Arizona Judge Denied Mothers Plea for Help, 2 YO Child Left Motherless

Mother Sought help from Family Court; Now She's Dead, Oct 2009, The Arizona Republic, Channel 3 news.
A Peoria mother whose body was found Friday had recently tried to leave Arizona after receiving threats from her apparent slayer, but a judge denied her request, court records show.
Two weeks before she was killed, Dawn Axsom pleaded with Judge Jose Padilla of Maricopa County Superior Court to let her leave Arizona with her son because she feared Gabriel Schwartz, the toddler's father, would harm her or their boy.
Padilla denied the 26-year-old's request and ordered the pair to attend parental counseling together.
Axsom's body was found in her Peoria residence Friday. Police also found the bodies of Schwartz, 28, and Linda Braden, 56, Axsom's mother.
Schwartz shot and killed both women before turning the gun on himself, Peoria police spokesman Mike Tellef said Monday. Tellef said the violence likely began in the downstairs kitchen, where Schwartz shot Braden. Then, Schwartz went upstairs, shooting Axsom in the master bathroom and killing himself in a bedroom.
Police discovered the grisly scene at about 10 a.m. Friday after Axsom didn't show up for work and a friend and the friend's mother went to the home, located in the 7400 block of West Sierra Street, to check on her.
When the friend knocked on the door, she heard Axsom and Schwartz's nearly 2-year-old boy crying upstairs.
The woman called police, who arrived and found the child unharmed inside his crib.
"When the officer took the baby outside, he covered (the child's) eyes so he couldn't see anything," Tellef said, recounting the scene.
Friends and co-workers who gathered outside Axsom's residence Friday said she was having ongoing custody problems with Schwartz and expressed frustration that the court system wouldn't let her leave Arizona when she knew Schwartz might harm her.
Court records show Padilla granted Axsom a protective order against Schwartz four days before the Oct. 6 hearing where he ordered her to attend parental counseling with him and denied her request to relocate to Maryland with the pair's son.
Axsom's son was placed into the custody of state Child Protective Services.
http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/pages/492

--------------

You cannot watch the grainy courtroom video and not want to punch something, the rewind button perhaps. There is the woman, her head in her hands after asking a judge to let her leave the state yet not telling him why she needed to go. And there is the judge, pointing out that she can leave whenever she wants. She just can't take her 22-month-old son with her. "If I permit the relocation, the relationship between dad and his son will forever be irreparably harmed and I will not permit that," Judge Jose Padilla said during an Oct. 6 hearing.

10 days later, Peoria police say the child's father, 28-year-old Gabe Schwartz, shot and killed the child's mother and grandmother before killing himself, leaving the baby to fend for himself.
Dawn Axsom, her mother Linda Braden and their killer became Arizona's 93rd, 94th and 95th people to die as a result of domestic violence this year, according to the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
There is a lesson in the death of Dawn Axsom for the judges of this state. And for the many other Dawns out there, 30 of whom will be dead before the end of the year, if statistics hold true.
Axsom was the only real parent. In July, she filed for child support and he countered with a request for joint custody. Axsom got an order of protection. Schwartz was threatening her, telling her he'd never let her leave.
"My daughter was very strong but she was afraid of this man," Gary Axsom told me.
To listen when she testified that Schwartz wasn't involved in the child's life and had never bought so much as a diaper. To remember that order of protection and to ask questions when Axsom testified that she and her mother wanted to move to Maryland to take care of an elderly family member. This was her chance to go to school so that she could provide her son a better life.
Instead, the judge announced that the child would remain in Arizona to be near his dad. When Saper questioned how Axsom could realistically stay without the help of her mother, Padilla had a smug reply. "Well, she doesn't have to remain here is the bottom line," he said.
Saper: "Well, she's not going to leave the child with him, your honor.
Padilla: "Well again, that is her choice."
Elizabeth Ditlevson, of the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Ditlevson said far too many judges don't take domestic violence seriously. "Judge Padilla is part of the problem but he is not the problem," she said. "The problem is a system that allows judges to act like this and that is privileging abusers access to children over victim and child safety."
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/LaurieRoberts/66121

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Peoria
• Arizona
• Dawn Axsom
• Judge Jose Padilla
• Jose Padilla
• judicial corruption
• Maricopa County Superior Court
• Linda Braden
• Gabriel Schwartz
• Peoria Police
• DCYF
• CPS
• family court
• child custody
• domestic violence
• stop family violence

[mamasuntwinkle]

I am not advocating anything other than it certainly supports natural order instincts Motherhood + women minus the male aspect. Patriarchy vs Matriarchy. Nov 2010. Child Abuse at ZERO % in Lesbian Households, New Report Finds. "the absence of child abuse in lesbian mother families is particularly noteworthy, because victimization of children is pervasive and its consequences can be devastating"

huffingtonpost (dot) com/2010/11/10/lesbians-child-­abuse-0-percent_n_781624.html

[SadAssPigs]

We need more funerals for JUDGES!

[wiseroldowl]

But if you are the DV victim you can have the children removed for allowing them to live in the situation..??? The irony..

[dragonangelforver]

The judges seem like they don't care about anything.I mean if the father was threating them the just should have allowed her to move.I no parents have rights but they should not have rights if they are threatig harm (and their is proff of it ).

[69obbie]

IVE BEEN UP AGAINST THIS FUCKED OFF JUDGE FOR THREE YEARS NOW I HAVE NO CRIMINAL RECORDS SOUL CUSTODY OF MY OLDEST THREE YET THIS ASSHOLE ALLOWED MY X TO LEAVE STATE WITH OUR SON WHO HAS VEEN RIPPED AWAY FROM EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE HE HAS EVER KNOWN. THIS SORRY ASS BITCH MADE PRICK NEEDS TO GO BACK TO HIS OWN COUNTRY AND DESTROY HIS OWN KIND FUCK U U FAT MOTHER FUCKIN COCK SUCKER ROT IN HELL BITCH ASS

[kali4niadazed]

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM A IMBICILE WHOM NEEDS MORE EDUCATION ON SUCH MATTERS...HE SHOULD GO TO JAIL FOR ALLOWING THIS  TO HAPPEN JAIL JUSDE PADILLA

[SexyHatchie]

WELL WHAT DO YOU KNOW! This guy, Judge Padilla just TODAY denied me of sole custody of my son in that same court room. My sons father just got out of PRISON from a 5 year sentence on dangerous weapons charges and lives with his mom and they rent out two of the rooms to total strangers for money and JUDGE PADILLA granted my sons father permission to have my son stay over the night at his house!!! And we had a domestic violence situation and he didnt care about it!!!

[MrJIMMY3009]

Judges are so damn stupid. Not surprised at all. I have never met a judge with any common sense what so ever.

[mikejudd90]

Simple answer, charge the damned judge with murder, after all he is responsible for it

[Lm332010]

This is a sad situation.. Till it happens to one of Judge Padilla family members then he will open his eyes; consequently, it will continue to happen to others who he has no consideration for.

[kupkake2013]

btw Gabe had more like 4 suicide attempts. The 2 that Dawn talked about were the most recent. I hate Gabe for what he has done. He took away by 2 best friends. But at some point i had to forgive him to move on. I have known Dawn and Linda since i was born. Gabe has caused alot of pain for all of Dawn and Lindas Family and Friends. Even though He did leave Xavier without a mother or a father you have to forgive him at some point. Please stop talking bad of Gabe. In Repect to Dawn and Linda Family

[crazylucifer0]

this is outragous HOW IS THERE NO INDICATIONS THAT HES SUICIDAL he wwent to the hospital TWICE fuck i hate people that "judge" people that have no FUCKING CLUE about how to do there god damn jobs

[joe1977poland]

FUCK ARIZONA !! the worst shit I hear about this state for years, the worst stuff REAL happens!!