Tag: Steven Zayas

EXCERPT OF FEDERAL RETALIATION LAWSUIT REGARDING MORELAND CORRUPTION COMMISSION RELEASED

On By leonkozioljdIn Federal Suit for Retaliation By State of New YorkLeave a comment

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July 31, 2014– Yesterday, we released the formal complaint in the federal lawsuit filed by parental advocate, Dr. Leon R. Koziol on July 29, 2014. As explained, it challenges First Amendment censorship and state retributions upon Dr. Koziol’s testimony before the New York (Moreland) Commission on Public Corruption. In less than twenty-four hours, numerous inquiries have resulted from across the country. To answer some of them here, an excerpt from the lawsuit is attached which explains which posts on our site have been targeted by the Albany Committee on Professional Standards. Also, yesterday, we released the first page excerpt from the lawsuit memorandum of law which shows how prior cases were properly pursued.

It should be emphasized that the Governor appoints judges to the higher courts engaged in the attorney regulatory process in addition to four of the eleven members on the state Judicial Conduct Commission and all the members of the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption. It should also be emphasized that the lawsuit is based, in part, upon the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in Sprint Communications v Jacobs, 134 S. Ct. 584 (December 10, 2013). By unanimous ruling, the Court criticized lower federal courts which had been dismissing lawsuits simply because parallel state cases were pending, i.e. divorce, custody and support.

Known as the Younger abstention doctrine, it was used by a federal appeals court in New York City to dismiss Koziol’s test case in Parent v State and by a lower federal court in Koziol v Peters. Because such abstention does not go to the merits of the dismissed cases, as fate and justice would have it, the earlier cases can now be resurrected in the current lawsuit because of the recent Supreme Court ruling. To put it simply, Leon Koziol was correct all along regarding his position against the exploitation of the now clarified Younger abstention doctrine.

Unfortunately, we have received numerous complaints from similarly injured parents whose federal cases (usually self represented) were dismissed for identical reasons. We would have liked to intervene in those cases as an amicus party (Friend of the Court) to assist such victims. However, resources are needed to do this, and as you can see from the attached excerpt, the state is attacking us relentlessly on all fronts.

For this reason, we need your help. Kindly make your donations to this very worthy cause today. You can also visit our other site www.parentingrightsinstitute.com to order the valuable court program which has helped so many parents avoid the high cost of divorce and Family Court. Not surprisingly, this program is also being targeted. The institute office can be reached at (315) 380-3420 and Dr. Koziol can be reached directly at (315) 796-4000. This is all more important than you know, if for no other reason than to protect the inalienable rights and children we cherish.

More News Relating To the Moreland Commission:

U.S. Attorney Warns Cuomo on Moreland Commission Case

PARENTAL ADVOCATE FILES FEDERAL SUIT DUE TO STATE RETALIATION UPON MORELAND COMMISSION TESTIMONY

On By leonkozioljdIn Federal Suit for Retaliation By State of New York9 Comments

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On July 29, 2014, parental advocate, Dr. Leon R. Koziol, filed a civil rights lawsuit against state judges and ethics investigators for unlawful censorship directed to his website, organizing activity and testimony before the New York (Moreland) Commission on Public Corruption at Pace University on September 17, 2013 (Constitution Day) (excerpt from Memo of Law). Mr. Koziol has appeared on CBS 60 Minutes, front page of the New York Times, CNN and numerous internet news sources in connection with parenting rights, First Amendment issues and Native American land claims.

 After 23 years as a highly successful and unblemished civil rights attorney, Mr. Koziol was subjected to extraordinary retributions when he began focusing his criticisms and reform efforts upon widespread abuses in New York’s domestic relations courts. At the Moreland Commission, he asked for an investigation into retaliatory suspensions of his law license due to contrived ethics charges and a protracted license reinstatement process (His eye-opening presentation can be viewed at approximately the 2 hours, 31 minutes and 45 seconds mark). Ethics lawyers engaged in this process declared in court that they would continue opposing Koziol’s reinstatement so long as his offensive website postings and court filings continued. Weeks later they were fired for falsifying time sheets.

Also in his testimony, Koziol recommended that the state Commission on Judicial Conduct be disbanded due to its ineffectiveness, selectivity and “window-dressing” effects. In March, 2014, the reverse occurred, and on April 8, 2014, the Committee on Professional Standards in Albany issued a confidential report opposing Koziol’s reinstatement to his former civil rights practice. In that report, seven website postings (Post1) (Post2) (Post3) (Post4) (Post5) (Post6) (Post7) were targeted for “fitness” reasons, including the entire Moreland Commission testimony appended to the report. Retributions were also exacted upon his parent-child relationships by Family Court judges including one on his custody case who was disqualified in 2011 and removed from the bench in 2013 for sexual misconduct upon his handicapped five year old niece (In re Bryan Hedges).

Also: See New York Times Bombshell Report on the now Disbanded Moreland Commission Dated July 23, 2014 (Click Here)

Mr. Koziol can be reached at (315) 796-4000

Supreme Court to Consider Website and Speech Monitoring of Parental Advocate

On By leonkozioljdIn Call To ActionLeave a comment

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On January 14, 2014, the United States Supreme Court docketed a Supplemental Brief filed by a civil rights advocate in Leon Koziol v Committee on Professional Standards, Case No. 13-702. It was distributed to the Justices of the Court the same day for consideration on January 24, 2014. The original petition was filed by Mr. Koziol on December 9, 2013, and it can be viewed on his website Leon Koziol.com. The case features profound and timely questions in light of website monitoring by government and escalating abuses in our nation’s domestic relations courts.

The central question in this precedent seeking case is whether our third branch of government is properly subject to the First Amendment and, if so, whether the protections of our Fourteenth Amendment can be set aside to suppress the website disclosures, whistle blowing activities and public forums of a a civil rights attorney. Until his criticisms of our courts, Mr. Koziol enjoyed an unblemished record that spanned 23 years of successful verdicts, six figure recoveries and a perfect record of dismissals in criminal jury cases. His work has been covered by major media including New York Times, CNN, NPR and an appearance on the CBS program 60 Minutes.

In an ironic twist, the ethics lawyers targeting Mr. Koziol’s criticisms over a period of years were recently discharged for ethical misconduct discovered by an outside agency. They were falsifying time sheets as public employees of the Third Department appeals court. This is the same court in Albany which suspended Mr. Koziol for six months only weeks before this discovery. On May 22, 2013, these same lawyers conceded in court that they were targeting Mr. Koziol’s website and public forums. However the court refused to consider the First Amendment issues, hence the filings and proceedings now underway before our nation’s high court.

The Supplemental Brief poses an additional implicit question of whether the public filing of the case itself may have exacted further retribution by the Committee on Professional Standards when it issued a flurry of inquiries on December 30, 2013 directed to Koziol’s website. There was no specificity to the website postings which this Committee found objectionable, leading to a logical conclusion that the publicized petition only days earlier might have been a culprit. The particulars can be read on-line at the same targeted website featuring more than 2000 followers across the country and an unknown viral impact produced by bloggers and individuals.

As most citizens know, the Supreme Court takes very few cases each year filed from persons and entities from around the globe. For this reason, in order to keep internet freedoms and parenting rights intact, it is important for our followers to seek public support behind the Koziol case. Our freedoms are all at risk when a super branch of government is able to silence the people most qualified to report on abuses in our state courts. When you view the site, Leon Koziol.com, you are receiving vital information available nowhere else which government is vigorously seeking to shut down. For this reason, we need you to contact journalists, civil rights organizations and your representatives in congress so that our constitutional rights are not further eroded.

Ethics Lawyers in Witch Hunt Against Parental Advocate Leon Koziol Removed From Office Due to Ethical Misconduct

On By leonkozioljdIn Call To Action17 Comments

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Once again folks, you just can’t make this stuff up. For decades we’ve all wondered why lawyers lose their conscience, look the other way or undermine long overdue reforms to our justice system. Well, when a conscientious attorney, unblemished over 23 years, tried to do just that, his reform efforts were made subject to a succession of false claims by ethics lawyers masquerading as public watch dogs. It caused this lawyer, Leon Koziol, to describe them as an “unethical ethics committee” in federal and state lawsuits.

Shocking as it may seem, Leon’s depictions proved correct. This past week, these same dogs, Peter Torncello and Steven Zayas, were terminated from their positions with the Committee on Professional Standards in Albany, New York after coming under investigation for falsifying time sheets along with other ethics violations, see New York Law Journal online, July 10, 2013. These are the same lawyers who targeted Leon’s public speech at a civil rights forum he sponsored (see news item attached). They did so with false statements and protracted inquiries, all designed to prevent the kind of legal representation which has not only remedied suicide attempts but also resulted in six figure recoveries while restoring family relationships (see second news item).

On May 22, 2013, in an Albany appeals court, “ethics” lawyer Steven Zayas, in the presence of his boss, Peter Torncello, falsely stated to his now former employers on the bench, that Leon Koziol had actually admitted to the false charges presented for deliberation, prompting the presiding judge to correct him. The lawyer also opposed Mr. Koziol’s license reinstatement by citing his public forums, offensive website and precedent seeking litigation. This constituted clear targeting and a violation of our most basic constitutional rights. No matter. Two of the three false claims prevailed as did the time sheets until they were properly investigated by the state’s Inspector General. The Koziol case is now pending before the state’s high court.

Fellow parents, this is all compelling proof that we must avoid these courts at all costs. Our children depend on us for something more than power and money titles exploited by unscrupulous lawyers for profit (custody and support awards). The harm is reaching epic proportions in every segment of society today. That’s why our site was established, why Leon sacrificed a lucrative career for the sake of his own children, and why we must rally in our state capitals while time still allows. In the meantime, check out our Court Avoidance and Self Representation programs available at www.parentingrightsinstitute.com.

After this most recent fiasco, we can only ask ourselves, what’s next, a Family Court judge abusing children sexually? But then again, that too has already happened. If you’ve been following our stories here, Syracuse Family Court Judge Bryan Hedges was removed as a presiding judge over Leon’s custody case in 2011 and from the bench altogether this past year after admitting that he sexually abused his 5-year old handicapped niece. The lawyers for the mother and children in Leon’s custody case defended Bryan Hedges as a judge beyond reproach during a motion for disqualification. Fortunately, for the children’s sake, Leon prevailed.

The judge was thereafter removed from the bench by the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct. But this occurred only after it received a letter from District Attorney Fitzpatrick, a member of Governor Cuomo’s newest “ethics” commission. Now ask yourselves, what would happen if you, the average citizen, made such a complaint? Would the same commission take similar action? More troubling, what if your children were allowed into a special session with Judge Hedges outside your presence? It is actually required practice in New York, known as a “Lincoln Hearing.” Please, for the sake of your loved ones, get involved! This is our government, not theirs to abuse.