In re McCool

• Decision Date: 30 June 2015
• Docket Number: No. 2015–B–0284.,2015–B–0284.
• Citation: 172 So.3d 1058
• Parties: In re Joyce Nanine McCOOL.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

172 So.3d 1058

In re Joyce Nanine McCOOL.

No. 2015–B–0284.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

June 30, 2015.

Office of Disciplinary Counsel, Charles Bennett Plattsmier, Tammy Pruet Northrup, Baton Rouge, LA, for Applicant.

McCool Law, LLC, Mandeville, LA, Joyce Nanine McCool; Richard Ducote, PC, Richard Lynn Ducote, Metairie, LA, for Respondent.

ATTORNEY DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDING

KNOLL, Justice.^*

This disciplinary matter arises from formal charges filed by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel (“ODC”) against respondent, Joyce Nanine McCool,¹ an attorney licensed to practice law in Louisiana.

UNDERLYING FACTS

The underlying facts of this case are rather complex. By way of background, respondent was friends with Raven Skye Boyd Maurer (“Raven”). Following Raven's divorce in 2006, she and her former husband were involved in a bitter child custody dispute. Raven accused her ex-husband of sexually abusing their two young daughters, H. and Z.,² and unsuccessfully sought to terminate his parental rights in proceedings pending in Mississippi before Judge Deborah Gambrell.³ Respondent is not admitted to the Mississippi Bar and was not admitted pro hac vice in Raven's Mississippi case, but she did offer assistance to Raven as a friend.

Meanwhile, respondent filed a petition in St. Tammany Parish on behalf of Raven's new husband, who sought to adopt H. and Z. The presiding judge, Judge Dawn Amacker, stayed the intrafamily adoption proceedings pending resolution of the Mississippi matter. Judge Amacker also declined to exercise subject matter jurisdiction in response to a motion for emergency custody filed by respondent on Raven's behalf. After Judge Amacker issued her ruling declining to exercise subject matter jurisdiction, respondent filed a writ application with the First Circuit Court of Appeal, which was denied.⁴ On August 31, 2011, this Court likewise denied writs. Maurer v. Boyd, 11–1787 (La.8/31/11), 68 So.3d 517.

Unhappy with the various rulings made by Judge Gambrell and Judge Amacker and believing those rulings were legally wrong, respondent drafted an online petition entitled “Justice for [H] and [Z]” which she and Raven posted on the internet at change.org, along with a photo of the two girls. With regard to the Mississippi proceeding before Judge Gambrell, the online petition stated:

To Judge Deborah Gambrell, we, the undersigned, ask that you renounce jurisdiction in this matter to the Louisiana court because the children have lived exclusively in Louisiana for the past three years. Their schools, teachers, physicians, therapists, little sister and brother and the vast majority of significant contacts are now in Louisiana. There is also an adoption proceeding pending in Louisiana over which Louisiana has jurisdiction and in the interest of judicial economy, and the best interest of the girls, Louisiana is the more appropriate forum to oversee ensure [sic] the “best interest” of the girls are protected. If you refuse to relinquish jurisdiction to Louisiana, we insist that you remove the Guardian Ad Litem currently assigned to the case, and replace him with one that has the proper training and experience in investigating allegations of child sexual abuse in custody proceedings. We further insist that, in keeping [with] S.G. v. D.C., 13 So.3d 269 (Miss.2009), you specifically define the Guardian Ad Litem's role in the suit; require the new Guardian Ad Litem [to] prepare a written report; require that the report be shared with all parties prior to a hearing; that all proceeding be conducted on the record, with advance notice and opportunity to be heard, and that an evidentiary hearing be conducted to review the allegations of child sexual abuse, and that no visitation be allowed until you have seen all of the evidence.

As to Judge Amacker and the Louisiana proceedings, the petition stated:

To Judge Amacker, we, the undersigned, insist that you withdraw the unlawful stay of the adoption proceedings currently pending in your court, and, in accordance with La.Ch.C. art. 1253, a hearing be set with all due speed to allow the girls' stepfather to show why it is in the girls' best interest that they be adopted by him, thereby terminating all parental rights of the girls' biological father.

Respondent re-posted the online petition on her blog site and in online articles she authored, one of which again included a photo of the two girls. She provided contact information for the judges' offices and this Court, and added comments in which she solicited and encouraged others to express their feelings to the judges and this Court about the pending cases:

In spite of overwhelming evidence that the girls have been abused by their father, the judge in Mississippi, Judge Deborah Gambrell, of the Chancery Court of Marion County, Mississippi, refuses to even look at the evidence, and has now ordered the girls be sent to unsupervised visitation with their father.

Judge Dawn Amacker, in the 22nd JDC, Division L, for the Parish of St. Tammany in Louisiana also refused to protect the girls, even though she has the power and authority to protect them. RM now has an application to the LA supreme court, asking that it order Judge Amacker to protect the children.

Insist that Judge Amacker and Judge Gambrell do their jobs! If you want more info, go to [website] and read the writ application to the LA supreme court.

Please sign the petition, circulate it to all of your friends and families and call Judge Amacker and Judge Gambrell during the hours of 8:30 to 5:00 starting Monday, August 15 to ask why they won't follow the law and protect these children. Let them know you're watching and expect them to do their job and most of all, make sure these precious little girls are safe!

Call the Louisiana Supreme Court and tell them you want the law to protect these girls [phone number]. [A]sk about the writ pending that was filed by attorney Nanine McCool on Friday, August 12, 2011.

Let's turn this around and be [H's] hero. Please sign the Care2 petition and continue to call Judge Gambrell to ask her why she is unwilling to afford [H] and [Z] simple justice.

You can sign the petition and lend your voice to this cause here. Or, you can contact directly. Contact information is: [provided contact information for the judges].

In response to the postings made by respondent, on August 14, 2011—two days prior to a hearing in Mississippi on Raven's motion for contempt and to terminate her former husband's parental rights—Judge Gambrell's staff received an e-mail from Heather Lyons, a signer of the online petition. Ms. Lyons stated she lived and voted in Forrest County, Mississippi, and she would “be paying attention” to Raven's case “due to the fact that Judge Gambrell refused to hear evidence of abuse in the case of little girls who are likely being molested by their father. She has an obligation to protect our most vulnerable children. Please do not let them down judge!”

A copy of the online petition and comments thereto was then filed with the Marion County Chancery Clerk of Court's Office (“Marion County Court”) and faxed directly to Judge Amacker's office in Louisiana, apparently by Raven or her mother. On August 22, 2011, Judge Amacker had her administrative assistant return the petition to respondent with instructions respondent caution her client against ex parte communications with the judge.

Undaunted, respondent continued her online and social media campaign, further disseminating the sexual abuse allegations and even going so far as to link the audio recordings in which Raven and her children discussed the alleged abuse.⁵ Respondent also stated (falsely) that no judge had ever heard these recordings because Judge Gambrell refused to allow the recordings into evidence and Judge Amacker refused to conduct a hearing:

Listen to their 1st disclosure to Raven: [link to recording] and a day later, their second: [link to recording]

Now consider that no judge has ever heard those recordings. Why? Because for 4.5 years, the judges have simply refuse [sic] to do so. On August 16, 2011, Judge Deborah Gambrell in the Chancery Court of Marion County, Mississippi, once again refused to admit all of Raven's evidence, including these recordings, and ordered that [H] and [Z] have visits with their father in the house where they both report having been molested by their father in the past.

Judge Dawn Amacker in the 22nd Judicial District Court for the Parish of St. Tammany in Louisiana is also refusing to hear any evidence or to protect [H] and [Z], even though the law requires her to have a hearing and to take evidence.

Their dad keeps calling them liars and saying that their mom is making them say it. All their mom wants is for a judge to look at ALL the evidence and THEN decide who to believe. Don't you think Judge Gambrell and Judge Amacker should look at the evidence before they make [H] and [Z] go back to their father's house where there is no one to protect them except the person they are most afraid of?

[H] still loves her daddy. She just wants him to stop doing what he is doing to her. She does not feel safe with him alone. She said as much in her journal, but Judge Gambrell refused to allow it as evidence and Judge Amacker just ignored her.

Sign our petition telling the judges that there can be no justice for [H] and [Z], or any child, if the law and evidence is ignored. Tell them they must look at the evidence before they make a decision that will affect the rest of [H] and [Z]'s lives. Ask yourself, what if these were your daughters?

Have questions want to do more to help? Email us at [address] and someone will respond within 24 hours. Want to see more, go to [website] and read the writ submitted to the Louisiana Supreme Court on August 12, 2011.

Horrified? Call the judges and let them know: [contact information provided]

Respondent also used her personal Twitter account to promote the online petition and to otherwise draw attention to the audio recordings and the manner in which the...