for a client, that’s a good joke for lawyers who overbill their clients, then lose to malpractice. But with economic devastation facing us today,  there may be no choice for countless litigants in our “New Normal.”

This pandemic will be around for good, and such a litigant would be more of a fool if he or she did not at least learn some of the basics. That is why I produced a program designed to assist such victims. It is tailored to the lay person, the pro-se litigant. Check out this short video, a crash course that could save you thousands in fees, even millions. I’ve worked with such victims from around the country. I know your horror stories. And it’s only going to get worse as we re-open America.

So get “ahead of the curve” with this unique program offered at http://www.leonkoziol.com. We don’t just disappear on you. That’s why I am reminding my thousands of followers to join our free conference calls every Monday and Thursday at 7pm ET during this pandemic. The numbers are growing and we will be adding video conferencing. Network with fellow victims by calling (605) 313-4427. Access # 583326. You can also call our office at (315) 380-3420. Help us share this vital post.

Parenting Rights Institute Offers Valuable Attorney Searches in Family Matters

On By leonkozioljdIn Divorce Corp Movie, Family Court Corruption, Family Law Reform Conference, Justice Department Report, NYS Commission on Judicial Conduct, Parenting Rights Institute, Satan's Docket, Uncategorized

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After Dr. Leon Koziol, the father of two young girls, filed a motion for removal of Family Judge Bryan Hedges from his child custody case, lawyers appointed for the children and retained by the mother chastised Koziol in open court for daring to challenge a judge whose reputation was “beyond reproach.” Only months later, that same judge resigned from the bench after admitting to sexual abuse of his handicapped 5-year old niece. To prevent future judge appointments, Hedges was permanently removed by the state’s high court in 2013, see In re “the Honorable” Bryan R. Hedges, 20 NY3d 677. On September 25, 2018, the administrator and counsel for the judicial commission which prosecuted this case published an editorial in the Washington Post featuring Hedges as an example of decades-old misconduct which can be used against sitting judges. It was directed to the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. But Hedges was never prosecuted criminally unlike Roman Catholic priests. Imagine your nine and ten year old girls going into pedophile chambers without their parents for interrogation purposes? The adult victim in the Hedges case called Dr. Koziol after finding this site, http://www.leonkoziol.com, to thank him for his judicial whistle blower sacrifices.

 

 

By Dr. Leon Koziol

Parenting Rights Institute

After twenty years of litigation experience in federal and state courts, and twelve years exposing corruption, I continue to receive shocking stories of moms, dads and entire families victimized by lawyer abuses, ethical misconduct and legal malpractice. I won a number of attorney malpractice cases including one involving a divorce lawyer who later became a family court judge.

Unfortunately there are too many lawyers abusing family court candidates and litigants these days who receive the protection of attorney grievance committees and bar associations. Vintage culprits include those who grab your retainer monies at the outset and then neglect your crucial matters due to an overflow of clients they are unable to service adequately and competently.

The greed for money over ethical duty has created a “turn ’em and burn ’em” epidemic, law offices filled with predators masquerading as concerned professionals. You would never know that until it is too late. The majority of victims who contact me for justice and accountability have been through multiple lawyers until bankruptcy leaves them unrepresented against a hostile court (lawyers on the bench).

The number of victims and magnitude of harm overwhelm me time and again. This is why the Parenting Rights Institute which I founded in 2010 is now offering attorney search services to lessen the risk of you becoming another victim. Nothing is guaranteed of course as we can never detect a sociopath, but we can certainly monitor an attorney that we have evaluated and referred. Then you are not alone should that attorney fail you (sort of an insurance policy).

The standard way of searching for lawyers on the net or phone books is over. You need an advocate unafraid of the system and one who has proven to be resistant to retaliation or pressure, one who knows how to expose those who harm parents. We have confidential lawyers, marketing experts and even a forensic psychologist for the sophisticated search process you need and deserve.

Our rates depend on the complexity of assignment but they are surprisingly affordable according to those who have already hired us. The right attorney can save you tens of thousands of dollars in needless lawyer and forensic (evaluation) fees. Any lawyer who fails our referral clients may face postings, videos, reports and publicity which depict his or her misconduct. A review of our website verifies how serious we are about protecting unsuspecting parents from lawyer abuses.

If you would like to explore this valuable service, call our office at (315) 380-3420, or Leon Koziol directly at (315) 796-4000. Let the experts find the right attorney for you in your area. All calls are confidential and our retainers are tailored to your budget and conditions. You can also e-mail directly at leonkoziol@gmail.com.

IMPORTANT:  For the sake of all parents, children and families, share this post and prevent those you love from becoming future victims.

New Date Set For Parental Rights Case in Federal Court; Argument Submissions Can Educate Victims and their Attorneys.

On By leonkozioljdIn Call To Action, Moreland Commission on Public Corruption, NYS Commission on Judicial Conduct, Parental Rights, Parenting Rights Institute, Uncategorized

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It is high time for our Supreme Court to address a human rights epidemic in our nation’s divorce and family courts. Pictured here: Dr. Koziol and associates at a news conference on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court after a petition for writ was filed in 2016.

By Dr. Leon Koziol

Parenting Rights Institute

A federal judge has granted a request by the New York Attorney General to adjourn proceedings regarding my parental rights case from November 15, 2019 to next month. Also, lawyers for defendant Oneida County Sheriff Robert Maciol and a support investigator have filed motions set for December 20, 2019.

However, unless otherwise informed, there will be no public argument on that day. I received notice of this in the mail over the weekend and ask all interested followers to share this information to benefit those originally planning to attend this Friday.

Principally a constitutional rights case, I am seeking to invalidate a scheme of custody and child support provisions that are increasingly harming moms, dads and their children. These provisions enable draconian enforcement practices that routinely cause needless conflict and destroy parent-child relationships.

Parental alienation is asserted as a symptom of a dysfunctional family court system which brings lucrative benefits to third parties and billions of dollars in Title IV-D incentive funds to state collection agencies. Debtor prisons, bankruptcies and premature deaths are rising as a result of the mass suppression of a human rights epidemic fed by our own federal government.

USA Today featured an editorial in yesterday’s edition (Veterans Day) which called for programs to reduce the shocking number of suicides in our military (22 per day). True to form, it focused on PTSD and active military suicides with no mention of the divorce and family court crisis occuring when they come home.

For the past twelve years, I have assisted victims of this crisis. In one case, I prevented an Iraq war veteran from committing suicide as his preferred course of action over a jail cell for support debts. Those debts were caused by PTSD, unemployment and a family court lawyer who was failing his duties to this client.

In my Whistle blower report to Congress distributed to every member by parent advocates on May 2, 2019, I featured the suicide letter of Chris Mackey. The distribution was made on the second day (Lobby Day) of our 3-day Parent March on Washington. Those who participated can be proud to know that due notice of this crisis was served on our federal government.

Sadly, while remaining focused on parent-child separations at our borders and the 2016 elections, those members have made no effort to respond to the vital requests made in that report. They include a federal investigation of human rights violations, family court corruption and fraud through the use of federal funds.

Consequently when a $35,500 child support payment was not recognized in my support violation case in 2018, a clear fraud was exposed, one designed to cause a contempt sentence for non-payment and an increase in federal aid. With the added feature of a “shoot on sight threat,” it became necessary to seek protection in a higher court. That action led the New York Attorney General to move my case to federal court.

Whistle blowers like me have been persecuted beyond rhyme or reason for exposing this epidemic. Indeed lawyers have committed crimes during their witch hunt against me in retaliation for my exercise of First Amendment and due process rights which are at the core of this litigation.

For example, three ethics lawyers were allowed to resign without any charges despite being caught falsifying their time sheets. My custody judge was permanently removed from the bench after admitting to sexual abuse of his handicapped, five-year old niece (ex-New York “Family” Judge Bryan Hedges).

Like prior federal litigation, after a 23-year stellar record as a civil rights lawyer, the motions now filed by the attorney general and county lawyers omit key precedent from their written arguments for dismissal. They include the Second Circuit ruling in NAACP v Merrill (September 10, 2019) and Third Circuit decision in Malhan v Sec. of State, N. J. Attorney General, et. al. (marked “precedential” on September 18, 2019).

Read together, both cases have curtailed Eleventh Amendment immunity, Rooker-Feldman doctrine and Younger Abstention practices. Such practices have been used by federal courts to keep aggrieved family court victims from having their federal rights heard in a federal court. The very reason for existence of these courts is to safeguard our constitutional rights.

In my recent 24-page brief opposing dismissal, I raised these and other crucial cases to benefit victims everywhere. That brief caused the attorney general to seek the adjournment for a more thorough reply. The various submissions by the lawyers in this case are available at my office or in the public court records.

As always, we rely on donations and purchases on this site and the Parenting Rights Institute to make this all possible. Kindly make your donation today or call our office at (315) 380-3420.

Independent Misconduct Commission being organized to counter official commission neglect of citizen complaints

On By leonkozioljdIn Call To Action, Family Court Corruption, Family Law Reform Conference, Moreland Commission on Public Corruption, NYS Commission on Judicial Conduct, Parenting Rights Institute, Satan's Docket, Uncategorized

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Dr. Leon Koziol at a whistle blower conference in Washington D.C. pictured here with the executive director and legal counsel of the Government Accountability Project (GAP).

By Dr. Leon Koziol

Parenting Rights Institute

If you are a regular follower of this site, you know that our Institute and fellow advocates of government accountability have remained unable to obtain the necessary investigations of judicial/lawyer misconduct and family law reform. It is a trillion dollar industry controlling our courts much like the tobacco, energy and drug companies control our elected officials.

But the time for surrender and depression is over, we get it now, the ones we entrusted to deliver “justice for all” have made it clear they could care less about our grievances. Just don’t acknowledge us, and the misconduct simply did not occur. But this neglect of our complaints will no longer be tolerated. A citizen occupied commission is being organized to act in place of the official ones dominated by lawyers and violators.

Dubbed the Independent Misconduct Commission, we are looking for conscientious citizens willing to serve on our board of directors. We are also looking for contributors, writers and researchers on a voluntary basis until sufficient donations and investments can be obtained. That means we need fundraisers as well. Meetings will be conducted by teleconference or Skype with assignments by electronic means and phone.

The idea here is to act as a substitute for the corrupted commissions and committees. We will monitor judicial commissions across the states and deliver counter-reports where required for a more appropriate penalty which we will share with that commission and media. For those complaints that are wrongfully neglected, we will issue our own “reprimands,” “public censures” and “removal recommendations.” Our ever expanding website (to be developed soon) will catalogue all our reports and shared over the internet.

The myth that widespread corruption in our courts is nonexistent may easily be debunked by citing major joint investigations such as Operation Greylord in Chicago. 17 judges, 48 lawyers, 10 deputy sheriffs, 8 policemen, 8 court officials and one elected official were indicted. Nearly all were convicted. The young lawyer secured by the FBI to gather evidence in that Operation was advised that he might never practice law as a result. I incurred that very punishment for my whistle blowing and reform activity, hence my resolve to make this independent commission a reality.

An independent citizen commission is further justified by recent reports such as those in New York and California showing that as little as 10 % of all complaints are even investigated by the official judicial commissions. Our third branch of government cannot immunize itself from accountability in this manner. The number of judges convicted in federal court of bribes, extortion, racketeering and fixing custody cases is unprecedented. That fact alone justifies checks and balancing of their self-regulated operation. To that end, a sampling of documented cases is now in order.

New York Chief Judge Sol Wachtler was sent to federal prison for secretly harassing his mistress and her daughter for a bribe. He directed paid court staff to harm the lawyer who was helping her expose him. In his book, After the Madness, Wachtler rationalized that judges are taught to think as gods. Contrary to that status, my custody judge was banned from the bench after admitting to sexual abuse of his handicapped, five-year old niece, In re Bryan Hedges, 20 NY3d 677 (2013).  Unlike priests and other sexual predators, that judge was never prosecuted criminally.

Brooklyn divorce judge, Gerald Garson, was also sent to federal prison after FBI agents proved that he had accepted a bribe to fix a custody case in favor of a father. He was released early after numerous Garson colleagues submitted good references. Now what does that say about setting an example and any genuine concern for fairness and justice? In upstate, New York, another judge tried the same thing in favor of a mother. New York Supreme Court Judge Thomas Spargo was convicted for seeking a $10,000 bribe. He needed it for lawyer fees to defend earlier misconduct charges.

In the “Kids for Cash” scandal, two Pennsylvania judges were sent to federal prison for accepting bribes from detention center contractors. 4,000 juvenile convictions had to be overturned by the state’s Supreme Court which had its own justices mired in scandals. One juvenile victim committed suicide, and his mom chastised these judges at their sentencing. one co-defendant judge ordered evaluations to be conducted by a relative who raked in over $1 million as a result.

A married Michigan judge, Wade McCree, presided over a child support case while getting the mom pregnant and putting an unknowing dad on a support monitor. He was removed from the bench, but the dad’s lawsuit was turned down by the U.S. Supreme Court due to judge immunity. Can it be that judge adultery in chambers with an active litigant is now a protected judicial act? What other “acts” are judge-immune?

In Watertown, New York, a state court judge, James McClusky, sentenced a school employee convicted of sexually abusing a 14 year old student to probation, no jail time, while good fathers are being sentenced to six month jail terms in the same court for failing to pay child support bills. Victim supporters collected over 70,000 signatures in a petition to remove McClusky, but months later, that judge remains on the bench and the state judicial conduct commission has taken no action.

Finally, we bring you a shocker from Utica, New York. City Judge Gerald Popeo was merely censured in 2015 by the same judicial commission despite a hearing judge who found that he had made racist jokes to an African-American attorney. Asked whether the attorney knew what downstate blacks called upstate blacks, Judge Popeo got no answer. He then stated, “country niggers.” He targeted a former African-American commissioner causing a suicide attempt in the city lock-up.

Gerald Popeo was found guilty of numerous ethics violations. He threatened to come off the bench to wipe a smirk off a litigant’s face. He jailed men for contempt in violation of their rights. And because he was never removed, Popeo was assigned to my family court matters in 2018 (as a city judge), resulting in a near fatal outcome. How is such violent, racist and unethical conduct appropriate for family court where domestic violence and debtor prisons are common? Popeo was brought up on complaints of racism and bias against this judicial whistle blower but, to date, nothing has come of it. With an independent commission, we would have countered the public censure with a report publicly demanding Popeo’s removal and disbarment.

Such egregious misconduct is not limited to state judges. In United States v Cossey, 632 F.3d 82 (2nd Cir. 2011), a federal judge issued a six-year sentence for a non-violent offense with the kind of omnipotence that would make anyone cringe. Judge Gary Sharpe announced a gene to explain criminal behavior, one that would be not be discovered for another fifty years: “It is a gene you were born with. And it’s not a gene you can get rid of,” he emphasized to the defendant while condemning the psychiatric profession for its own opinions that were “all over the board.”

Reversing this decision, a federal appeals court unanimously found that Sharpe’s brand of justice “seriously affected the fairness, integrity and public reputation of judicial proceedings.” In a rare move, it referred the case to another judge on remand. Such gross misconduct conflicted with the rationale for granting life tenure to federal jurists. Recourse is limited to the illusory process of impeachment where only one judge in our history was removed for non-criminal behavior.

This sort of “Hitleresque” mindset must be rooted out for the evil that it is with congressional hearings. In countless family court cases, records are falsified and misconduct is concealed or disregarded to protect judicial reputation. Judges are widely deemed to be beyond reproach. Tragedies have therefore resulted from oversight failures and a lack of criminal prosecutions involving human rights violations under federal law such as the ones cited above. Five cases highlight the horrific consequences to parents, families and law enforcement over the past decade: 

On September 28, 2009, police Investigator Joseph Longo was ordered to pay $1,800 in monthly child support. He answered the same day with a murder- suicide leaving four children without parents. Even the district attorney could not predict this. A $2 million recovery was based on a zone of danger created by city officials as opposed to family court, Pearce v Longo, 766 F. Supp. 2d 367 (2011) LaDuca, Rage built Longo to murder-suicide, Observer Dispatch, 12/30/09. 

On June 15, 2011, a father and war veteran, Thomas Ball, burned himself alive on the steps of a family court to protest years of abuse and separation from his children. It stemmed from a single incident of slapping his daughter, and he left behind a manifesto on how to firebomb courts. Even after such a horrific death, the ex-wife stubbornly defended herself by complaining that her children’s dad failed to comply with court counselling. This is how demented the process has become, see Mark Arsenault, Dad leaves clues to his desperation, Boston Globe, July 10, 2011. 

On April 4, 2015, Walter Scott, an unarmed father was shot dead five times in the back by a traffic cop while fleeing a support warrant. The shocking murder was videoed by a concealed bystander. Contrary to national hype focused on racism, the victim’s funeral pastor blamed it on draconian child support confinements. Many concluded that the state was now killing for money given the revolving door outcomes. In vain, two reporters warned of this trend, see Robles and Dewan, Skip child support. Go to jail. Lose job. Repeat. New York Times, 4/15/15 at pg. 1.       

On July 30, 2018, a physical therapist with a practice in Manhattan fatally shot his ex-wife, their 6-year old son and current wife in his Astoria (Queens) home. It became the final edict in a protracted custody battle fueled by judicial war games. After a failed Go-Fund-Me effort to pay his lawyer fees, in a page titled “Child Kidnapping,” the abused dad, James Shield, explained, “I had the perfect life a few years ago but it has spiraled out of control,” Moore, Musemeci and Sheehy, Custody battle led dad to family murder suicide, New York Post, July 31, 2018.

And so the carnage continues, this time in Philadelphia where a mother showed her dissatisfaction during a domestic dispute over child support by purchasing a gun and killing the father and their two infant children the next day. It occurred on October 15, 2019 and the mother, Damyrra Jones, survived her suicide attempt only to be arrested on multiple counts of murder.

Less transparent are the countless cases swarming beneath these five which can easily explode. Their cause is wrongfully blamed on the parents. The public is duped into believing that an adversarial process yields truth and justice in our courts. That may be true in other forms of litigation, but when children are taken hostage by untethered lawyers, the opposite is true here. Parents commit perjury on an artificial premise that they are protecting their offspring. Sparks convert to forest fires, children emulate the dysfunction, and the perpetrators profit.

If you would like to do something meaningful about this growing, silent epidemic, support our Independent Misconduct Commission. Make government accountability real from the people who entrusted our government officials with the greatest of duties. E-mail me personally at leonkozioljd@gmail.com or call our PRI office at (315) 380-3420.

Jurassic Justice: A highly acclaimed video by a mom and dad victimized by parental alienation in our courts

On By leonkozioljdIn Book Publishing, Call To Action, Divorce Corp Movie, Parenting Rights Institute, Satan's Docket, Uncategorized

By Dr. Leon Koziol

Parenting Rights Institute

In order to bring greater awareness and overdue reform to our nation’s divorce and family courts, I completed a book manuscript for a mother victimized by parental alienation and court corruption in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Entitled “Jurassic Justice,” an ongoing ordeal has prevented its publication. Meanwhile I completed and published my own shocking ordeal as a judicial whistleblowing lawyer entitled, Satan’s Docket. You can order a hard copy or download a PDF version at http://www.parentingrightsinstitute.com.

When Tamara Sweeney and I completed her book manuscript, we decided to do a homemade video to promote it. It was a spontaneous thing that came out miraculously well. It was not choreographed or directed by Ridley Scott but came out as if it was professionally created without all the costs and frills. It is being reproduced here because every mom and dad victimized by these courts should learn the background and signs of parental alienation with a goal stamping it out before it gets malignant.

In follow-up to our highly successful Parent March on Washington earlier this month, we must contact the members of Congress we visited on Lobby Day so that our hard work is not in vain. We must also prepare regional protests in their congressional districts. I am currently planning one in upstate New York in the wake of a 70,000 signature petition demanding the removal of a judge here. It will be the largest protest yet set for late September. We’re not just talking about the problems. We’re an action group doing something about it. I will be getting the band back together for this one starting with conference calls and a new access code next week.

In the meantime, I will continue to post this short video which accurately depicts the epidemic that we are all fighting together. It is important that you do everything you can to make this video viral because we are being suppressed and censored by a trillion dollar industry. You can e-mail me directly at leonkoziol@gmail.com or call our PRI office at (315) 380-3420. And PLEASE donate to our cause on this site, http://www.leonkoziol.com. We took a big loss on the last event but it was well worth the investment for the sake of victimized parents, families and children everywhere.