Earlier this week I was served* with a DVPO.
For those who don't know, that means I have been accused of domestic violence.
I was made instantly homeless, I have not been allowed to see my daughter, retrieve all of my belongings or even take my phone service to a carrier NOT controlled by the person accusing me of DV.
I can't go too deep on my ex's claims rn but I look forward to having my day in court on June 10th.
There's one problem, I can't afford a lawyer.
I know that leftist of all people are pretty fast to make up their mind at the first sign of an accusation. But I urge people to respect the basic premise of "innocent until proven guilty" and to please wait to cast judgement until I am even ALLOWED to deliver a response.
As a Black father, one who has had contact with the family court system before, I'm at a tremendous disadvantage.
The WA courts are extremely unfair spaces for Black fathers on a good day. This isn't a good day.
I need help.
I'm about one third of the way to getting a lawyer.
It's critical I get one ASAP or they simply won't have time to prepare for court.
Please consider donating so that I can have the closet thing to a fair shake at protecting my rights:
paypal/venmo/cashapp $nullagent
DM for cryptocurrencies.
Thanks.
I'm trying to find the right balance of defending myself, protecting my daughter and getting my ex the help that they need.
But there have been additional factors which have greatly complicated things and forced me to be significantly more public than I otherwise would have been.
Namely, the fact that members of Seattle's DSA chapter served me and evicted me from my home at 11pm at night (a likely illegal act) all stating this act was in their official DSA roles.
So thing's have completely exploded with my ex @nat @[email protected]. I had been working to separate from them and planned to move out next month if I was able to make enough money to do so. However tonight I was greated by members of Seattles DSA who served me with DVPO papers and insisted upon sweeping me from my home at midnight. Led by an activist who goes by the name of Joyful and a long time DSA member Bill. This was more cruel, dangerous and unethical than any police sweep. #Seattle #DSA #DARVO
I'm deeply hurt to feel so at odds with a leftist org who I have at times respected the work of.
I'm fairly certain DSA has been weaponized by a bad actor. But I'm ALSO certain that DSA needs a significant and expeditious process of developing BASIC ass standards of conduct. Not to mention to read lookup "abolitionism" in a fucking dictionary.
Anyways, so yea my life feels like a bit of a mess right now and while I have some temporary spaces to live and sleep for now you can probably imagine how challenging this all feels.
If this weren't enough, my last living grand parent, the one who got me STARTED in activism has been hospitalized the last two weeks. She's 95. I really need to go see her but instead I'm preparing for family court.
I wish I could take my daughters to meet her 😭
So again, I really need some help with donations, getting a lawyer and traveling home to see my grandma while she's still living.
I have only six working days until a court hearing that could decide if I ever see my daughter again and I don't have a lawyer yet. There are no public defenders or low cost options available for fathers.
Without a lawyer my rights will not be respected.
I'm about $2k short of what is needed for this hearing, can you help me get over the finish line?
Venmo/cashapp/paypal $nullagent
#MutualAidRequest #Parenting #BlackMastodon #FamilyCourt #parentalalienation
Just hit the bare minimum needed to retain my first choice lawyer! Checked in with her and she's sadly not taking new clients right now. Pretty sure anyone else will charge more so stay tuned for updates
I have a couple other lawyers I know to check in with but given the urgency I'm now in the market for lawyer recommendations. So DM your family law / criminal defense lawyer reviews.
Thanks so much for the support, I'm truly humbled 😭💔
Ok found a lawyer whose a good fit BUT I need to fund raise an additional $4k-$6k more today to pay their retainer and give them enough time to prepare for trial.
I have filing deadlines starting as early as tomorrow in prep for hearings on June 10th.
Very urgent situation.
Please help.
Paypal/cashapp/venmo $nullagent
#FamilyLaw #FamilyCourt #CourtWatch #BlackMastodon #Parenting #BlackParent
Additionally, I -am- able to payback a loan for this within the calendar month. I just have to wait until payday(in two weeks) to have the needed funds on hand.
So please DM me if this is something you're able to help with.
Thanks
Thanks again for the assistance getting a lawyer!
I absolutely could not have gotten one in time without your support 🫂💔
As much of a relief having a lawyer is, it's also a pretty big financial setback to devote resources to while also finding myself suddenly housing insecure. So sadly still open for mutual aid this month to help me get long term housing and keep my family court lawyer.
Paypal/venmo/c nullagent
Today's hearing is open to the public and can be viewed online or in person. Starting now. There's a few other cases, not sure exactly when mine will be called.
Initial hearing went well, it was fairly procedural so wasn't expecting anything other than the next court date 6/30.
What was supposed to be a routine logistics hearing did turn into my accuser asking the court to arrest me for contempt due to still having keys to the apartment which I still have my name on the lease.
The judge thankfully slapped down that request because again, my name is still on the lease and none of the claims of my accuser are confirmed as of yet.
Updates from the last two weeks. A lot of not good things behind the scenes:
1. A new not good unnecessary situation occurred that will need to be addressed in court.
2. An illegal court order with no attempt to even serve me was accepted and ruled on by a judge without me present.
3. A person then used this illegal court order to threaten me with police violence.
Needless to say. This has been very stressful.
This week, because I have access to a lawyer and a roof over my head I was able to respond sufficiently in court to those new unexpected and urgent legal issues.
I can't talk about these right now other than to say that having a lawyer was instrumental and fundamental to having my most basic constitutional rights and baseline due process honored this week.
I truly do not know where I would be without your support.
It's all been procedural so far so I honestly don't have much to say about the courts.
However, these unexpected ways the courts are being weaponized does cause significant unexpected mental, emotional, physical and legal work load. Which costs money.
This all on top of the fact that this process made me homeless and I'm trying to claw my way fully back to housing stability.
Anything helps
venmo/cashapp - nullagent
Wanted to take a second and remind everyone the temporary nature of the court process I'm in right now.
I have NOT been convicted and I AM still a father to my daughter and I can't imagine my life without this tiny human.
I do need help keeping my lawyer so that I can hold my baby in my arms again one day soon and hit the ground running getting back to raising them!
Thanks again for the donations and kind words.
Reading some court documents today, and there's a whole police report about the fact that I posted a link to how the public can watch my court proceedings.
The police wanted to contact me because the reporting party alleges that informing my community about their right to court watch my hearings, is dangerous.
https://partyon.xyz/@nullagent/114659940349218753
So anyways, please mark you calendar's and attend my next hearing on June 30th. 8:30am PST - Noon PST.
Today's hearing is open to the public and can be viewed online or in person. Starting now. There's a few other cases, not sure exactly when mine will be called. https://kingcounty.zoom.us/j/96258225231 #FamilyLaw #CourtWatch
I've written a lot about the importance of #courtwatch on the fedi for years.
I think observing and understanding these systems is the only way for citizens to improve democracies.
So as usual, you can find how to access my and other Seattle / King County family law cases like any other directly on the calendar.
On the day of a hearing zoom links will be posted.
If you're a friend or community member just DM me in advance and I can ensure you're let in.
Today's hearing starts in an hour, it's open to the public and you can attend on zoom below.
I pray that I'll finally be allowed to see my youngest daughter again after these frivolous karen claims are defeated.
https://kingcounty.zoom.us/j/88915855282
#seattle #pnw #ParentingWhileBlack #familylaw #familycourt #karen
So a few things I didn't want to talk about too soon is the fact that my ex and accuser is absolutely crashing out.
I realized a few months ago that they are an abusive, fake and vindictive person that I simply can't be in a relationship with and began taking steps to leave.
I was working towards (and got!) a business loan that will soon allow me to build out @dataparty, a mega dream come true!
But most importantly I was looking forward to having a solid salary to leave a toxic relationship!
What made me want to leave?
There's A LOT of reasons. But mainly it was the fact my ex frequently cursed me out for little to no reason. Second it was the fact that they seemed to have zero understanding that I am infact a seperate human being with my own perspectives, boundaries, and needs.
I was finding none of my boundaries were being respected.
This got to the point that my ex literally had access to my fedi account and would post on my account and NOT respect my wishes.
The kicker tho, were the several occasions I awake to see my ex violently shaking or throwing my child while also cursing me out.
During one of these events they told me they wanted to commit suicide, and wanted to kill me and my child.
That's the day I realized I had to leave.
My ex refused to consistently go to couples therapy, they quit several times and refused to go back.
I set a clear boundary that I couldn't be in a relationship with a suicidal, homicidal person that won't do therapy.
I directly broke up with my ex around the week of April 13th.
Now why on earth does my ex's DVPO filing state that THEY broke up with me on May 23rd?
I have ample evidence to show that we were broken up for over a month already.
Yet my ex boldly reversed the breakup and using an absurdly racist claim that I a black man was so hurt by them breaking up with me that I would become violent and they needed the state to enact an emergency domestic violence order to protect them.
My ex had 4 claims in their DVPO which really all boiled down to a single claim:
They largely accuse me of DVPO by way of "coercive control" because I asked that they get appropriate mental health support and that I broke up with them when they didn't.
The only claim involving my child is that I tell them "No occasionally". Literally that's all my ex wrote specifically about how I'm abusive to my daughter.
How a judge signed on to this obviously frivolous DVPO I do not know.
To be clear for most of this year my ex told me they would commit suicide or kill our child if I left the house for more than 4 hours at a time 2 days a week.
I had a 2hr round trip commute to my co-working space.
Obviously I tried to be a supportive partner for as long as possible but if you can't be left alone for 4hrs or you're threatening to kill yourself, my kid or me.... that's clearly a job for professional mental health services.
So anywho, needless to say things were not workable. My ex eventually began to claim that they were perfectly healthy while clearly nothing had changed.
They continued to demand I not leave them alone for more than 4 hours at a time.
This simply was not financially workable and I needed to eventually focus on my own stability and earnings because clearly my ex was leading us in a direction we would become homeless.
I needed to begin returning to normal working hours to get a business loan.
So here's where things get pretty crazy.
My ex got the DVPO order, they used their friend and known abuser(Justin Gifford) in activists circles to serve it. This person gathered 8-10 DSA members to illegally serve and evict me at 11pm at night.
Everything about this service was illegal.
So thing's have completely exploded with my ex @nat @[email protected]. I had been working to separate from them and planned to move out next month if I was able to make enough money to do so. However tonight I was greated by members of Seattles DSA who served me with DVPO papers and insisted upon sweeping me from my home at midnight. Led by an activist who goes by the name of Joyful and a long time DSA member Bill. This was more cruel, dangerous and unethical than any police sweep. #Seattle #DSA #DARVO
When I pointed out that the service was illegal and that maybe DSA shouldn't be calling themselves abolitionists while evicting black activists at 11pm.... my ex called the cops on me.
My ex claimed it was illegal for me to video tape being served.
It's not. It's obviously perfectly legal to video a cop when they show up claiming to have a warrant etc. This is no different.
#urgent #courtwatch #familylaw #pnw
In the following weeks the person who served me, Justin Gifford, a friend of my ex began harassing people who had helped me move that night. He tracked down a friends mother and called her saying that her son was "supporting an abuser".
My ex & their friend Justin Gifford then sent death threats to a critical witness in an attempt to prevent them from testifying. Justin Gifford is a well known gun owner and ex military member, these are credible threats.
A lot of other bullshit has happened since then but I've had to stay quite until today.
The death threats and witness intimidation is just the tip of the iceburg.
Sadly my ex has filed at least 2-3 false police reports. Frequently for the simple act of asking people to attend #courtwatch for me.
Thankfully my ex does not know where I live currently so I have not had unexpected police contact despite their attempts to have me arrested.
Most recently my ex didn't like the judge's procedural ruling from our first hearing on June 10th. So my ex went and lied to another judge the very next day, claiming there was a need for another hearing.
The judge agreed and gave my ex a more favorable initial ruling.
However neither I or my lawyer were properly served or present for this hearing so it was a literal violation of my constitutional rights to have another hearing with NO notice!
My lawyer then had to do a firedrill to get an emergency hearing to have that ruling overturned. Which we prevailed on, because duh lol.
During that hearing the judge in no uncertain terms said that my ex had lied to him to obtain an invalid hearing and an unconstitutional ruling.
My ex appears to have lied about the timeline of the case, whether I was served and about there being any emergency at all.
The judge was not amused.
The very next day my ex retaliated by threatening to delete my 20yo phone number!
Two days later my ex deleted my phone number!
I currently have no phone service!
I had fully paid off my phone and my phone bill the day after I was served* with the DVPO because I knew for a fact my ex would eventually use any position of control in my life I'd given them to hurt me.
They deleted my number & closed my phone line at a critical time when I had court filings due to boot!
Each one of these little stunts my ex pulls ends up costing lawyer time, which means money.
They have torn me from my daughter, are constantly trying to gin up cops to harm me and are literally sending death threats to my friends and family!
Either way today goes there's sadly a lot of work for my lawyer to do.
Please consider donating a few bucks to help me keep my lawyer!
Paypal/venmo $nullagent
Court is done for today, no arguments were heard and the case has been continued until it's next hearing on July 21st.
My accuser substantially changed key filings last week, submitted an extremely lengthy final reply and did not serve my laywer the new evidence they submitted only to the court.
So the judge ruled that I need to reply to those new documents and need an additional 2 weeks to do so.
Still wondering if I'll be able to see my daughter's 1st bday. 😭
I just opened the first invoice from the lawyer, it's ten thousand dollars.
That's how much it has cost so far to defend myself from this frivolous family court case for "parenting while Black" and setting reasonable relationship boundaries as a Black man in America.
This racist ass country always finds new ways to be a nightmare.
cashapp / venmo $nullagent
$1357 / $4000
I'm basically out of money because I spent $7000 out of pocket this month on lawyers.
I need to pay $3000 basically ASAP to continue having a lawyer for the month.
Update - I have a few weeks to pay
$1357 / $4000
Cashapp / venmo nullagent
Look folks this is a major emergency!
1. I'm facing a false DV accusation
2. It immediately made me homeless and I'm still housing insecure
3. My accuser continues to actively make false claims and statements claiming to be a solo parent as if I'm guilty, we haven't even had the hearing yet!
4. I almost got arrested over an unconstitutional order my ex lied to a judge to obtain.
Anything helps!
$1400 / $4000 (due this month)
Today started off hella stormy.
My lawyer had missed a scheduled checkin yesterday and I was worried he'd already stopped work or would soon. The bill didn't have clear payment deadlines and I've typically found lawyers to be more of the immediate payment types.
I'm STILL paying a major bill that supports my ex and I have other expenses piling up and I was agonizing over the need to pay this lawyer as quickly as possible.
Just in the dumps, you know?
But went and knocked some errands out, finally got yet another phone service and have a working phone again at last.
Caught up with my lawyer to discuss the bill today and thankfully their payment terms are very flexible and they will not stop work until 30days passed due. Dude was just working so hard on the latest filings he forgot to checkin yesterday.
Cannot thank fedi enough for the unwavering support.
So anything still helps but I can see the storm clouds clearing.
$1400 / $4000
Amazing, we're half way to my goal to cover part of legal expenses from June.
I've already paid $7k to lawyers which means finding an additional $3k is pretty tough. I need help paying the rest of the lawyer bill and covering my basic expenses. I also STILL pay for a storage unit used by my ex.
$3000 - June Lawyer bill remaining
$300 - Storage space for my ex
$700 - Bills, food, clothes
$1400 / $4000
Cashapp/venmo $nullagent
Half way to my July mutual aid goal, but sadly bills can't be halfway paid so I still need some help.
Can you help me call this goal complete sooner rather than later?
$1400 / $4000
Cashapp/venmo $nullagent
#Urgent #MutualAidRequest #PNW #BlackMastodon #ParentingWhileBlack
It's Monday morning, I've been up all night getting court documents ready. Would you mind throwing me a few bucks so i can get breakfast and lunch and not have to worry?
It takes so much economic cost to even have a shot of complying with ridiculous court orders with actual paperwork. But to also make me homeless in the process is clear no one is expected to have justice.
$1400 / $4000
Cashapp/venmo $nullagent
#Urgent #MutualAidRequest #PNW #BlackMastodon #ParentingWhileBlack
Still trying to catch up to court expenses. I just pad $336 for the storage space my ex uses.
I can't actually afford these types of bills on top of the $3000 in lawyers fees they have caused me.
Anything you can do to help means more money for me to remain housed and able to work with my lawyer to resolve this seperation.
$1400 / $4000
Cashapp/venmo $nullagent
#Urgent #MutualAidRequest #PNW #BlackMastodon #ParentingWhileBlack
Back in court today, wish me luck!
If you're able to court watch at 9am PST I'd appreciate the support, linked below 👇🏿
I hopefully will find out if I'll be able to share my daughter's first birthday with her next month. Parenting while black in America is wild.
I'm still also working on catching up on legal bills of June and can really use any donations if you're able.
Venmo/cashapp $nullagent
Thanks again for the support!
Curve ball, the judge today had a conflict of interest and needed to recuse herself so everything remains in limbo until we return to court on August 12th.
I'm STILL trying to rescue my 20yr old phone number before it expires and is resold. The judge today had to order my ex to return it and my ex lied to the judge once more claiming that they hadn't deleted it when infact my ex is the only person who could have deleted it because they are the sole owner of the phone plan.
The judge ruled that neither party can delete any other parties services, this is an extremely ordinary requests and I of course have abided this norm the entire time.
The only party who has broken the court order and threatened to delete any service was my ex.
The only party whose services have been deleted in violation of the order is me and my phone line.
With your continued donations I'm able to continue complying until the next hearing.
Thanks again for the support!
Help urgently needed.
I'm still over $1500 short of my lawyer bill which is due on only four days!
$3000 - June Lawyer bill remaining
$700 - Bills, food, clothes
PAID - July storage bill (thanks, I was able to knock this one out with your help!)
$1856 / $4000
Cashapp/venmo $nullagent
This feels like one of this NPR fundraising factoids but
If 10% of the people who see this post donate $10 I'd probably hit my #MutualAidRequest and you'd be materially helping a black father have better outcomes with the police state.
Complying with courts and cops costs money.
And when you run out of money they will try to put you in jail unconstitutionally.
venmo / cashapp / paypal - nullagent
$1856 / $4000
nullagent
House Panther 
Menno