The Honorable Judge Marshall Rieger - 3/5/2009

Looking back, I'm realizing that in the past 17 years, my ex-husband has never made even one court-ordered child support payment. It's one of those things where I would never have thought it possible that someone could get away with it for so long. Nonetheless, I've learned firsthand that this is apparently a privilege enjoyed by the wealthy elite who's lawyers operate above the law within the circle of protection, skilled in the art of prolonging justice and evading it all together whenever humanly possible.

I suppose you could say that my years and years of complaining to the State that the local child support office wasn't doing anything wasn't a total waste of my time. On March 5, 2009, my ex was scheduled to be arraigned on criminal charges for his absolute die-hard refusal to support his daughter. I was disgusted when his lawyer asked for a two-month continuance to enter a plea, and the Honorable Judge Marshall Rieger granted it, no questions asked. It was actually a five-month continuance since he was originally scheduled to be arraigned three months earlier on November 26, 2008, but never showed up. I guess I was expecting something more along the lines of some negative consequence or at least a reprimand for blowing off the first arraignment, but then I remembered... the circle of protection.

The Honorable Judge Marshall Rieger didn't even ask whether our daughter would be alright going another two months without any child support. Or, how much longer I'd be able to keep pickin' up his slack.

Since this was the third time in the past 17 years that my ex has had criminal charges filed against him for not paying child support, I was well aware of the game that was being played. And the Judge's apparent disregard for the welfare of my daughter was nothing new to me.

This experience just reminded me of the importance of doing a little research on these judges when they're on the ballot at election time, so we don't have to be sorry later once we've given them all that power.