The audio for the most recent explosive hearing from the Utah case of James Barnett Vs Amanda Barnett has arrived, and I am offering it exclusively to paid members.
{Find the previous posts on this case here: Part one and Part two}
There are other developments in the case; the police report has arrived, and I communicated briefly with Sydney Mateus, dad’s attorney.
This case is the prototypical misuse of parental alienation story; dad’s abuse is constantly twisted into parental alienation.
The more abuse allegations there, the more it is claimed that this is really parental alienation.
“There have been many allegations of abuse that have not been substantiated. There has been no proof that has been offered, no protective orders, no filed criminal cases, no CPS cases.” Ms. Mateus said in the September 13 hearing. “Ms. Barnett has perpetuated that they have to the point, that these kids are starting to believe it.”
Dad is also buoyed by a corrupt and incompetent court actor: Jessica Read the guardian ad litem.
This case also has a twist. Normally the so-called alienation is being perpetrated, it is alleged, by the other parent.
In this case, the primary perpetrator is the couple’s 16-year-old son.
“There have been allegations of abuse- both of Ms. Barnett and the children in this case- they have been investigated thoroughly by DCFS and by law enforcement.” Commissioner Conklin stated in a September 13, 2022, hearing, “There is nothing that supports the fact that they are in danger with him. I think Ms. Mateus is right; in the best-case scenario, you have sat by and allowed your sixteen-year-old to become the Don Quixote of the family.”
To create the impression in court that this is really parental alienation, the court and its actors need to ignore and bury all sorts of abuse allegations.
The children made several undercover videos in which James coerces, threatens, and verbally abuses them.
The court has paid no attention to these. There are also numerous reports to CPS and the police; all of which wind up unsubstantiated.
On September 13, 2022, Commissioner Conklin ignored all this abuse and ordered that custody be switched for three of the four children- not the oldest 16-year-old boy- from the mother to the father.
Commissioner Conklin also put a no-contact order on Amanda and the 16-year-old boy and the rest of the children.
This sudden change has gone about as well as you’d expect. That led into the hearing on October 13, 2022. Amanda had no contact at all by this point with three of her four children for one month.
In fact, James has called the police at least once since the custody switch; that report was finally released by the Weber County Sheriff’s Office.
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