May, 2006
There used to be a well-known guy from Methuen named Greg Hyatt – he who would cry about conspiracies, the corrupt court system, and how everyone was wrong but him. He had a Web site where he would slander and vilify people he did not like, blaming everyone but himself for his problems.
Well, there is a new Greg in town and his name is Kevin Thompson. Kevin is a disgruntled dad and teacher from Methuen who had his day in court and lost. He had a second bite at the apple when he appealed the court’s ruling and lost the appeal as well.
The court case was a custody battle with his son’s mother for custody of their son. After a trial, the mother won both physical and legal custody. Much of what was presented at trial was sealed, like the DSS reports, for the protection of the minor son.
In Family Court, the standard used is “the best interest of the child.” The judge in this case found that based upon the evidence, it was in the best interest of the child for the mother to have both legal and physical custody.
After losing in court, Thompson has taken his fight to the media, blaming the judges, the entire court system, the mother, the mother’s lawyer, and everyone but himself for his loss.
In a prepared statement he presented before the court, Thompson states, “My Motion for Relief was filed to give the witnesses and press here today more proof of the kind of injustice that fathers experience every day in family court.”
It appears that his focus is on the press, rather than his son. His priorities are obviously flawed as one does not file motions for the press and witnesses.
Because of his constant anger – and being further fueled by others like the fatherhood coalition – Mr. Thompson wrote a book giving his version of the case and the “corruption in the court system.”
The book contained slanderous statements attributed to Judge Manzi, Judge Digangi, the court clerks, the mother’s lawyer, and the mother.
The book also contained sensitive and privileged information about the son. When the mother found out about this disclosure, she filed to have the book impounded.
As the mother had been awarded legal custody, she has sole authority over what information is released about her son. There is also an automatic impounding of sensitive information like a DSS report. The judge agreed with the mother and ordered that privileged information about the son and any information about the DSS report be deleted from the book.
Kevin Thompson now calls this a “book ban.”
He has refused to edit the book and now the book has been removed from sale on his publisher’s Web site. Because he could not discuss the DSS report and any other sensitive medical information to the press and public, he can not then write a book discussing the same information under the guises of the “first amendment.”
Thompson also chose to represent himself, and because he failed to understand the court’s rules of evidence, he was not able to present certain items at trial. He blames the judge rather than himself for not knowing the rules.
His motion was also dismissed because he filed a “motion” rather than a “complaint.”
Mr. Thompson seems not to understand the rules again, and thinks that such details are minor and should not have prevented him from his day in court. Rules are an integral part of the legal system and must be taken seriously. When an officer fails to read someone his Miranda rights, should we say “oh, minor mistake, not a big deal.” No, the legal system lives by rules of law. Had Mr. Thompson hired a lawyer who understood this, maybe his fate would have been different.
So, instead of taking responsibility for his own actions and court losses, Mr. Thompson blames the entire legal system as just being one big corrupt conspiracy, and that everyone is wrong but himself.
Thompson is a teacher in the Methuen public schools and sources in the school system have said that his book and custody battle have disrupted and affected his teaching, and that Thompson has been given several warnings about his behavior.
Mr. Thompson was even willing to go to jail for refusing to abide by the court order to not disseminate his book.
Does this really sound like a good father and role model who wants to spend time with his son?