FACE / Fathers' and Children's Equality, Inc.
P.O. Box 2471, Cinnaminson, NJ 08077
856-786-FACE / www.facenj.org
August 24, 2006
Judge Bryan Hedges
Onondaga County Family Court
401 Montgomery St.
Syracuse, NY 13202
Re: John Murtari
Dear Judge Hedges:
It has been ten days since I first wrote you about John Murtari and asked you to release him from jail for humanitarian reasons. I received no reply, and John is still in jail. You are a judge and perhaps humanitarianism is not high on your agenda, so this time I instead present legal arguments.
You have imprisoned John Murtari for debt. I know you will dispute this. You will say you did not order Mr. Murtari imprisoned for debt, but merely to coerce him to pay. You could also write an order saying that beginning tomorrow morning the sky must be green, but it will still be blue. Anything different would be impossible. How long must Mr. Murtari sit in jail before he proves to you that it is impossible for him to pay money that he does not have? When does your coercion cease being coercion and start being cruel and unusual punishment?
But further, to keep John Murtari in jail, you had to have his body cut open to insert a feeding tube. This too constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, which was outlawed by King William III in the English Bill of Rights in 1689, by the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1787, and by the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Today such torture may be legal in Iran or North Korea, but not in the civilized world. If you believe that money is more important than Mr. Murtari's body, while you have his body open why don't you harvest his internal organs and sell them to pay his debt?
I checked the New York state Constitution. It contains dozens of occurances of the word debt, all referring to debt incurred by state and local government, but nothing specifically relating to personal debt. Searching further, I found New York's first constitution, the 1683 Charter of Liberties and Privileges, which says in section 19 [Bail] ... nothing herein contained shall Extend to discharge out of prison upon bayle any person taken in Execucon for debts ... Apparently imprisonment for debt was once legal in New York, but I can't believe this 17th Century law is still in effect in the 21st Century. If it were, why would there be any debt collection agencies in New York when creditors could instead just have debtors jailed?
Debtors prisons were once used in England. Indeed, the colony of Georgia was settled in 1738 by debtors who were transported to relieve overcrowding in English debtors prisons. But debtors prisons have a long history of disfavor in the United States, probably because many colonists came here to avoid debtors prison in their home countries.
Here in New Jersey, imprisonment for debt is specifically prohibited. Article I, Section 13 of the New Jersey Constitution reads No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any action, or on any judgment founded upon contract, unless in cases of fraud ... Even in the U.K. debtors prison was officially abolished by the Debtors Act of 1869. I have the utmost sympathy for the citizens of New York State who do not have these same legal protections.
Also, here in New Jersey, judges are specifically prohibited from jailing indigent child support obligors (Pasqua v. Council, 186 N.J. 127, 892 A.2d 663, 2006). They must first conduct an ability to pay hearing, and prove the obligor has funds from which child support can be paid. John Murtari has no such funds. If you have conducted a hearing and you know where John has such funds, tell him where they are and give him an opportunity to pay.
Judge Hedges, nothing is being accomplished by continuing to jail John Murtari. He was paying all he could for child support, but now, while in jail, he is paying nothing. Mr. Murtari is self employed in his own computer consulting business. He is doing no work now while he is in jail, and receiving no income. His clients will be looking elsewhere for computer services while he is in jail, so he will have no business left to return to when he is released. What will you do at the end of Mr. Murtari's jail sentence? Jail him again? And again and again, after you have sabotaged his ability to earn? Continuing to jail John Murtari is counterproductive to your objective of collecting child support.
I again ask you to now do what is best for this family. Vacate your order jailing John Murtari and adjust his child support to reflect his actual income. Let him peacefully go home and be the father that his son, Domenic, needs.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Golden, Acting President
cc: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton / Congressman James Walsh / U.S. Attorney Glenn Suddaby / Bill Fitzpatrick, Onondaga County District Attorney / Charles Keller, Esq. / WHEC-TV (NBC) / WHAM-TV (ABC) / WROC-TV (CBS) / WUHF-TV (FOX) / WIXT/WSYR (ABC 9) / WSTM (NBC 3/UPN 6) / WTVH (CBS 5) / NEWS 10 NOW / WCNY (PBS 24) / The Post-Standard, Syracuse / Times of Wayne County / Finger Lakes Times / www.VictimsOfLaw.net / www.OnSecondThought.tv / www.GlennSacks.com / www.AKidsRight.org / www.ancpr.com / John Murtari