Sunday, August 22, 1999
Justin's families return to court
Issue in custody case: Ohio or Ky. control
BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Justin
|
Attorneys for parents at opposite ends of a two-state custody battle will spend Tuesday morning debating which state should have jurisdiction over Justin's case — Kentucky or Ohio.
While they prepare for the showdown before a three-judge Ohio Court of Appeals panel in Jefferson, Ohio, they already concur on this: The case is bound for the Ohio Supreme Court.
Each side says that if it doesn't prevail Tuesday, it will advance the case to Ohio's highest court.
Neither is willing to give up the fight for Justin, who continues to live with Rich and Cheryl Asente of Girard, Ohio. His biological parents, Regina Moore and Jerry Dorning of Covington, have spent more than a year fighting for his return.
“We plan to keep on fighting,” said Stephanie Dietz, who represents Mr. Dorning. “We'll keep going. We're all committed.”
“Whichever side doesn't prevail will take it to the Supreme Court,” said the Asentes' attorney, Susan Eisenman of Columbus. “That's where it will end up. But we're confident that we're going to prevail.”
Both attorneys also agreed the case ultimately could be debated in the federal courts, where there could be some final decision in the two-state custody case.
Tuesday's oral arguments stem from an appeal that Ms. Moore and Mr. Dorning filed after Ohio Probate Judge R.R. Denny Clunk of Trumbull County kept the Asentes' adoption petition alive in April by refusing to give “full faith and credit” to Kentucky rulings.
Kenton Circuit Judge Patricia Summe already had ruled that Justin should be returned to his biological parents, an unmarried couple, saying they made an uninformed decision when they let him go live with the Asentes in February 1998. At the time, Justin was about two weeks shy of his first birthday.
Judge Clunk said Ohio assumed jurisdictional rights to Justin's case after the child lived six consecutive months with the Asentes. Attorneys for the biological parents have said that happened only because the Asentes illegally kept the child.
A ruling is not expected at Tuesday's hearing, which is taking place at the Ashtabula County Courthouse in northeastern Ohio.
Mr. Asente has mixed feelings about having to wait.
“I'm very optimistic that Ohio is going to uphold Judge Clunk's rulings,” he said. “I'm dying to know what they're going to do, but I definitely want them to think it out.”
The legal battle over Justin stems from the consents that Ms. Moore and Mr. Dorning signed in January 1998 before letting him go live with the Asentes and his full biological brother, Joey, now 3. Joey already has been adopted by the Asentes.
The documents said the consents were to be irrevocable after 20 days. However, Ms. Moore and Mr. Dorning said they signed them with the understanding that they would have until a special March 1998 hearing to change their minds. They made it known on the day of that hearing that they wanted Justin back.
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