Neglect, not her religion, cost mother custody, judges rule
Posted on Friday, October 3, 2008
A Chicot County woman doesn’t deserve custody of her 3-year-old boy, the Arkansas Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday, not because she practices Wicca but because she didn’t properly care for him.
Chicot County Circuit Judge Robert C. Vittitow didn’t decide to give custody of the boy to Joshua A. Cook and take it away from Andrea Hicks on prejudice toward the Wiccan religion, said Judge Robert J. Gladwin, writing for the appeals court.
“There is no basis to hold that the trial court resolved this initial custody determination on [Hicks’ ] interest or involvement with Wicca,” Gladwin wrote in the 4-2 decision.
Instead, evidence that the boy had diaper rash, a fungus on his face, a possible dog bite and other signals of neglect were seen as permissible factors for Vittitow to consider, as were Hicks ’ mental health and that she had stopped taking medication.
Judge Wendell Griffen concurred, writing that Vittitow “made no disparaging or otherwise unfavorable comments about Wicca.” Vittitow was questioning Hicks’ “truthfulness regarding the extent of her interest or involvement with Wicca,” Griffen wrote.
According to the opinion, Hicks testified that she told Cook that she was Wicca but was really a Baptist.
Hicks described Wicca in testimony “as an earth religion [that ] had gods and goddesses and believed in doing good.”
According to a trial transcript excerpted in the ruling, Vittitow said the following about Wicca: “Our final concern is [Hicks’ ] testimony regarding the WICCA religion, movement, cult or whatever that may be.”
In a dissent, Judge Josephine Linker Hart said the majority “tortured the law and mishandled the judicial-review process to reach their result.”
Hart said Vittitow’s use of the word “cult” — defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as “‘ a religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or bogus ’” — was an “obvious trial court error.”
Criticizing Griffen, she wrote that he was “simply wrong” and “there are none that are so blind who will not see.”
Judge Sarah J. Heffley dissented, writing “obviously, the judge held [Hicks’ ] interest in Wicca against her.”
Judges D. P. Marshall and David M. Glover agreed with Gladwin and Griffen.
At the appeals court, the case is CA 07-1321, Andrea Hicks v. Joshua A. Cook.
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