Monday, May 10, 1999
Ohio couple 'kidnapping' Justin, lawyer contends
BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Just to make a point, Fort Mitchell attorney Eric C. Deters has thought about filing litigation against the attorneys representing Rich and Cheryl Asente, who have been trying to adopt Justin despite the wishes of his biological parents.
“They're part of the problem,” said Mr. Deters of Mitchell Charney of Louisville and Susan Eisenman of Columbus. (The Asentes) have no right to be holding that child right now. It's a kidnapping.”
Mr. Charney and Ms. Eisenman, who could not be reached for comment, have been advising the Asentes to appeal a Kenton Circuit Court ruling in February that ordered them to return Justin to his biological parents, Regina Moore and Jerry Dorning.
Mr. Deters filed a civil law suit against the Asentes of Girard, Ohio, this week in Kenton Circuit, demanding the return of the child and an unspecified amount in damages.
He admits that he took a novel approach by claiming in the court documents that the couple had breached a contract by refusing to give back the child when they had signed documents conceding the risk of the biological parents changing their minds.
After that lawsuit was filed, Ms. Eisenman said Mr. Deters had “a very interesting legal theory” but she questioned whether money and the return of a child could be included in such a suit dealing with the welfare of a child.
Mr. Deters, who also has filed a lawsuit against the attorney representing Ms. Moore and Mr. Dorning when they asked for the return of Justin, scoffed at Ms. Eisenman's objections.
“It's hocus pocus. Susan Eisenman, Mitch Charney and the rest of them are playing this little game to portray (the biological parents) in a bad light,” he said. The lawsuit is “about getting their child back.”
Ms. Moore and Mr. Dorning are an unmarried couple. Mr. Dorning is married to another woman.
When Ms. Moore gave birth to Justin in 1997, she already had given birth to two other children who do not live with her. One of them, 3-year-old Joey, already has been adopted by the Asentes. He has been
with the couple since he was 11 days old.
Ms. Moore has told Mr. Deters that she was too young when she had her first two children but that Justin was different. He lived with her almost a year before she and Mr. Dorning placed him with the Asentes on Feb. 17, 1998, because of financial struggles and her health problems.
The couple already had signed consents, but they did so with the understanding that they would have until a special March 1998 hearing, which was to terminate their parental rights of Justin, to change their minds.
They made it known that they wanted Justin back on that day, but the Asentes did not grant their request. After a trial earlier this year, Kenton Circuit Judge Patricia Summe invalidated the consents and ruled that Justin be returned to his biological parents.
Although the Asentes have appealed that decision, Judge Summe has been supported by the Kentucky Court of Appeals, which has said that the biological parents had a right to believe that they had until the March hearing to make up their minds. Since then, the Asentes have filed an appeal with the Kentucky Supreme Court.
Justin remains with the Asentes, who have been trying to adopt him since June in Trumbull County Probate Court. In April, Visiting Judge R.R. Denny Clunk of Stark County kept their adoption petitions alive, said Ohio has jurisdiction of Justin and suspended the visits that Judge Summe had ordered so that the child could become familiar with his biological parents before any final move took place.
No visits have occurred since then, and attorneys representing Ms. Moore and Mr. Dorning in the Trumbull County Probate Court proceedings have filed an appeal with the Ohio Court of Appeals to protest Judge Clunk's rulings.
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