Did rob go to jail? what happened outside the court house before court july 13?

July 13, 2012

Can I just say, "Oh Geeze" does Michael Terpening ever even try to mask what he is? This would be leader in child welfare lost his cool this morning outside court. It's a fun story, so let's set up the scene. Rob arrives about 7:45 am utterly clueless where to go as the doors all appear to be blocked. For those who don't know, the building is under high security on Terpening court days.

So I am wandering around and there was Mike Terpening with his wife and an older woman in the parking lot. Mike's been there a lot, so he knew where to go. I was still mystified. I greeted Michael with a pleasant, "Good morning Michael"  and kept walking past. One of the women made a remark, "That was inappropriate" and I turned around asking, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you?"

At this point I have my back to the court house and I'm facing the street. Mike is facing the building away from the street. As this encounter began a sheriff's deputy pulled into the lot pausing just in the drive to observe. Terpening would not have been able to see the deputy.

Terpening says, "You're going to have a problem, Dewey, in two seconds if you don't keep moving."

I did not move and kept my good morning smile saying "One.."

Terpening angrily interjects, "What?"

I start the count over, "One, two."  pausing to let Terpening choose the next action. He does nothing. The Sheriff's deputy was fully stopped watching the incident.  Both women are watching me and I look Mrs. Terpening in the eyes and politely say, "I know he beats you."

Just for the record, we've had that information for some time, but we've held onto it. For some reason it just seemed to be the right thing to say. It was not said to hurt her, but more to say people know what you are going through.

Terpening moved on quietly with no further incident.

Skipping ahead...The judge starts with Terpening's subpoena ordering me to appear. As you may recall the subpoena was opposed by a lawyer hired to represent my interests in this case. Our position was the subpoena, served on a Sunday night without the required witness fee, was not lawfully served and Terpening was doing little but abusing the process, in the first place.

The judge agreed the subpoena was not lawfully served and Terpening's lawyer while fumbling through the court rules was unable to find any authority to support his contentions. Terpening's unserved motion to hold me in contempt went no where.

Rather than serve me again and return sometime next week, we offered to allow Terpening's lawyer questions limited to a party in the case giving me information who was gagged. This was important because information comes from a number of sources, none of whom are subject to the gag order. Information obtained by the Freedom of Information Act, the court ruled, cannot be gagged. By limiting what Terpening's lawyers could ask in advance, sources were protected.

Terpening's lawyer agreed to the offer and I took the stand. At one point Terpening's lawyer attempted to get information from a source that is within the Terpening family. I refused on the stand telling counsel that his client's family and friends would savage anyone named and that I would not give that information.

My lawyer was able to jump in and save Terpening's lawyer and me by suggesting questions like, "Did you get information from the police, did you get information from the prosecutor" and so forth. The judge agreed and the effort to go around our agreement to limit the questions ended.

The rest of the hearing was fairly uneventful. Here are a few points...

Terpening wants to call a psychiatrist to testify about two victims having mental illness possibly leading to their lying. As it turns out the doctor discussed on of the kids only to realize he was using the wrong name for about 10 minutes and he suggested someone's perceptions may be altered shortly after starting medication. What Terpening wanted will not be allowed at trial.

The psychologist the defense called was unprepared and could not readily recall the two victims he'd only seen once. His testimony will be limited to discussing, generally, how someone with a mood disorder may not always tell the truth. Hardly earth shattering for the defendant, everyone can lie something the psychiatrist agreed he did from time to time under cross examination.

The prosecution has some 700 pages of Facebook messages they are still processing. Much of that and other consultations will be worked out with between the sides with trial tentatively set for the end of August with an expectation of one more day for issues needing a decision from the  judge.

I am told the people attending in support of Terpening is the smallest group ever. We had Judith Faye in a far too small bright yellow sun dress with a name tag. Assyria Township Supervisor Mike Timmons showed up apparently just off skid row. Jamie Moore Bell was there in her long rainbow skirt showing off her best sarcastic faces as I spoke. (Just saying, Jamie, get it under control, the jury will see you and is not going to think highly of Michael's family) Susan Ward Gillihan arrived quietly and left with Jamie early on. Mr. Terpening's father appeared as did his mother, they did not sit together, though.

Hannah Coy made no appearance.

Mike worked hard at writing notes while chewing gum in court. A couple of times he'd fix his eyes on me as I sat in the audience following my testimony. He never looked up while I testified. When he'd fix eyes I simply looked back, Mike I have nothing to fear from your looks, your lawyers or your silly threats in the parking lot.

I must say the lawyer who stepped in to help me in this case was spectacular and well prepared as he represented my interests. After not appearing twice he let me know it was time to show up today, I took that advice and the sources of this website remain protected. The attempt to intimidate someone exercising his freedom of speech failed miserably. I deeply appreciate his work on my behalf! He protect my rights and the rights of anyone who may not have my resources, and I enjoyed seeing Terpening not get what he wants, enough people have been abuse just since his arrest, often just kid who step forward to report abuse who have nothing.

Oops, did I mention Terpening's lawyer agreed to send the witness fee he didn't send? Thanks, Mike!