Massachusetts Family Court Judge Banned Book Critical of Her

Fair Notice: The Author is a Candidate for the Massachusetts Governor’s Council

The rules regarding being a judge in Massachusetts are very short. The second cannon of the Massachusetts Code of Judicial Conduct states that a Judge should avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all his activities. It also states that a judge should conduct himself at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. The third cannon states that “A judge should disqualify himself in a proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including but not limited to instances where: (a) he has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding.”

This said, I was fortunate enough to be e-mailed a book by Mr. Kevin Thompson in PDF format, “Exposing the Corruption in Massachusetts Family Courts.” Mr. Kevin Thompson is a father’s rights activist who wrote about his tribulation in the Essex County Family Court. It would be an understatement to say that Mr. Thompson was not very kind to Judge Manzi. He stated, “She made it clear to me at my initial hearing on May 28, 2003, that in her courtroom fathers are all criminals to be punished and removed from the lives of their children while mothers are all selfless, innocent victims to be pitied and excused from accountability for their actions.” He added, “Judge Manzi and the incompetents who work in the court as mediators also introduced me to the family court mindset that a mother’s demand for sole custody is honorable and praiseworthy, but a father’s pursuit of a 50/50 joint physical custody compromise is proof that he is selfish, rigid, and demanding.” Mr. Thompson said, “Judge Manzi was consistently rude and condescending toward me at the initial hearing, but polite and patient with the attorney for my son’s mother. Before I was even called before the judge, I witnessed her rolling her eyes and asking the court clerk to point me out when she was handed my file.”

The criticism seriously questions Judge Manzi’s ethics, making claims that a tape-recording was edited, and that a Lawrence attorney could substantiate the statements were missing from the tape. In a bit of an irony, Kevin Thompson complains in his book, Judge Mainz should have recused herself for having personal bias.

Despite the book containing lengthy and scathing criticisms of the Judge Manzi, reliable statements made Mr. Thompson and Fathers and Families indicate that Judge Manzi ruled on whether to ban the book and, in fact, actually banned it.

Notes Attorney Del Gallo, “The law is quite clear. Judges cannot rule on cases where there is a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest. What we have here is a conflict of interest on an acid trip. While completely trampling on the free speech rights of Mr. Thompson, a judge has banned a book that is scathingly critical of her. Apart from accepting an actual bribe or ruling on a case where a judge plainly has a financial interest in the outcome of a case, it is hard to imagine a more manifest conflict of interest.”

Rinaldo Del Gallo, III

Candidate for Governor’s Council

79 Nancy Avenue

Pittsfield, MA 01201

FOR MORE INFORMATION, call Mr. Del Gallo at 413-443-3150, or e-mail him at RDelGalloIII@aol.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 11th, 2006 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Vox Populi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. | 236 views | Trackback | Print this page |

About Rinaldo Del Gallo Rinaldo Del Gallo, III, Esq. is the spokesperson of the Berkshire Fatherhood Coalition, whose website is BerkshireFatherhood.com. He has been practicing family law attorney and has been a member of the Massachusetts bar since 1996. Mr. Del Gallo has handled a wide variety of family law cases including issues of child custody, child visitation, child support, restraining orders, grandparent visitation, contempt of family court, access to academic records, guardianship, allegations of abuse, criminal allegations related to domestic violence, disputes over the care of a child, and care and protection proceedings before the Department of Social Services. For years, he has hosted bi-monthly free legal seminars for people of any gender having problems in family court. On behalf of non-custodial parents, he has had made numerous media appearances in printed news, radio, and television. He has authored numerous family law related articles and columns. He has performed extensive bro bono work for fathers. Attorney Del Gallo also has extensive experience as a civil rights attorney, working in the areas of free speech rights and ballot access. Mr. Del Gallo is also an intellectual property attorney and a patent lawyer, and has written what is regarded as one of the most famous law reviews in the area of patent law, “Are Methods of Doing Business Finally Out of Business As A Statutory Exception?,” that helped end the so-called “business method exception,” which paved the way for an entire field of software and Internet related patents. Attorney Del Gallo graduated from Northeastern University (Boston) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, and graduated from George Washington University (Washington) in the top of his three-year class. | More from Rinaldo Del Gallo, III