The Bucks County judge facing unrelenting criticism for his handling of the custody battle involving a 7-year-old Lower Makefield girl murdered earlier this month during a court-ordered visit with her father hopes the public will soon get a chance to access court records that are normally kept confidential.
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| Bucks County Judge Jeffrey Trauger |
“Normally, these proceedings are not released as they include very personal, confidential and sensitive information about the parents and children,” Judge Jeffrey Trauger wrote in an Aug. 22 letter to the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board and Gov. Tom Wolf. “However, this case now demands a departure from that past practice as it now comes before your review.”
The four paragraph letter — obtained by this news organization — offers Trauger’s first comments since the Aug. 6 death of Kayden Mancuso, who was found dead at the Philadelphia home of her father, Jeffrey Mancuso, who also killed himself, a crime that has focused international attention on child custody decisions.
Trauger wrote that he hoped the media and public will soon be given access to the “complete case record including, but not limited to, transcripts of all witness testimony, trial exhibits, custody reports, psychological reports, and all other evidence presented to me.”
He added that he hoped the tragedy could serve as a “teachable moment for all parents, the media and the public.”
“Unfortunately, judges sitting in family court proceedings too often see toxic and bitter parental communications and conflict,” Trauger wrote. “Many custody cases become more about a struggle for power and control between the parents than a search for the best interests of the children.”
The letter was written days after the Wolf administration referred complaints about Trauger to the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board for review at the request of Kayden’s family, who are demanding that Trauger be removed from the bench. They contend the judge mishandled Kayden’s custody case and it directly contributed to her murder.
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| Jeff Mancuso and Kayden |
In Pennsylvania, judges can be removed only through sanction by the Judicial Conduct Board or after impeachment and conviction in the General Assembly. Trauger was appointed to the Bucks County bench two years ago and re-elected to a 10-year term last year.
In a May custody order, Trauger granted Kayden’s mother, Kathryn Sherlock, primary custody and reduced visitation for Jeffrey Mancuso from four-day weekends to overnight visits every other weekend, according to the custody order.
The family contends Trauger should have ordered supervised visits with Mancuso, though it was not recommended by any doctor or court evaluator consulted in the case, according to the administrative office of Pennsylvania courts. Mancuso had a well-known history of violent outbursts and erratic behavior including arrests for assault; a court-order psychiatric evaluation for the custody case diagnosed him with major depressive disorder and suicidal thoughts.
In his court order, Trauger noted he had serious concerns about Mancuso’s violent history, poor judgement, and inability to accept responsibility for his actions, and urged him to get mental health treatment. Mancuso was never violent with Kayden, and the girl did not appear to be afraid of him, though she told a court evaluator she didn’t want to spend “as many days” with him and had witnessed his violent behavior, according to the court order.
After this news organization provided a copy of the Trauger letter, Jennifer Sherlock, Kayden’s aunt, issued a statement on behalf of the family.
“It is laughable that Judge Trauger is now seeking to utilize this horrific tragedy as a ‘teachable’ moment for parents, the media and public,” Sherlock said. “The family prays that Judge Trauger is immediately removed from presiding over any and all family court actions currently pending in Bucks County Court of Common Pleas as Judge Trauger is clearly unfit to do so.”
Rather than admit his own “culpability in this tragedy,” Sherlock said Trauger shifted the blame and asked the public to “educate themselves” on Pennsylvania law regarding child custody.
“A job that he himself clearly failed to do resulting in the murder of their daughter, Kayden.”
Judge Trauger is not the only judge to place a child in jeopardy. Judge Wiliam T.Nicholas Jr. of Montgomery County issued unsupervised visits with my children's father. He sexually abused them brutality, continuously with judicial permission which allowed this abuser access to my three children. The judge ignored the physical evidence from CHOP, CYS reports, Montgomery County Detectives even told the judge the children were consistent throughout multiple interviews. They relayed their opinions to the judge- he ignored all of the professional opinions, physical evidence and even the testimony of my 6 year old ( 5 yo, 4yo) in chambers. She told the judge that Friday afternoon that her 'daddy first put his finger in me and sometimes sticks his thing (penis) in me'. This judge ignored her testimony and allowed her father a week-end visit. It is obvious that his attorney was in chambers and relayed this testimony of my child to her father. That Sunday she returned with a sprained neck and multiple bruises for telling daddy secrets. The judge dismissed the physical evidence and said no one had seen him do this. During multiple hearings psychologists picked by the judge diagnosed the father as Pedophile Type II. Then the judge, in his infamous wisdom, after berating me for 'manipulating' the children to say bad things about daddy' continued unsupervised. Visitation was then supervised at costs to be split between parents. After 2-3 visit the father cold-cocked the caseworker because she told him to stop touching her. So from 1988-1992, the children were abused with permission from the court. The children are battered adults, in their minds the abuse has formed into self-loathing, self-inflicted wounds, multiple suicide attempts, I could go on...THESE JUDGES NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR DECISIONS! Governor Wolf you have the power to enact laws, holding judges accountable, and saving many lives of children who do not deserve a judge to turn his/he back on these little ones.
ReplyDeletewow- for real? this is incredible!
ReplyDeleteIs Kathryn Sherlock to blame for having a child with a man she barely knew? The clarity that comes with looking back isn't the perspective of a judge ruling on the future best interests of the child. The importance of maintaining a relationship with her biological father was likely a factor in his rulings.
ReplyDelete