Frank Hatley had a son from 1987 to 2000, when DNA tests
showed that, in fact, he was not the
biological father of Travon Morrison. Case closed, it seems. Unless you’re
dealing with the Georgia judicial system, which unfortunately Mr. Hatley was.
And still is.
Hartley, during the 13 years he was presumed to be a father,
dutifully paid child support. But not enough.
By 2001, he was already over $16,000 in the hole.
Graciously, the court relieved him of all future child support obligations,
seeing as how we was not actually father to anyone. However, having been the
father for 13 years, the state decided that it was his legal duty to pay off
the support already awarded. So for years afterward, Hatley continued to work
to pay off his support debt.
Unfortunately for all involved, in May 2008, it still wasn't
enough. Even after having paid off $6,000 since August 2001, some of it out of
his unemployment benefits after being laid off earlier that year, Hatley was
found in contempt by the same assistant attorney general and judge who ordered
him to pay the $16,000 in 2001. The judge sent Hatley to jail to teach him a
lesson.
On Wednesday, Hatley, 50, finally obtained release from the
Cook County jail he had called home since June 2008. After demonstrating to a
judge (the same judge, mind you, who ordered him sent to prison) that he was
indigent and therefore unable to afford the lawyer he was never offered at his
2008 hearing, he was ordered to be released from prison. There was no decision
on whether or not he still had to pay off the remaining $10,000; the judge
postponed that ruling until a later date.
Now, some might claim that since he was proven not to be the
father in 2000, he never actually was the
father from 1987 to 2000, and thus it is a miscarriage of justice to make him
pay back what, theoretically, he never should have owed. As one legal expert
deftly put it: “What possible legitimate reason can the state have to pursue
Mr. Hatley for child support when he does not have any children?”
Others would go so far as to claim that “this is a case of
excessive zeal to recover money trumping common sense,” such as Sarah Geraghty,
a lawyer from the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta., who happens to
be Hatley's lawyer. Maybe that's a good point, seeing as he was released from
jail not on the merits of the case, but on what essentially amounts to a
technicality. Hatley himself was quoted on this issue, saying that he
“shouldn’t have to keep being punished for a child that is not mine.”
But perhaps we should suspend judgment on this case, at
least for now. I mean, if the Cook County judge at Hatley's hearing Wednesday
decided it was best to postpone ruling on Hatley's outstanding debt to the
state, maybe we should, too. After all, it is their job to judge. At least, I think that's why the call them judges. But if you can't
help yourself, why not send a letter or ten to the Cook County Superior Court, or chip
in a couple bucks to the Southern Center for
Human Rights, or, at the very least, tell some strangers on the Internet
what you think. Couldn't hurt, right?
Also Interesting:
[+] Georgia places non-sex offenders on Sex Offender Registry
[+] Atlanta legislating fashion?