Murphy – A local attorney alleges that judges influenced prosecutors to falsely file criminal charges regarding the use of custody and visitation agreements, which allow parents or guardians to relinquish custody of minors without court involvement.
Scott Lindsay, a former attorney for the Cherokee County Department of Social Services, and his lawyer, Jerry Townson, argue that custody and visitation agreements are not illegal because state law allows parents to enter into a contract between themselves regarding custody of their minor children.
Lindsay, former DSS director Cindy Palmer and former DSS supervisor David Alan Hughes were criminally charged in connection with the use of custody and visitation agreements last year. Hughes pled guilty to misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and willfully failing to discharge duties regarding the use of CVAs as part of an agreement with prosecutors last week.
Earlier this year, a jury issued a combined $4.6 million award to a father and daughter who were separated through the use of custody and visitation agreements following a four-day federal civil trial. Four additional civil lawsuits regarding the use of such agreements, informally known as CVAs, have yet to go to trial.
Townson filed court documents alleging that this ordeal snowballed after someone gave District Court judges a custody and visitation agreement. Documents say discovery evidence shows that sitting judges, “possibly not recognizing a custody contract,” then began to investigate and provide evidence to the State Bureau of Investigation, which eventually led to criminal charges being filed against Lindsay, Palmer and Hughes.
“If a judge says anything about a person’s conduct, the average person on the street will give the statement great credibility, as it will be much more believable than speech by ordinary people,” Townson wrote in a motion to dismiss criminal charges against Lindsay. “In this case, judges urged that defendant and others be charged with several charges and investigated the case.”
Court documents further allege that civil lawyers “who appear to have a pecuniary interest in the matter” had evidence before any charges were filed and worked “in concert with the SBI, contacting each other and appearing to look for deeds that could be charged.”
“The discovery shows that the lawyers and SBI employees worked almost as a team to investigate these matters,” the motion says. “The charges urged the A.G. to file by civil lawyers included obstruction of justice by destroying records and evidence, perjury by Palmer and Lindsay, false pretense for billing statements, altering or destroying evidence and possible child abduction.”
Townson’s motion further alleges that unknown persons have been leaking information to media in North Carolina and Tennessee that “inaccurately accuses” Lindsay, Palmer and Hughes of criminal offenses.
“This could have the effect of poisoning the jury panel,” Townson wrote. “If this information had gone all over the state, where would a defendant ask to move the trial to or bring a jury from?”
Court documents say CVAs had been available in Cherokee County since at least 2000 for those who wanted to use them. Documents say Lindsay allowed social workers to use his forms and books to help parents who wanted to place their children elsewhere by agreement knowing that they “have a constitutional right” to “place them with family or people who have a substantial relationship with the child.”
Townson attached a redacted example of a CVA to his motion. The document does not contain any language tying Cherokee County government nor any employees to the agreement. The two-page contract only contains the names of the parents, child and notary public.
“In N.C., custody of children can be agreed to by contract and is never final,” the motion says. “Parents no longer together are not required to get a custody order but may choose to do so in case they cannot agree about the child’s care.”
Townson alleges that criminal charges against Lindsay were filed with “deliberate discrimination by design.”
“The State Department of Health & Human Services had audited the Cherokee County Department of Social Services many times and had found no problem with these contracts until stirred up by powerful people,” the motion says.
Lindsay is scheduled to appear in court Monday, according to online records.