24 MR. BROWN: Eve and I have one thing in common.
25 We are passionate parents. We adore our daughter. She
62
1 is everything to both of us. And I will always love Eve
2 for being the mother of my daughter. I see Eve in
3 Stella from her music to her smile. I love to see the
4 wonderful traits of Eve showing up in Stella.
5 Nonetheless, I have big concerns about Eve's emotional
6 stability and conflict-prone nature and the risk that
7 she could pass them on to Stella.
8 And for that reason, I believe that Stella is
9 best under my care. This is not to say that I don't
10 hope that Eve is in Stella's life. In fact, I fully
11 support her having Stella 50 percent of the time. But I
12 think that she should have treatment or at least be
13 evaluated for treatment. I thought dialectic behavior
14 therapy would be appropriate because I am concerned from
15 everything that I have read from the beginning of our
16 relationship that characteristics will be passed down.
17 Some may have already passed down genetically.
18 But it's been seen going from Eve's mother
19 to Eve by Ellen Simon. And I'm very concerned for
20 Stella, and I don't think that primary custody of Stella
21 for Eve is appropriate.
22 THE COURT: You're going to list the reasons
23 why?
24 MR. BROWN: Given Eve's proven tendency to make
25 accusations to me about doctors, doctor shop, I don't
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1 think it's appropriate for Eve to have final say on
2 doctors nor on school choices. Unlike me, Eve's made
3 clear she wants to reduce my role in Stella's life and
4 for me to live far away.
5 MS. FURNISS: Objection. Calls for facts not
6 in evidence.
7 THE COURT: It's argument based on the
8 evidence. Overruled.
9 MR. BROWN: I think this is due to an
10 irrational fear of me and I think this is not in
11 Stella's interest for Eve's issues about me to reduce
12 the amount of parenting time I have with Stella. Stella
13 needs balance she gets from me or she will grow up
14 anxiety ridden and fearful and frankly miserable as I
15 believe Eve is. I believe Eve is a tortured soul, and I
16 sincerely wish she will find a way to work that out for
17 Stella and for her.
18 This case is rather convoluted. It's
19 complicated by being a move-away. I know that the law
20 doesn't allow Your Honor --
21 THE REPORTER: Mr. Brown, can you slow down,
22 please.
23 MR. BROWN: I'm sorry.
24 This case is rather convoluted. It's
25 complicated by being a move-away. And I know the law
64
1 doesn't allow Your Honor to consider the possibility
2 that either parent would move to Stella's home base,
3 whether it be Chico or San Francisco, even though I feel
4 it is obvious either parent would do so because of just
5 how important Stella is to each of us.
6 So I have to argue this in the sense of that I
7 am the more appropriate parent and that I am absolutely
8 capable of being primary parent to Stella. I would
9 rather argue for San Francisco, rather, versus Chico,
10 but apparently that's not one I could make.
11 The other thing that complicates this is: This
12 isn't just Brown versus Bordoli, but Brown versus Dr.
13 Newton. Dr. Newton, our custody evaluator, went through
14 a long process, and he came to conclusions about me and
15 conclusions about Eve. He offered recommendations.
16 And I believe his approach and his conclusions
17 are wrong. His recommendations are not in Stella's
18 interests. I don't know what his agenda was, but he
19 certainly seemed to have an intense dislike for me. I
20 don't know why other than Eve can be pretty convincing
21 if you don't think too hard about what she's actually
22 saying. I think Eve probably believes most of what she
23 says, but I don't think that makes it true.
24 There are various plausible scenarios whereby
25 Dr. Newton might have somehow been rubbed the wrong way
65
1 by me, but it certainly isn't common for anyone to have
2 such a negative impression of me. I don't want to
3 psychoanalyze the psychologist, but a careful reading of
4 his evaluation, especially if you've seen the evidence I
5 submitted to both Dr. Newton and the Court, makes it
6 staggeringly obvious that something is amiss.
7 THE COURT: Are you going to list what
8 evidence?
9 MR. BROWN: Yes.
10 THE COURT: Thank you.
11 MR. BROWN: You've heard the audio recording of
12 September 23rd, 2011, where Eve went into a frenzy while
13 driving and attacked me. Dr. Newton didn't even
14 understand, despite my written explanation and despite
15 references to wrecking the car, that Eve was driving the
16 car. He asked, "Why didn't you pull off?"
17 MS. FURNISS: Objection. I don't believe we
18 heard any testimony.
19 MR. BROWN: We did. I discussed that with Dr.
20 Newton.
21 THE COURT: There were questions in this regard
22 to Dr. Newton.
23 MS. FURNISS: Okay. My apologies.
24 THE COURT: That's all right. It's overruled.
25 MR. BROWN: I don't understand how he could
66
1 miss this critical detail. Does he seriously think I
2 would continue driving while she's doing this?
3 And on the stand, he couldn't even admit that
4 this was a case of domestic violence. He kept saying it
5 isn't a pattern despite all the evidence otherwise that
6 it is a pattern and despite the way it goes on so long
7 and we can hear clearly how her frenzied state comes and
8 goes in waves. That's not a normal just "I lost my
9 temper, and now I regain it." It's something very
10 different.
11 But regardless of whether it's --
12 THE COURT: If I may.
13 MR. BROWN: I'm sorry.
14 THE COURT: Do we have a CD of that recording?
15 Did you make one?
1
-- snipped long discussion of CD and how to submit it --
3 And regardless of whether it's a pattern, it
4 was odd how hard it was for me to get Dr. Newton to
5 finally admit, yes, this was domestic violence. It
6 doesn't require a broad definition of domestic violence
7 that disturbing one's peace counts. No. This was
8 punching repeatedly, threatening my life with a car, and
9 a long series of horrible insults and threats to not
10 just me, but my mother. Meanwhile, I'm, for the most
11 part, either quiet, occasionally argued back a little,
12 but I wasn't keeping this going.
13 And keep in mind that this is a week before our
14 wedding, the wedding Eve had poured her heart and soul
15 into for the past six months. This is her baby at the
16 time. And she was so out of control for so long and
17 wasn't able to pull herself together. And she must have
18 known that most rational people in my place would have
19 pulled out. For whatever reason, I couldn't do that to
20 Eve. I knew what an utter humiliation it would have
21 been for her, and I thought she was too fragile to
22 handle it if I was to cancel the wedding right before
23 it.
24 And I naively put my trust in couples
25 counseling to eventually help us out, and I also thought
70
1 that things like my offer to record things or whatever
2 would eventually be -- would keep things under control.
3 Dr. Newton basically didn't think this event
4 was significant enough to make more than an extremely
5 brief mention of the incident in his report with nothing
6 applied to his conclusions, and I think that's
7 unacceptable.
8 He did quote another car incident in his
9 report, one in which I supposedly slammed on the brakes
10 and yelled "Shut up" at Eve. He never bothered to ask
11 me about the incident, which he admits is not consistent
12 with his policy. He doesn't even question why I would
13 slam on the brakes and yell "Shut up" when we're low on
14 gas or what Eve was doing at the time. A logical
15 conclusion was: She was berating me while we were in a
16 potential crisis in front of our baby.
17 And I did make it to the gas station, by the
18 way. And I was pulling off the road until she would
19 stop. Exactly like what he said I should do, should have done
20 in the previous incident, but in that one, I wasn't
21 driving.
22 So he certainly would have heard this if he had
23 bothered to ask me about it. But instead, he just goes
24 ahead and uses it as a key incident to support his
25 conclusion straight out of from what you heard from her,
71
1 and not my version.
2 In an even more outrageous error, he is
3 massively confused about the incident that occupied the
4 bulk of Eve's testimony, the incident of September 8,
5 2015.
6 MS. FURNISS: 2014.
7 MR. BROWN: '14, sorry. I never had the chance
8 to address her narrative of events as yesterday was the
9 first I knew of it despite many times asking for it.
10 MS. FURNISS: Objection. There was no
11 testimony from Mr. Brown on that point, just his
12 questioning of Ms. Bordoli and I believe her
13 testimony --
14 THE COURT: I believe there was a statement in
15 the record that he made. Maybe it was a question, "The
16 first time I've ever heard of it."
17 MR. BROWN: I kept asking Laura for it.
18 THE COURT: Yesterday, there was some reference
19 to the "This is the first time I've ever heard it."
20 MS. FURNISS: Yes, there was, but I mean, he
21 didn't proffer any testimony. It wasn't in the
22 evaluation document. So I think it was a question of
23 him to Ms. Bordoli who said she wasn't sure, but never
24 addressed it.
25 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you. I'm not sure if
72
1 there's even an objection, but --
2 MS. FURNISS: It calls for testimony that's not
3 in the case. That wasn't submitted to the Court. It
4 was inconclusive. Mr. Brown claims --
5 THE COURT: I understand what he said.
6 Objection is overruled. It's closing argument and the
7 record will be what the record is.
8 Very well, sir.
9 MR. BROWN: Dr. Newton actually thought it was
10 two separate events because he labelled one with the
11 date of the incident and one with the date of the
12 early-morning CPS report. On the stand, even after we
13 had discussed this two weeks ago at the meet and confer,
14 and you might object to that. I'm sorry -- he claimed
15 the event may have spanned two days, even though it was
16 really something that occurred in the span of
17 20 seconds, at least a really significant part of it.
18 The fact that I thought that Eve had almost killed
19 Stella was completely omitted from the version he
20 discussed as relevant to his conclusion.
21 And, of course, he asserts that various things
22 were fact, rather than approaching it like I'm used to,
23 from scientific articles that preface it with "the
24 evidence suggests" or "my interpretation is," he's
25 really sure that this happened this way.
73
1 And then he said, keeping a straight face, that
2 it was convenient for him to think of a single incident
3 as two separate incidents, one for Eve's version and one
4 for mine. And of course, all he presents as relevant to
5 his conclusion is Eve's.
6 Furthermore, he made no attempt to understand
7 what I meant when I said Eve was in a frenzy. Everyone
8 in this room now knows what it sounds like when Eve is
9 in a frenzy, and we know that when in this stage, she
10 can have an utter disregard for destroying those things
11 she cares the most about.
12 The point is: He missed what really happened,
13 which was that I was in an extreme situation. I did
14 what I thought was appropriate to protect Stella.
15 There's no question I was angry. I don't deny that.
16 But I was in shock and I do not think that my behavior
17 was violence. It was defense of my daughter and it was
18 something that I did not have time to give a whole lot
19 of thought about because it was immediate and quick.
20 And I most certainly did not in any way
21 physically harm our daughter. Yes, she was upset by it.
22 She saw screaming Eve. She saw me pulling Eve from the
23 room. Sure, I have no doubt she was traumatized by
24 that.
25 And, I mean, I don't think it was a major thing
74
1 for her. She probably forgot it soon because she was
2 only nine months old. But still, it was very upsetting
3 to me that she was seeing this and my attempts to remove
4 Eve from Stella temporarily, it was harder than I
5 thought because she went into a frenzy.
6 But it was still just a few seconds and then I
7 went downstairs. I left the situation as I so often do.
8 I leave the situation. Eve thinks it's bad that I slam
9 a door and leave, but I leave, and leaving helps.
10 For the record, I do not agree with Eve's
11 description of the horrible ways I acted prior to that.
12 They simply aren't true. I have a completely different
13 description of it.
14 But what is utterly shocking is that he could
15 be so confused about this incident. It seems to be the
16 most important thing that he uses to justify her
17 move-away request. Meanwhile, he basically ignored all
18 my evidence and testimony that should support my case.
19 He didn't bother calling Kira Cuneo or her mother, Ellen
20 Simon, until last week. They were obviously the sort of
21 witnesses that he should be interested in.
22 Because of their long relationship with Eve and
23 her family -- their allegiance would be expected to
24 be toward Eve. They say extremely powerful things
25 regarding Eve's conflict-prone nature and about how
75
1 Eve's mother has disturbing anxiety issues that were
2 observed being handed down from mother to child around
3 age seven. E-mails I provided to Dr. Newton that
4 occurred between Kira and me should have prompted him to
5 call her and at least verify that they were her words.
6 Instead, her name doesn't even show up in the original
7 report and he gives no reason why their testimony last
8 week doesn't affect his recommendations, other than
9 recommending Eve get the sort of therapy that she's
10 already been in for years.
11 Dr. Newton also looked into Dottie Chinnock,
12 Eve's -- Stella's pediatric care nurse. He didn't ask
13 Dr. Chinnock about Eve's declarations that Dr. Chinnock
14 had told her that she was really concerned about her
15 mental state and that she might harm Stella and things
16 that were far beyond anything I suggested to
17 Dr. Chinnock. All I told Dr. Chinnock was that I was
18 concerned she exaggerated maladies.
19 Dr. Chinnock described Eve as alleging child
20 abuse on me and said that it was despicable. She said
21 no one in the office was impressed by Eve's allegations
22 against me, and Dr. Chinnock (sic) put that in his
23 notes, but he didn't put it in the report. He watered
24 down what she said completely, he didn't mention that
25 others had the same impression, and he just eliminated
76
1 every detail that supported what I have been saying.
2 THE COURT: All right. So, Mr. Brown, we need
3 to take our 15-minute break and then we'll be back on
4 the record at 11:00. Thank you.
5 (Short break taken.)
6 THE COURT: We're back on the record.
7 Mr. Brown, you may continue. Oh, hold on. Oh,
8 Ms. Furniss, I didn't see you. I thought you left.
9 THE COURT: Right. I'm sorry.
10 MR. BROWN: Do I need to wait for you?
11 MS. FURNISS: No, no, I'm sorry.
12 THE COURT: All right. Thank you.
13 Go ahead, Mr. Brown.
14 MR. BROWN: I think I had just finished with
15 Dottie Chinnock.
16 THE COURT: Yes.
17 MR. BROWN: Abby Carrales spoke very
18 convincingly of Eve's conflict-prone nature and the
19 impacts it's had on my group of friends, et cetera. And
20 she's spoke in considerable detail. She claims she told
21 all this to Dr. Newton and there is no reason to think
22 she didn't.
23 But in her case, Dr. Newton simply didn't
24 bother writing it down in his notes. He did her
25 evaluation late in the process, so it appears that he
77
1 didn't, you know, it didn't support his conclusion, so
2 he just didn't even write any of it. He dismisses her
3 testimony because he thinks she didn't know Eve well,
4 which is obviously false.
5 He ignored all of what Mike McCreavy told him
6 as well, that Mike testified on the stand rather
7 nervously. Mike gave detailed accounts of his
8 difficulty dealing with Eve in the past. Dr. Newton
9 said Mike had a sketchy recall despite the fact that
10 Mike actually has excellent recall, both of the events
11 and what he told Dr. Newton.
12 Dr. Newton confused Valerie Hamilton Brady's
13 testimony saying that she's a mutual friend of both Eve
14 and I for 25 years when I've only known Eve for eight
15 years. Valerie says positive things about me and
16 worrisome things about Eve, which is the opposite of
17 what would be expected from someone Eve specifically
18 chose to speak on her behalf. Dr. Newton just claimed
19 that she was biased towards me. We all heard his
20 testimony as to how he defines "bias," and it is utterly
21 nonsensical. It has nothing to do with allegiance or
22 loyalty or friendships, it's just how strongly you speak
23 to one side or the other. And that defies logic.
24 He ignored all the evidence of Eve thinking her
25 mother is mentally ill. He assumes that meeting with
78
1 Eve and her mother is going to show that Eve and her
2 mother get long well despite a lot of evidence of Eve's
3 written communications to me saying that they can't get
4 along and haven't gotten along long before I was in the
5 picture, and showing that Eve relied on me to intervene
6 in her disputes with her mother.
7 Dr. Newton diagnoses me with narcissistic
8 personality disorder, but he admits that not a single
9 witness's testimony supports this diagnosis. Instead,
10 he relies on the fact I presented to him a career
11 retrospective showing my achievements, and I talked in
12 detail about things I'd done in the past, and I thought
13 they were highly relevant to his conclusion or potential
14 conclusion that moving to Chico shouldn't hurt my
15 career. Obviously, he doesn't know that subject.
16 That's not a psychology subject. For instance, Mike
17 McCreavy can actually weigh in much better on that one
18 than a psychologist.
19 But he used that against me that I presented
20 that evidence of my past extrapolating that I must brag
21 like that to everyone, which he has no evidence of.
22 THE COURT: I think you can skip over that.
23 MR. BROWN: Sorry.
24 THE COURT: That's fine.
25 MR. BROWN: For that to even make sense, he
79
1 snipped out the "without commensurate achievements"
2 phrase from the DSM description of narcissistic
3 personality disorder, and I think that's highly
4 disturbing that he pulled that out. He noted at our
5 meet and confer and he acknowledged it on the stand that
6 that missing phrase was, indeed, in his copy of the DSM.
7 We saw it at the meet and confer. He claims I could
8 have other traits, but the only one he could list is
9 based on something that happened after the evaluation
10 was completed. That I reacted negatively to the
11 evaluation and gave him an online review. It was simply
12 of his business services. He took it personally.
13 But he didn't know that at the time of the
14 original evaluation, and while I admit that maybe that
15 was unwise of me --
16 THE COURT: You can't testify. Just stick to
17 the evidence.
18 MR. BROWN: I'm sorry. In any case, I think it
19 should be obvious that if I had written an online review
20 of someone who built my house and had a cracked
21 foundation, he's not going to take that out on me in the
22 way that he did here, and I think that's highly, highly
23 unprofessional.
24 THE COURT: Well, didn't his determination and
25 the -- his original opinion didn't change. So the
80
1 opinion was made before you did the online review being
2 critical of him. He just didn't change the opinion.
3 Correct?
4 MR. BROWN: Correct. But when I asked him on
5 the stand which of those characteristics do I match,
6 that was the one he gave as an example.
7 THE COURT: Okay.
8 MR. BROWN: Meanwhile, there's not a single
9 witness, either Dr. Newton's collaterals or ones who
10 have testified, that suggested that I meet any of those
11 criteria.
12 THE COURT: You could skip the narcissistic
13 personality disorder argument. I am fully aware of what
14 the position is.
15 MR. BROWN: Eve did not have anyone come in and
16 testify on her behalf. None of the people that -- we
17 all know that I sent an e-mail after Eve filed for
18 separation to basically all the people that I knew that
19 were Eve's friends and just stated my side. I know that
20 offended, but I think it is significant that not a
21 single person who knows me was willing to come into this
22 courtroom or was thought to be beneficial to Eve's case.
23 There was no one who could come in and back her or who
24 did. They chose, for some reason, not to have a single
25 person. No one who spoke to Dr. Newton supported any of
81
1 his conclusions about me, and some were surprisingly, at
2 least one was, surprisingly supported my position, even
3 though it was a witness for Eve.
4 THE COURT: Anything further because you're
5 going to need to wrap it up?
6 MR. BROWN: I'm at the wrap-up.
7 THE COURT: Thank you.
8 MR. BROWN: Stella has a very, very deep bond
9 with me. She has a wonderful, amazing life here in San
10 Francisco. I'm creative as well as a technical person,
11 and I have been sharing and I look forward to sharing as
12 she grows all of these things with my daughter.
13 And this is the very best city in the entire
14 world for creative and technical. It is the center of
15 that world, and there is such a rich array of things to
16 experience here. I love seeing the city through my
17 daughter's eyes.
18 Stella has close friends here, friends that she
19 adores and will most likely be her friends for life
20 because their parents and I have been friends for close
21 to a decade. I think it would be tragic to take all
22 this away from Stella and leave her in Chico being
23 raised by the conflict-prone, anxiety-ridden pair of Eve
24 and Eve's mother.
25 Eve's move-away is not in Stella's interest.
82
1 It is not justified by her claims of domestic violence,
2 and Eve's irrational fears of me should not be used to
3 break the bond of father and daughter. I believe Eve's
4 move-away request should not be granted.
5 THE COURT: All right. Thank you, Mr. Brown.
6 Ms. Furniss?
7 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
8 THE COURT: It's 11:20 now, just so you know.
9 MS. FURNISS: Oh, yeah. If you want to give
10 me, like, a ten-minute warning or throw something at me.
11 I don't expect to take 30 minutes.
12 THE COURT: Well, the Court would never
13 physically throw something at you.
14 MS. FURNISS: Oh, no, I apologize.
15 THE COURT: That's not a good choice of words
16 on the record that I just want to crack --
17 MS. FURNISS: Yes, and I understand. If you
18 would like to give me a hand gesture to wrap up.
19 THE COURT: I'll tell you when there are ten
20 minutes left. Thank you.
21 MS. FURNISS: Thank you.
22 This trial has presented evidence about what a
23 big deal Mr. Robert Julian Brown is. His bond with
24 Stella is exceptional. It is special. His talent in
25 the tech industry is extremely special. He is so
83
1 special he has to stay in the Bay Area because his
2 world, his job, his talent, his everything is in San
3 Francisco. This trial has presented an extreme amount
4 of evidence about what Mr. Brown needs personally,
5 everything from the toy he created, the computer
6 programming, his parenting, his challenges for Stella's
7 physical wellness, his judgment on safety issues, his
8 creations for Stella, his belief that his house is safe,
9 his swing in his home, his skateboarding toddler, his
10 tracheostomy, his position on helmets, everything.
11 There was not one fact about parenting, about
12 breastfeeding, about living situations that did not
13 revolve around Mr. Brown and his exceptional talents.
14 Mr. Brown brought in witnesses, all from the
15 self-confirmed friend group. They have all read and
16 extensively discussed this highly confidential child
17 custody evaluation. Mr. Brown's reckless disregard for
18 the need for parties in family court to trust in the
19 system and trust that their deepest, most personal
20 secrets, personality disorders, insecurities, emotional
21 traumas, physical traumas, must be protected, but Mr.
22 Brown was so convinced that everything Dr. Newton did
23 was wrong that he felt justified to share it with all of
24 his friends.
25 He's used two main incidences with his friends,
84
1 two of his witnesses. Mr. McNertney and Ms. Carrales
2 both stated, husband and wife, that they had opinions on
3 Ms. Bordoli from before she moved up here. She left a
4 stable career, a community, and within six months of
5 their relationship was coerced to exclusively live with
6 Mr. Brown after extensively discussing childbearing late
7 in her 30s and left her life to come to San Francisco.
8 After realizing she could not support their
9 daughter, she went back to school while also struggling
10 with fertility challenges, eventually hormone shots, and
11 in vitro fertilization.
12 THE COURT: Where are the evidence of the
13 hormone shots?
14 MS. FURNISS: I believe when we were talking
15 about -- when I was asking Ms. Carrales, she confirmed
16 that she was aware that Ms. Bordoli was receiving
17 hormone shots for the in vitro fertilization. I'd have
18 to double check.
19 THE COURT: That's fine. The Court doesn't
20 have a specific memory of it, but you may be right.
21 MS. FURNISS: Ms. Bordoli attended school and
22 completed her master's in speech pathology. She took
23 loans out. She sustained herself. And even after
24 repeatedly returning to her coercive, controlling, and
25 highly abusive husband, trying to make their family
85
1 work, she managed to get a job as a clinical fellow in
2 an area of education to have a similar schedule to the
3 parties' daughter. She's had this job for two years now
4 and has a job offer to return in the fall in Yuba City
5 near her home in Chico.
6 Mr. Brown submitted evidence that he had
7 control over everything. The e-mail submitted by Mr.
8 Brown, Petitioner's Exhibit -- I don't remember which
9 one. It was the e-mail to Nathalie Paven with the timer
10 on it showing his creation for their conversations at
11 home. And he writes in it that he doesn't understand
12 Ms. Paven's refusal to help them. It was "Why won't you
13 use my machine?"
14 Mr. Brown proffers evidence that because Ms.
15 Bordoli did not feel comfortable constantly being
16 recorded that she was wrong and that she is lying. Mr.
17 Brown asserts that because Ms. Bordoli did not bring
18 witnesses in this week that she has nobody to back her.
19 That is blatantly untrue and it is supported by the
20 evaluation.
21 Ms. Bordoli respected the process, submitted
22 documentation, participated openly, and has not --
23 there's no evidence that she has shared it with anybody
24 other than therapists, I believe, she has been
25 discussing. She mentioned that.
86
1 THE COURT: Let me ask you this.
2 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
3 THE COURT: There's Holly Sitton, who is a
4 friend.
5 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
6 THE COURT: There's no mention in this summary.
7 According to your client's testimony, Holly Sitton was
8 the one she called immediately when she was in the house
9 right after this incident on September the 8th and 9th,
10 and yet there's no mention in Ms. Sitton's summary.
11 MS. FURNISS: I can't speak to that because Dr.
12 Newton -- she was on the collateral list unlike Mr.
13 Brown --
14 THE COURT: I'm just saying, do you have any
15 explanation? Because that event was weighed heavily, it
16 appears, by Dr. Newton, but the one witness, the only
17 witness outside of these two, was Ms. Sitton and she had
18 literally nothing to say about it in the evaluation.
19 MS. FURNISS: But I don't believe that she was
20 a witness. I mean, she just received a phone call --
21 THE COURT: But nonetheless, this was a phone
22 call, "What do I do?" She's in a panic, you know, with
23 the baby, and your client went on extensively about this
24 phone conversation with Ms. Sitton which does not appear
25 in the report.
87
1 MS. FURNISS: I was not able to filter through
2 the notes in the same manner that Mr. Brown was.
3 However, I do know that many of Ms. Bordoli's witnesses
4 were nervous. And more importantly, in the
5 evaluation --
6 THE COURT: Well, where is the testimony that
7 they were nervous? Because essentially what the Court
8 is hearing from you is that no witnesses were called,
9 that she relied on the integrity of this report and the
10 process.
11 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
12 THE COURT: Okay. And I will tell you,
13 Mr. McCreavy --
14 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
15 THE COURT: -- I found him to be a very
16 credible witness.
17 MS. FURNISS: I do too.
18 THE COURT: Okay.
19 MS. FURNISS: I was going to speak to that.
20 THE COURT: And what he said about -- he was
21 surprised because he mentioned the incident of having to
22 get whooping -- I think it was the whooping cough
23 vaccine --
24 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
25 THE COURT: -- to even see Stella. That's not
88
1 mentioned here nor are other things in the summary.
2 So --
3 MS. FURNISS: Right.
4 THE COURT: -- it concerns the Court if I'm
5 supposed to rely on the integrity of an evaluation when
6 things have been omitted. And clearly that's why I'm
7 asking about Holly Sitton because she got the phone call
8 the night of this incident right after. Mr. Brown
9 doesn't dispute he pulled your client's hair, which is a
10 terrible thing.
11 MS. FURNISS: Right.
12 THE COURT: Okay?
13 MS. FURNISS: I believe Dr. Newton spoke to his
14 concern, and Mr. McCreavy, he did -- let me speak to
15 that. Mr. McCreavy testified that Mr. Brown called him
16 or messaged him and told him that his opinion was not
17 valued. That he felt bad that his feelings were hurt.
18 That he felt his contributions were not meaningful to
19 Dr. Newton. However, when Mr. Brown questioned Dr.
20 Newton, and as it was clarified the second day he
21 testified -- for the record, I would like to state that
22 I had trouble understanding Mr. Brown's questions. He
23 is self-representing. They were very compound and
24 confusing and exhausting for me as an attorney, and I
25 believe Dr. Newton cleared up many misspeakings the
89
1 following day, and the transcript will reflect that.
2 But Mr. McCreavy stated that he believed his
3 opinion was not valued and discussed what he talked
4 about. Dr. Newton spoke to the value of collaterals in
5 the child custody evaluation as being recent in time,
6 having seen the parents with the child. Mr. Brown is
7 relying on every single bit of history -- alleged
8 history. That he has kept extremely concerning
9 documentary evidence that he writes algorithms to
10 search, something that is simply not available to Ms.
11 Bordoli, to search all of her records of every single
12 line that makes him look bad.
13 Mr. Brown, though, he called his collateral
14 witnesses, read them confidential things that are meant
15 to be summaries. Dr. Newton testified that his basis
16 for collateral witnesses are specific criteria, that he
17 asked them open-ended questions, and that he tends not
18 to specifically ask about certain things. Mr. Brown
19 takes this as he didn't review the evidence. It does
20 not allow Dr. Newton to conduct his evaluation in a way
21 that's appropriate.
22 THE COURT: Well, Counsel, did you notice on
23 Page 33 of the report the time spent with Mr. McCreavy?
24 MS. FURNISS: Yes. And if you notice the time
25 spent with Ms. Bordoli's witnesses, it is approximately
90
1 the same.
2 THE COURT: What I'm talking about is: This is
3 an engineer of Google who said that this conversation
4 was 5 minutes and 42 seconds and the billing time is .3.
5 MS. FURNISS: I don't believe anybody asked Dr.
6 Newton about this, because I would assume from my own
7 practice, preparation, review of materials, familiarity,
8 call, speak, document. That would be my belief. But
9 since Mr. Brown did not ask that, Dr. Newton did speak
10 to what kind of data collateral witnesses present. The
11 recentness is given less weight.
12 Mr. Brown would like the Court to think that
13 because Ms. Simon was not contacted, despite an explicit
14 request to manage costs in collaterals by Mr. Brown,
15 that she was a star witness. However, per Dr. Newton's
16 spoken evaluation of collateral witnesses, Kira Simon
17 and her mother have not been in contact with Ms. Bordoli
18 in, given the presentation of e-mails and such from Mr.
19 Brown, I believe five years or more. Just because
20 somebody says something that agrees with Mr. Brown's
21 conclusion doesn't make it true. Dr. Newton stated that
22 he read 131 pages from Mr. Brown, listened to
23 134 minutes of audio and video.
24 THE COURT: And 800 and some pages from your
25 client; correct?
91
1 MS. FURNISS: That is correct. And from that,
2 my client -- her friends live out of town as she's
3 spoken to. Many of them are up in Chico. At the trial
4 setting conference with Judge Wiley, we requested this
5 trial date specifically because it's the Yuba City
6 spring break so Ms. Bordoli did not have to miss work.
7 And I am her attorney and my client should not
8 be prejudiced because her friends are out of town. She
9 participated in the evaluation. She didn't call people
10 because it is wholly inappropriate to call and say, "Did
11 you say this?" It compromises the integrity of the
12 process, the court system, the family system.
13 But let me continue. Mr. Brown wants Ms.
14 Bordoli to be held accountable for her actions at a baby
15 shower alleged -- with his, you know, small group of
16 highly judgmental friends. No matter how many times Ms.
17 Carrales said she's not judgmental, she clearly has
18 opinions on Ms. Bordoli, and they seem to absolutely not
19 get along.
20 Mr. McNertney testified that he's known Mr.
21 Brown for ten years, has never seen him with anybody
22 other than Eve for longer than three months.
23 THE COURT: What's the relevance of that?
24 MS. FURNISS: Continuity and stability, Your
25 Honor.
92
1 THE COURT: I'm sorry, what testimony?
2 MS. FURNISS: Mr. McNertney.
3 THE COURT: No, in here. Is it in the report?
4 Because to say that someone maybe doesn't find the right
5 person --
6 MS. FURNISS: Oh, I was talking about the
7 credibility of the witnesses. I wasn't talking about
8 the report. Sorry, I was going back to my closing.
9 THE COURT: So the Court interpreted this as
10 you're being critical that Mr. Brown didn't have any
11 other relationships, long-term relationships with other
12 people.
13 MS. FURNISS: My belief is -- from the
14 testimony we heard from Mr. McNertney and Ms. Carrales
15 was that Eve was the first person to come into Mr.
16 Brown's life and to interrupt their friend group, and
17 they're a small tight-knit group of people.
18 THE COURT: Okay.
19 MS. FURNISS: And I believe the testimony
20 supports --
21 THE COURT: Now, I understand.
22 MS. FURNISS: I apologize. I'm not trying to
23 make any -- I believe that it was a change. It was a
24 big change.
25 THE COURT: Okay.
93
1 MS. FURNISS: Mr. Brown got married. Mr. Brown
2 had a wife. They eventually had a child. And I believe
3 that a lot of times, change for new parents in new
4 situations can be very shocking to everybody around
5 them, including friends and social circles.
6 THE COURT: Well, thank you for correcting
7 that.
8 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
9 THE COURT: So I have your argument in mind.
10 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
11 THE COURT: It's not that Mr. Brown --
12 MS. FURNISS: It is not.
13 THE COURT: -- relationship, it's just that you
14 believe the friends were biased and upset because Eve
15 came in, was his first serious relationship --
16 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
17 THE COURT: -- and essentially took --
18 MS. FURNISS: Took him away.
19 THE COURT: -- took the attention away from
20 them?
21 MS. FURNISS: Yes. And disrupted the balance.
22 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you.
23 MS. FURNISS: Mr. Brown stated that this group
24 of friends is really his family in San Francisco, and it
25 is my belief and my client's belief that, you know, you
94
1 marry a family when you marry somebody, and Ms. Bordoli
2 rubbed Mr. Brown's family the wrong way. And it's very
3 clear.
4 But Mr. Brown's conduct, the e-mails, the
5 secret e-mails to people about her, the constant
6 undermining of her efforts, the control, the financial
7 control, his statements that he -- I apologize.
8 THE COURT: That's all right.
9 MS. FURNISS: Mr. Brown's statements that he
10 was -- is popular and everybody hated Eve, the only
11 testimony we heard was from a small group of friends
12 that had been essentially irreparably altered because of
13 changes in Mr. Brown and Ms. Bordoli's lives.
14 The collaterals, we will not know. I did not
15 feel it appropriate to contact Ms. Sitton regarding Dr.
16 Newton's conversations. I observed the cover page of
17 the evaluation as a nonnegotiable, nonflexible document.
18 THE COURT: But hold on.
19 MS. FURNISS: You just asked about Ms. Sitton.
20 THE COURT: I did. This does not say you can't
21 call any witnesses on a contested hearing. You can call
22 a witness to say -- and just ask them, "Did you have a
23 conversation? What did you say" without invading the
24 confidentiality of the evaluation. Correct? Is there
25 any rule that says you can't call these witnesses?
95
1 Because I'm unaware of it.
2 MS. FURNISS: I don't believe so, but --
3 THE COURT: I agree you shouldn't be calling
4 people and saying, "Let me read to you what's in this
5 confidential report." Completely agree, because the
6 cover sheet says it's not to be shared. But that is
7 different from calling someone as a witness in a
8 contested trial. Would you agree?
9 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
10 THE COURT: Okay.
11 MS. FURNISS: And I am aware -- and this is
12 where it gets tricky. It's not admitted by exclusion.
13 Ms. Sitton says she was very nervous when she spoke with
14 Dr. Newton.
15 THE COURT: Where does it say that?
16 MS. FURNISS: That's the thing is that just
17 because a witness was nervous, I can't -- that's the
18 thing, it's not in testimony. But just because it's not
19 there doesn't mean it didn't happen or that she didn't
20 say something to Dr. Newton or that he didn't do his
21 job.
22 THE COURT: But that's what Mr. Brown was
23 saying.
24 MS. FURNISS: And I appreciate that.
25 THE COURT: That Dr. Newton's report is fatally
96
1 flawed.
2 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
3 THE COURT: Because it omits important things
4 that were said to him, but it's hard for the Court to
5 know because -- and, again, Ms. Sitton is neutral in
6 terms of what she said here, but she is the first person
7 your client called on the evening of this September
8 event. So it bolsters Mr. Brown's argument that Dr.
9 Newton didn't do his job.
10 MS. FURNISS: Well, Mr. Brown's claim that Dr.
11 Newton didn't do his job is very much in keeping with
12 Mr. Brown's look on life.
13 THE COURT: But he read the DSM-5 diagnosis,
14 the criteria. You have to meet five of the nine
15 criteria to every one of the witnesses he called. And
16 they genuinely said, in this court's view, "No. Oh, no,
17 not you. No, not at all."
18 MS. FURNISS: So that --
19 THE COURT: But hold on. The Court is supposed
20 to -- I mean, there's criteria that Dr. Newton talked
21 about, yet there's not one witness who was called who
22 supports one of the nine criteria that were read out.
23 MS. FURNISS: Yes. And, Your Honor, I will
24 address that, absolutely.
25 THE COURT: Okay. Go ahead.
97
1 MS. FURNISS: This is what the essence of this
2 trial is. Mr. Brown brought in a married husband and
3 wife who have been stewing and conversing and discussing
4 this -- Mr. Brown's outrage about narcissistic
5 personality disorder and all of the intimate details of
6 this evaluation. They knew very well before they came
7 in here that, oh, you know, this is not Rob. They've
8 discussed why he's not narcissistic.
9 THE COURT: But, Ms. Furniss, it was Dr. Newton
10 when asked -- I think the Court asked him, can you turn
11 on and off these traits of a narcissistic personality
12 disorder, and he said no.
13 MS. FURNISS: And I would address that as Mr.
14 Brown did not put forward his family as any collateral
15 contacts. He did not put forward any of his former work
16 people. His work history is wrought with the inability
17 to stay anywhere where he feels that the new engineer --
18 he testified that the new people come in and they don't
19 agree with him and he doesn't get to do it his way.
20 Every single representation of every event in this case,
21 even when he took an infant away from her mother, he
22 says, "I did it for our daughter." He has to be the
23 hero. Every single piece of testimony.
24 THE COURT: Didn't he say that he was relying
25 on the advice of attorneys who said, "You need to get
98
1 the child back"? Whether that's right or wrong, that's
2 what he was doing because he contacted attorneys when
3 your client kept the child away from him --
4 MS. FURNISS: And --
5 THE COURT: -- and relied on the advice of the
6 attorneys. That's the testimony.
7 MS. FURNISS: And, Your Honor, yes, but you
8 will notice that Mr. Brown says he called and
9 interviewed attorneys. So he says he called and
10 interviewed attorneys, which, to me, it shows the
11 pattern of selective information that benefits his
12 interests, solely his interests.
13 We are in a child custody trial. We're not
14 talking about Mr. Brown's career. This not a trial on
15 Mr. Brown's how to live a good life. Every single piece
16 of evidence and everything Dr. Newton came back to were
17 his interactions with Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown didn't just
18 write an online report, he put up a website. He accused
19 Dr. Newton and myself of collusion and corruption.
20 Anybody who disagrees with Mr. Brown becomes the focus.
21 He has testified that he has harassed my client
22 into trying to fire her attorneys because they're not
23 doing her any favors because they disagree with Mr.
24 Brown.
25 Mr. Brown says, "Oh, the recording when Ms.
99
1 Bordoli loses it on the way to Chico, she goes in and
2 out of a frenzy. That's not normal behavior." He is
3 completely right, that is not normal behavior. It is
4 behavior of somebody who's been suffering from domestic
5 violence and repeated coercive control. Mr. Brown
6 controlled the finances. He controlled the home. He
7 needed --
8 THE COURT: Where is the control of the
9 finances before they got married?
10 MS. FURNISS: Before they got married?
11 THE COURT: Right. There was evidence after
12 that he had the checkbook and it was -- she used the
13 Amazon card, and she brought up that she wanted a joint
14 account and they didn't have one. But what about before
15 the marriage? Because this...
16 MS. FURNISS: And that's the thing. Before the
17 marriage, she had a job, and then she was working in the
18 home until she went back to school.
19 THE COURT: No. My question is: At the time
20 of this tape, you said this represents a person who's
21 been financially under control or abusive behavior.
22 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
23 THE COURT: So what's the evidence of the abuse
24 before this tape?
25 MS. FURNISS: I believe Ms. Bordoli and Mr.
100
1 Brown both testified that Mr. Brown had been terminated
2 by his brother-in-law just before their wedding, just
3 before this tape. He was very concerned -- "he," being
4 Mr. Brown, was very concerned about money. Ms. Bordoli
5 testified that she was paying for the wedding, money,
6 and the control. Why are we spending this money? Mr.
7 Brown testified he didn't want a wedding. He didn't
8 care about an ugly church or his family. He thought the
9 money should have been spent otherwise.
10 And his concern and his anxiety over the worry
11 and his constant questioning of Eve continued. It
12 wasn't -- the first blow-up was punching the bed over
13 Ms. Bordoli's head. The standard is not "She made me do
14 it." Mr. Brown has said, "Oh, I restrained her, but it
15 wasn't violence. Oh, I just did what she did to me."
16 He didn't ask one question of Ms. Bordoli or provide any
17 supporting evidence that she has physically come at him
18 other than one episode in the car where she admittedly
19 and shamefully feels remorse for losing it after an
20 extremely stressful and highly manipulative time. Ms.
21 Brown (sic) testified -- I'm sorry.
22 THE COURT: That's okay. Would you agree Dr.
23 Newton's testimony was: He thought it was Mr. Brown who
24 was driving the car during this incident?
25 MS. FURNISS: I believe he cleared that up
101
1 because there were two car incidences, and he said that
2 he mistook -- one where Mr. Brown slamming on the brakes
3 was Mr. Brown driving. The other one was Ms. Bordoli.
4 And I believe --
5 THE COURT: But isn't it highly dangerous when
6 someone's on a highway -- and in that tape, she
7 threatens to crash the car and kill both of them. I
8 mean, that's fairly dramatic, wouldn't you say, when you
9 threaten to kill someone?
10 MS. FURNISS: I have read the transcripts. I
11 have listened to the tape a number of times. But if the
12 Court looks at the transcript, it says, "I should just
13 kill myself. This is never going to stop. You keep
14 abusing me." Mr. Brown admits in that recording that he
15 has taken his hand up against her chin and her throat.
16 THE COURT: He said he put it over her mouth
17 when she was screaming, and he admitted to that, yes.
18 MS. FURNISS: And Ms. Bordoli says when he
19 pushed her --
20 THE COURT: I will tell you, I have a real
21 problem with an expert who ignores someone in a car
22 screaming for 20 minutes, physically punching. So that
23 means there was a hand off the steering wheel. Because
24 if you're punching someone to create the bruises that
25 were on Mr. Brown, you're only driving with one hand,
102
1 you're punching someone with your other. You're on an
2 interstate. You threaten to kill -- crash the car, kill
3 someone else, kill yourself, and kill the person that
4 you're with.
5 And Dr. Newton doesn't seem to -- it's ignored
6 by him. It's a problem, I think, for any family law
7 judge, that sort of behavior over that continual period
8 of time in a car where you're endangering people's
9 lives.
10 MS. FURNISS: I believe Dr. Newton testified
11 that it was inappropriate behavior.
12 THE COURT: Inappropriate? It goes beyond
13 inappropriate when you threaten -- when you're in a car
14 and you're driving and you're beating someone and
15 yelling at the top of your lungs and you're out of
16 control, and you say that you're going to crash the car.
17 Are you saying that that's just inappropriate? Because
18 it could even maybe -- I mean, that's beyond
19 inappropriate.
20 MS. FURNISS: And, Your Honor, this is where
21 many of the legal theories regarding battered women
22 syndrome come from. Because intimate partner violence
23 is to the point where the abuser gaslights and tells
24 everybody they're crazy, isolates them from their
25 friends, from their families, manipulates them, is so
103
1 charming and convincing, and tells everybody, "Oh, she's
2 crazy."
3 The entire time before that, Ms. Bordoli
4 testified that Mr. Brown had been doing reprehensible
5 things. On that tape, he is intentionally -- he knows
6 he's recording. He's speaking to somebody for his
7 record so he can record her. She loses it -- finally
8 loses it after dealing with Mr. Brown's verbal
9 harassment, his concern about the wedding, his insults
10 that she's stupid, that he shouldn't marry her, that he
11 hates her.
12 THE COURT: She insulted him in that -- that's
13 why I'm saying this goes both ways. And Dr. Newton
14 seems to discount what your client does and explain it
15 away but makes Mr. Brown out to be, as he said, the
16 primary aggressor.
17 The Court -- the tape is one of the worst
18 things this court has ever heard, candidly. And, again,
19 she's driving the car.
20 MS. FURNISS: And there's testimony from my
21 client that Mr. Brown was trying to take the wheel. Mr.
22 Brown was on his -- my client testifies multiple times.
23 THE COURT: I've not listened to the entire
24 tape. In the tape, does she say, you know, "Get away
25 from the wheel?" Is there anything in the tape?
104
1 MS. FURNISS: It was before the tape was
2 started.
3 THE COURT: Okay. I will look for that in the
4 tape.
5 MS. FURNISS: Thank you. But that's the thing.
6 Mr. Brown did not turn this on until he had done so many
7 things to push somebody over the edge. And this is
8 where unfortunately --
9 MR. BROWN: I --
10 MR. FURNISS: Can you please --
11 THE COURT: Okay. Mr. Brown, stop.
12 MS. FURNISS: This is where regardless of --
13 I'm not saying it's just inappropriate, it was -- it is
14 inappropriate, but it's also --
15 THE COURT: It's domestic violence is what it
16 is.
17 MS. FURNISS: It's very common in abusive
18 situations. You have heard testimony --
19 THE COURT: There was no testimony, no evidence
20 in the record that it's common in abusive situations for
21 someone to get in the car, be driving, screaming for
22 20 minutes, and threaten to crash the car. I don't
23 think there's any evidence about that. But if you want
24 to point out where I might see it in the record, I will
25 look for it.
105
1 MS. FURNISS: I do not believe a direct quote
2 or hypothetical was posed with that.
3 THE COURT: All right.
4 MS. FURNISS: However --
5 THE COURT: I think you have ten more minutes.
6 MS. FURNISS: Then I need to move on.
7 THE COURT: Okay.
8 MS. FURNISS: Mr. Brown says that Nathalie
9 Paven, their therapist, allowed him with a wink to
10 record their session. She categorically and vehemently
11 denied this to Dr. Newton. This is Mr. Brown's pattern.
12 What happened in the car was a very well choreographed
13 and orchestrated common abuse tactic to record things
14 that look favorably upon him without recording the part
15 that he had.
16 Either way, moving forward to when they had a
17 child. Mr. Brown in his closing said that Stella was
18 nine months old when he threw her on the bed. That's
19 not true.
20 THE COURT: He denies he threw her on the bed.
21 MS. FURNISS: I'm making an argument.
22 THE COURT: No, that's fine.
23 MS. FURNISS: My client says he threw her on
24 the bed.
25 THE COURT: Correct. She does.
106
1 MS. FURNISS: And so she was four months old.
2 And Mr. Brown at this point still shows no remorse, says
3 that he thought that -- five months old, I apologize,
4 that he was trying to save her life and this and that.
5 And he pulled my client by the scalp, pulled her down to
6 her knees. That is not an act that somebody who is
7 trying to save or help anybody does. It is wholly
8 inappropriate.
9 THE COURT: It is wholly inappropriate, and
10 that too would qualify as domestic violence.
11 MS. FURNISS: I agree. And what I would point
12 the Court to -- and I'm happy to submit briefing on this
13 -- is that domestic violence -- Code Section 6305
14 requires that in indicating a primary aggressor -- and
15 it references Section 836 of the Penal Code. And it
16 does --
17 THE COURT: Isn't that for if both parties are
18 asking for a restraining order? So if there are mutual
19 requests for restraining orders, that applies.
20 MS. FURNISS: Absolutely.
21 THE COURT: I'm not sure it applies here.
22 MS. FURNISS: But in this case, only one of the
23 parties has submitted testimony under penalty of perjury
24 that they believe the other party committed domestic
25 violence. And as such, if you're using a legal analysis
107
1 of primary aggressor, it finds somebody --
2 THE COURT: I understand the primary aggressor
3 issue when both of these parties would be in court
4 asking for a restraining order.
5 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
6 THE COURT: Then the Court is required to make
7 a finding about the primary aggressor. But that's not
8 this case.
9 MS. FURNISS: Okay. Then moving on.
10 Since the child was born, the only person who
11 has violently hurt anybody is Mr. Brown. He has
12 emotionally, psychologically abused, humiliated,
13 attacked Ms. Bordoli. She has suffered from alienation
14 from everybody in her circle, her friends. She
15 testified that she got money for legal fees.
16 Mr. Brown has -- let me address the fact -- the
17 legal factors that are required for move-away. And I
18 would especially like to reference Marriage of LaMusga
19 and Burgess which discuss the considerations.
20 In this case, because there is a temporary
21 custodial order, obviously the standards are different.
22 However, in this case, the Court may consider past
23 conduct regarding parenting. It is not to reward or to
24 punish, but it is to consider.
25 Mr. Brown says that he took Stella. He
108
1 recruited Mr. McCreavy, who clearly states he would not
2 do that again. He was uncomfortable. He felt deceived
3 about what was going to happen. He talked about the
4 horrific scene, about Stella crying, and Eve asking for
5 her baby. And Mr. Brown still, to this day, stands by
6 it saying it didn't matter that he force weaned her
7 because he was going to be in her life. He had already
8 filed court papers. He had court dates for custody, and
9 what he did --
10 THE COURT: Didn't your client file in Butte
11 first?
12 MS. FURNISS: Yes, she did. They had already
13 appeared in Butte. They had a court date in San
14 Francisco. But Mr. Brown chose to take the child
15 instead of letting the court process work.
16 THE COURT: Did your client -- is there any
17 evidence in the record that she filed for a restraining
18 order in Butte?
19 MS. FURNISS: No, she did not. She testified
20 that she was advised to and she did not do it and that
21 she filed for legal separation. And I believe there
22 were e-mails.
23 THE COURT: But she did file for a restraining
24 order here after he filed them; correct?
25 MS. FURNISS: That was after he took the baby.
109
1 It wasn't after he filed. It was after he took the
2 baby. They were going --
3 THE COURT: But the date was after he filed
4 here?
5 MS. FURNISS: Yes. And then she filed it here
6 pro per after the baby was gone, representing herself.
7 Mr. Brown took the baby, refused -- withheld contact.
8 He said he allowed her an hour. Any parent, anybody
9 with experience -- Dr. Newton spoke to this -- that you
10 can't -- you shouldn't, if you can avoid it, force wean
11 a child.
12 He said he was worried she was going to take
13 Stella from him. Mr. Brown testified that he did not go
14 to Chico. Ms. Bordoli testified that she was trying to
15 facilitate visits. There is evidence in the record that
16 Mr. Brown was not employed in January. He did not go to
17 see her. He chose to stay in San Francisco.
18 He testified that after he went to his family
19 in Virginia and they told him about the treasure, the
20 millions of dollars that they had, that he came back and
21 he stood up for his right to be a father. He didn't
22 choose to go see the child before any legal proceedings
23 were initiated.
24 And I don't think -- there's been no evidence,
25 no claim that my client thinks he is a bad parent. That
110
1 he doesn't love his daughter. But this isn't about
2 either parent's needs. This case needs to -- the Court
3 is tasked with considering stability and continuity. If
4 Mr. Brown claims that Ms. Bordoli is as unstable and
5 unreasonable and as terrible as he has been spewing all
6 week, she has a job in a school district. She's around
7 children. She is a speech language pathologist. She
8 was a choir director for seven years, a child's choir
9 church director. Every bit of evidence outside of Mr.
10 Brown and his little crew of mean people --
11 THE COURT: Counsel, that's really
12 inappropriate.
13 MS. FURNISS: I'm sorry, it's my argument that
14 they are not kind to my client.
15 THE COURT: Okay. But casting people as mean
16 is different -- you can say it in a different way.
17 These are people who were clearly uncomfortable coming
18 in this courtroom.
19 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
20 THE COURT: These are not fun proceedings.
21 MS. FURNISS: Yes. I appreciate that.
22 THE COURT: All right.
23 MS. FURNISS: And I appreciate that they feel
24 that custody -- and unfortunately, family court feels
25 like the Battle Royale.
111
1 And the need for continuity and stability, Mr.
2 Brown, you know, has lots of justifications for it.
3 However, at no point in his testimony, his discussions
4 with Dr. Newton, or with this court did he discuss the
5 need for stability in Stella's life. She had been going
6 back and forth without Mr. Brown's objection until that
7 day when he felt he had to do it and he got his friends
8 and he unkidnapped her.
9 But regardless of who was right or wrong for
10 where they were, it was not sufficient for an infant to
11 be -- Mr. Brown did a de facto change of the status quo
12 which was to benefit him legally; however, he did have
13 the resources. He stated he had the resources and the
14 ability to hire a lawyer, not to call them on the phone
15 to consult with them with what I would assume are
16 limited facts. And --
17 THE COURT: So is it -- again, both parents.
18 Your client took the child first.
19 MS. FURNISS: She fled for safety.
20 THE COURT: She took the child in September.
21 She took the child in September.
22 MS. FURNISS: With his consent.
23 THE COURT: Right. And then she was going to
24 come back, and then we have this --
25 MS. FURNISS: She goes back and forth.
112
1 THE COURT: She goes back and forth, back and
2 forth. Okay?
3 MS. FURNISS: Yes.
4 THE COURT: But then she and her mother leave
5 with the baby in the middle of the night.
6 MS. FURNISS: After Mr. Brown threatens her
7 mother. After --
8 THE COURT: Where was the mother's testimony in
9 that regard?
10 MS. FURNISS: She's with the child because --
11 THE COURT: Where is the mother's testimony in
12 that regard? Is it in the report?
13 MS. FURNISS: I believe so, because Dr.
14 Newton --
15 THE COURT: Where in the report?
16 MS. FURNISS: Dr. Newton met with her. He did
17 not just talk to her once or see her once. He met with
18 her in Los Altos and he met with her up in Chico.
19 THE COURT: Okay. Well, tell me where in Dr.
20 Newton's report.
21 MS. FURNISS: I'm going to have to find it.
22 THE COURT: Okay. I'm looking at -- it's
23 Page 22. It doesn't appear here.
24 MS. FURNISS: And, I mean, if Dr. Newton wrote
25 every single thing -- this goes to weight.
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1 THE COURT: That's an important -- but don't
2 you think that's kind of important? Because that
3 incident, in the middle of the night, the mom and your
4 client take the baby and go.
5 MS. FURNISS: It wasn't for two more months
6 that Mr. Brown took the baby. It wasn't a guttural
7 reaction.
8 THE COURT: Okay. But I'll look here for that
9 in the evaluation.
10 MS. FURNISS: Thank you. And so just quickly,
11 I would like to -- at the end of the day, the evaluation
12 cannot be every possible detail. It is a totality of
13 the circumstances. He spent extensive time reviewing
14 communications, meeting with the parties. Mr. Brown, he
15 testified, didn't just play his video for his word once.
16 He repeatedly spoke to it. He has been found to be a
17 good father, and Dr. Newton clearly does not hold
18 prejudice against him, even though he attempted to
19 threaten, and the Court has the declaration of Dr.
20 Newton --
21 THE COURT: I do.
22 MS. FURNISS: -- from last fall. Threatened
23 livelihoods. The e-mails make explicit threats and beg
24 engagement that I believe is wholly inappropriate.
25 The Marriage of LaMusga also requires that
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1 changing the child's residence would cause detriment to
2 the child. In this case, Stella is enrolled in
3 preschool. She has friends groups. She takes swimming
4 lessons, ballet lessons. She has a home. She has
5 grandparents that visit her and help her.
6 The likely impact of the proposed move on the
7 noncustodial parent's relationship is a relevant factor
8 also. Mr. Brown has testified that he and his friends
9 don't talk about Eve. That she doesn't come up, which
10 is disturbing for a three-year-old. Mr. Brown has
11 stated he doesn't have any pictures in his home of Ms.
12 Bordoli. He does not talk to her except for -- we heard
13 this afternoon that he talks to her about "Where do you
14 breastfeed?" But supporting the relationship with
15 Eve -- with either parent is fundamental to this child
16 having the chance of a normal childhood.
17 THE COURT: You have another minute, Counsel.
18 MS. FURNISS: The impact of the relationship,
19 Ms. Bordoli supports Mr. Brown's relationship. I
20 believe Dr. Newton said there are pictures, or Ms.
21 Bordoli said that.
22 And then the factors for Burgess are community
23 ties, circle of friends. Stella is so young, and while
24 I hope that she is life-long friends with Mr. Brown's
25 friends' children, she's three years old. So much is
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1 going to change.
2 Really what needs to be looked at is stability.
3 Mr. Brown has a stable home, but nothing else besides
4 his friend group is stable in Stella's life. She's not
5 in preschool. She is not in a play group. She's not in
6 structured anything. She has the extreme benefit of a
7 parent who doesn't have to work, and that is wonderful,
8 but I also believe that Mr. Brown and everybody has
9 testified that his relationship with Stella is
10 exceptional and strong, and she really, really loves
11 both of her parents.
12 In that case, though, the parents live
13 different places. Ms. Bordoli is established. Stella
14 has ties to the community. Mom can support her. Mom is
15 supporting her, her stability, her continuity, her
16 ability to provide as a single parent, but also to
17 support the relationship with Mr. Brown is very
18 prevalent.
19 And I believe that even if the Court were to
20 weigh Dr. Newton's report less heavily, the Court would
21 still find with all of the experience with the parties
22 and their parenting at this point that the factors all
23 suggest that primary custody needs to stay in -- needs
24 to be in Chico. That Mr. Brown has demonstrated that he
25 puts his own needs before Stella's, and hopefully that
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1 will change.
2 But in the end, the most appropriate fact in
3 this case is that Ms. Bordoli is doing a great job of
4 establishing her life as a single parent far away. And
5 it's hard, and she's done it, and she's actively seeking
6 counseling, trying to better herself and really take
7 responsibility for where she is and where she's going.
8 THE COURT: Okay.
9 MS. FURNISS: Thank you.
10 THE COURT: All right. Thank you.
11 So let's go off the record.
12 (Off the record.)
13 THE COURT: The matter will be deemed
14 submitted -- provide proposed statements of decision
15 from both sides. That will be on May 22nd. And the
16 matter will be deem submitted at that time.
17 MS. FURNISS: Great. Just for the record, you
18 had mentioned the pictures being admitted, and Madam
19 Clerk let me know that I omitted the correct designation
20 for the pictures exhibit. It's Respondent's Exhibit H.
21 THE COURT: Okay.
22 (Respondent's Exhibit H was admitted into
23 evidence.)
24 THE COURT: And then you'll get me the CD?
25 MS. FURNISS: Yes, on Monday, yes.
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1 THE COURT: Thank you so much.
2 MS. FURNISS: Thank you.
3 MR. BROWN: When will the ruling, like,
4 probably, maybe -- like when will we find an answer?
5 THE COURT: In June, most likely.
6 MR. BROWN: June. Okay.
7 THE COURT: I try and get things out in
8 30 days. I'm not required to give any promise on a
9 date, but I will try and get it out as soon as time
10 permits after the proposed statements are in. But the
11 Court needs the record because I need to be reminded of,
12 you know, where things are in the record if I missed
13 them.
14 Thank you so much.
15 MS. FURNISS: Thank you, Your Honor.
16 MR. BROWN: Thank you.