Haynes v. Williams
| Decision Date | 08 June 2022 |
| Docket Number | 1:21-CV-160-ACL |
| Parties | CYNTHIA K. HAYNES, Plaintiffs, v. JENNIFER WILLIAMS, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri |
This matter is before the Court on four separate motions to dismiss. (Docs. 29, 31, 33, 58.) The motions are fully briefed and ready for disposition.
This action stems from the tragic death of M.H., Plaintiff Cynthia K. Haynes' minor child, due to suicide. Divorce proceedings between Plaintiff and her husband Charles Haynes (“Charles”) have been ongoing since 2013 in the Ripley County Circuit Court (“Divorce Case”). Charles is currently serving a seven-year term of imprisonment at the Farmington Correctional Facility in St Francois County, Missouri, for sodomy of M.H.'s older stepsister M.S.H.
Defendant Jennifer Williams, an attorney licensed in the State of Missouri, was appointed guardian ad litem (“GAL”) in the divorce case. She served as GAL for M.H. from May 6 2016, through November 24, 2018. Williams was employed by the law firm Spain, Miller LLC (“Spain, Miller”) from May 2016 until December 2019. From December 2019 until April 29, 2021, Williams was a sole proprietor and used the fictitious name of “Williams Law.”
Defendant Bernice Haynes (“Bernice”) is Charles' mother, and intervened in the divorce proceedings to seek custody of M.H. and her sister S.H. Bernice was awarded physical custody and sole decision-maker responsibility for M.H. on December 22, 2016. At that time, Plaintiff was awarded unsupervised visitation, and Charles was granted supervised visitation at Bernice's home.
The Amended Complaint (“Complaint”) alleges that Charles was present and unsupervised most of the time at Bernice's home, and came into M.H.'s room in the middle of the night to sexually abuse her. M.H. would frequently run to Plaintiff's home in the middle of the night, because she was terrified of Charles.
M.H reported the abuse to Williams. Williams did not report the abuse to the divorce court, and instead accused Plaintiff of manipulating M.H. Williams told Plaintiff and M.H. that she would cut their visitation time if Plaintiff interfered with Bernice's custodial rights. Plaintiff requested that Williams recuse herself from the Haynes divorce, but Williams said she would not recuse herself.
In January 2017, when M.H. was twelve years of age, Plaintiff discovered M.H. was mutilating herself while in Bernice's custody. Plaintiff took M.H. to a local hospital, which referred her to a hospital in St. Louis. M.H. was hospitalized on January 29, 2017, in a locked psychiatric ward for treatment of self-mutilation behavior.
Williams acted as Charles' lawyer, and threatened M.H. that if she, M.S.H., or Plaintiff testified against Charles in his criminal case, Williams would recommend that the children be returned to foster care. Williams advocated for Charles to spend time with S.H. and M.H. through visits and reunification therapy. Williams also falsely alleged that Plaintiff was guilty of educational neglect. Relying on Williams' allegation of educational neglect, the divorce court placed M.H. and S.H. into the custody of the Department of Family Services (“DFS”).
M.H. was admitted into a psychiatric unit between March 20 and March 23, 2017, because her foster parents noticed that she was cutting herself. Medical records noted that M.H. was not happy being in foster care and experienced thoughts of self-harm due to her father's trial being pushed back.
At an April 27, 2017 DFS meeting, M.H.'s foster parents produced a disturbing letter M.H. had written that included references to engaging in sexual activity with Charles. DFS officials and Plaintiff told Williams about M.H.'s note. Williams did not address M.H.'s letter, but continued to raise her concerns about Plaintiff's educational neglect of M.H. at a May 2017 DFS meeting. On June 7, 2017, a DFS-appointed therapist wrote a letter to DFS recommending that M.H. and S.H. be returned home to reside with their mother, and stating that it was not in the best interest of the children to have contact with their father or paternal grandmother. The therapist subsequently recused himself from therapy because he disagreed with Williams about therapeutic goals.
In July 2017, a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (“CASA”) worker wrote a letter to the divorce court reporting that M.H. had undergone intelligence testing due to the allegations of educational neglect, which reveled she was within or above the appropriate grade levels as her peers. The CASA worker also indicated that M.H. had expressed concern about her relationship with Williams, and felt that Williams was really Charles' lawyer.
On a July 27, 2017 visit with her pediatrician Dr. Roger Bost, M.H. reported that Charles was sexually molesting her when she stayed at her grandmother's house. M.H. stated that she became depressed and started cutting herself as a result. After M.H.'s disclosure of the abuse to Dr. Bost, Dr. Bost tested M.H. for sexually transmitted diseases and noted in his records that M.H. was sexually abused. Dr. Bost authored a letter that was delivered to the divorce court, DFS, and Williams, in which he stated that it did not sound wise to permit Charles or Bernice access to M.H. or S.H., in light of the evidence Charles had sexually abused M.H. Williams continued to advocate for Charles' meetings with M.H. and S.H., while threatening Plaintiff with the loss of Plaintiff's custodial rights.
On July 27, 2017, the juvenile court returned M.H. and S.H. to Plaintiff's custody after finding there was no educational neglect on Plaintiff's part. The juvenile cases remained open due to Williams' continued objections to Plaintiff having custody.
On September 2, 2017, DFS appointed Jerry Marks, Ph.D. as counselor to M.H. and S.H. Dr. Marks' September 8, 2017 letter noted that M.H. had been sexually abused by Charles, who was awaiting court action for the alleged abuse of another daughter living at the house. DFS reports from September and October 2017 noted that the girls did not want contact with Charles or Bernice, although Williams still insisted on therapeutic visits with Charles. M.H. reported to M.S.H. that she was scared because Williams told her that if she testified against Charles, Williams would place her and S.H. back in foster care. In a December 2017 letter to DFS, Dr. Marks indicated that M.H. experienced real trauma in the moves to foster homes and the various schools she attended. M.H. reported that she was happy to be home with her mother and had been on the honor roll the most recent term.
Williams came to M.H.'s school weekly after July 2017, and threatened M.H. that if she, M.S.H., or Plaintiff testified in Charles' criminal case, Williams would return M.H. and S.H. to foster care. On several occasions, Williams also threatened to place M.H. into “juvie” if M.H. testified against Charles. Williams ordered M.H. to keep Williams' conversations from her mother and sister in order to avoid foster care.
In a March 30, 2018 letter to the DFS and the juvenile court, Dr. Marks indicated that M.H. reported to him that Williams had been coming to see her at school. Williams brought two rounds of gifts from Charles and her paternal grandmother and asked M.H. about Plaintiff's psychological testing. Dr. Marks stated that it seemed to him that Williams was using her access to M.H. to put pressure on her about the upcoming trial of Charles relating to the sexual abuse of M.S.H., and to suggest M.H. could go back into foster care if she testified against Charles. Dr. Marks wrote a letter to the Assistant Attorney General for the State of Missouri assigned to investigate Charles' sexual abuse of M.S.H. on May 22, 2018. Dr. Marks raised concerns about M.H.'s safety when with Charles and Bernice. He also expressed his belief that the divorce court mishandled Plaintiff's divorce case and that Williams was pressuring M.H. not to testify at Charles' criminal trial.
On June 27, 2018, the juvenile court terminated its jurisdiction and awarded physical and legal custody of M.H. and S.H. to Plaintiff.
On September 4, 2018, Charles pleaded guilty to second degree statutory sodomy of a minor, a Class C felony, for sexually abusing M.S.H. On November 23, 2018, M.H. told Plaintiff and M.S.H. that Williams threatened her again that if M.S.H., Plaintiff, or M.H. testified against Charles at his upcoming sentencing hearing, Williams would return M.H. and S.H. to foster care. Williams told M.H. that she would be asking the court to put Charles on probation at his sentencing hearing on November 26, 2018. On November 23, 2018, M.H. told Plaintiff and M.S.H., “I am scared of going back to foster care, ” “I'm going to kill myself first before I go back to foster care, ” and “I can't deal with dad anymore, if he is free on probation.”
On November 24, 2018, M.H. hung herself.
On December 12, 2018, Williams testified at Charles' sentencing hearing, requesting that he be placed on probation instead of being incarcerated. Neither Plaintiff nor M.S.H. testified at Charles' sentencing due to their fears that Williams would take steps to have S.H. returned to foster care.
In a letter to Plaintiff's attorney dated March 17, 2022, Dr. Marks stated, in relevant part:
It is my understanding that the GAL who was appointed to the cases of both S.H. and M.H. testified at trial on behalf of Mr. Haynes. This testimony, if it occurred, is in my opinion more than just a conflict of interest and may rise to the level of professional misconduct. Since the
entire process of the criminal case was suspicious and may have been the cause of M.H.'s death by suicide; I want...
To continue reading
Request your trial