Why can't you simply DO YOUR JOBS as paid public servants and demonstrate some ethical integrity?

“Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.” 

Dorothy Day

"I believe we must speak our conscience in moments that demand it, 

even if we are but one voice" Richard B. Sanders

Keeping Up Appearances in Washington State the State's investigation of my complaint because It took one minute... for the Court hearing to commit my son to Involuntary Treatment.  Then I learned How Many Go Without Effective Assistance of Counsel? 
How my son came home from Child Study and Treatment Center  A MadMother in Pro Per 

December 14, 2012

Dear Ms. Murphy:

I am writing in response to your e­mail exchanges with the Attorney General’s Office that have occurred since September 18, 2012.  In your e­mails, you have stated a concern that your son was not treated with appropriate mental health services by the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).  Further, you have stated that you believe a criminal investigation should be commenced to look into felony crimes committed in the course of your son’s treatment.

I am one of the attorneys in the Attorney General’s Office involved in the representation of behavioral health programs within DSHS.  In that capacity, I was asked to respond to your letter.

Your letter does concern me because the mission of DSHS is to decrease poverty, improve safety and health status and increase educational and employment success to support people and communities in reaching their potential.  Each year, more than 2.2 million children, families, vulnerable adults and seniors come to DSHS for protection, comfort, food assistance, financial aid, medical and behavioral health care.

In your correspondence, you have raised concerns about the treatment your son received by various behavioral health care providers, including the Child Study and Treatment Center.  Our office is not in a position to investigate the state agencies or systems that we are charged with representing.  Therefore, I recommend that you take your concerns to a private attorney or legal service organization (such as the Northwest Justice Project), who can counsel you as to the most appropriate action.  Criminal actions are generally investigated by the county prosecuting attorneys.  The Attorney General’s Office only investigates and prosecutes those criminal cases where local prosecuting attorneys cannot undertake the case.

I hope this information is helpful to you in clarifying the role of the Attorney General’s Office.

Sincerely,

ERIC NELSON

Assistant Attorney General

EN:jsn

Please do not respond to this e-mail address; it is an unmonitored account.  For any further correspondence to the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, please go to the AGO Web site and use the contact form at

https://fortress.wa.gov/atg/formhandler/ago/ContactForm.aspx.

Mr. Nelson, 

I appreciate your response, however, I am disappointed in it's content, particularly the notice at the bottom.  I am fully cognizant of the legal functions the Attorney General is responsible for as an elected public servant working for the people of the State of Washington. One the legal duties as the State's legal representative whose job is to enforce the Law, is also to ensure that the people who are Court Ordered to Involuntary Treatment have their procedural and substantive Due Process Rights, their Human Rights, i.e. their Constitutional Rights, preserved. 

An Order to Detain was sought and obtained using perjured testimony, the petition was supported by a forged Affidavit, the DMHP, Nancy Sherman, further attested she had informed me of her intention to Detain my son, who was seeking to be hospitalized; she did not inform me. She further attests on her petition that my son was accompanied by his brother, which is true. What she did not say, is that he was also accompanied by me, his mother. She states in her petition that she notified me "verbally" of her intent to detain my son; this is a lie. She attested that she notified me "verbally," but lists a number that is not my phone number.---I was present at the Crisis Center, so there would have been no reason to call me on the telephone---the testimony Ms. Sherman  offers the Court implies that I was not present.  These "facts" along with slander are used by Ms. Sherman in an obvious an attempt to characterize my son being violent and aggressive, the statements are libelous and are offered as evidence on her petition seeking an Order to Detain. Ms. Sherman commited felony perjury and fraud  when performing her job and acting as an agent of the State as the Designated Mental Health Professional; she is employed by Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health (CWCMH) who is the only contracted provider for crisis response mental health services in Yakima County. The psychiatrist, Jeffrey Jennings, who subsequently sought a Court Order for Involuntary Treatment, had never met my son, and refused to return multiple telephone messages I left both at his CWCMH office and at the hospital; yet on multiple occasions he had left messages with Memorial Hospital staff for me to call him. The man had no first hand information about my son, or the circumstances which led up to the crisis when his brother and I accompanied him to the crisis center. So, instead of using only information he knew first hand to be true, as the instructions from the Washington State Court form states must be used when filing an Affidavit and a petition for a Court Order, Jeffrey Jennings simply repeats the false testimony offered by the DMHP, Ms. Sherman.  Both the Deputy Prosecutor, Dan Polage, and Assigned Counsel, Jennifer Lesmez, were aware that the facts alleged were in dispute. Dan Polage had an ethical and a legal Duty to verify the veracity of the evidence, and did not. Specifically, the Court was told that my son had attacked me, had thrown a large television at me---breaking it to peices---and the Court was told that he threatened both his parents and that we are afraid of him; my son had not seen his other parent for over a decade---

Below is a picture of the TV the Court was told had been smashed to pieces.  What really seriously ANGERS me, it that bitch told the Court that I am afraid of my son, and that he had attacked me, neither of which are true.

I am afraid FOR my son.  After this chain of events, I have no doubt that the biggest threat to his life, what health he has left, and his happiness comes from unethical Mental Health Professionals. I now know DMHPs and psychiatrists are allowed to commit Felony Crimes in Washington State's Superior Court, with impunity.   

Mr. Nelson,  I want to point out that you neglected to share anything about what the Attorney General's legal duty was/ and still is, to MY SON, the victim of Nancy Sherman, Jeffrey Jennings, Dan Polage, and Jennifer Lesmez.  The State has a duty to my son, and to all people who like him, have a psychiatric diagnosis and are brought before the Washington State Superior Court by Washington State's Designated Mental Health Professionals. The DMHPs are acting as agents of the State of Washington, tasked with determining when the deprivation of a person's Liberty is required in order to help a person with a mental illness. 

Ensuring that these Court Orders are only obtained when necessary, and in compliance with Washington State Law, is one of the duties that the involuntary treatment statute states the State of Washington must perform.  As the SOW's legal representative, this legal duty resides with the Attorney General's office.  I filed my complaint with the designated complaint taker in DSHS that Washington State's Administrative Code identifies as the proper receiver of such complaints. The complaint should have been forwarded to the Washington State Patrol so that the Felony Crimes alleged in the criminal complaint could be investigated.  The crimes were perpetrated by people acting as agents of the State of Washington; which is probably why the Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery did not inform Law Enforcement so that a proper Criminal Investigation could be conducted.

Instead, DSHS DBHR sent a couple of social workers who "investigated " and determined that my son's rights had not been violated, but were in fact, effectively preserved. This so-called investigation did no fact-finding or fact checking; and did not even interview eye-witnesses or speak to the victim, my son. In fact, these so-called investigators, claimed that merely by examining an electronic record, parts of which were copies of the fabricated testimony Nancy Sherman cut and pasted on a Court form Affidavit; and that psychiatrist, Jeffery Jennings, subsequently used in support of his petition to commit my son; is an investigation! These idiots concluded that everything in the record, including factual errors, i.e. contact information, and events that both attested under penalty of perjury to have occurred--which neither of these attestors witnessed. In reality, the attestations of Nancy Sherman and Jeffrey Jennings, have no basis in fact.  The State's "investigators" concluded in effect, the perjured statements are FACTUALLY correct, because the "investigators" had read them in the electronic record. The so-called investigators basically assert in their written report that the electronic record, is evidence that my son's Constitutional Rights were not violated. I assure you it is a violation of a person's individual rights to be proceeded against in a Court of Law when fraud and perjured testimony is the only "evidence." 

The Court Order was in fact illegally obtained, the Deputy Prosecutor and the Assigned Counsel went along, acting as accessories these officers of the Court facilitated the Felony Crimes committed by the DMHP, Nancy Sherman and psychiatrist, Jeffrey Jennings. I hope by now, my point is obvious to you, Mr.Nelson. Encyclopedia Brown or the Hardy Boys could have conducted a better investigation... 

It is my understanding from your email that you are asserting the State has no duty to investigate crimes committed by it's agents when it has been informed it's agents have committed felony crimes in their professional capacity which harm people and violate their individual rights; when the law clearly states the State does in fact have a duty. To be clear, you are telling me that the Attorney General has no duty to investigate felony crimes committed in Washington State Superior Court in Civil Commitment proceedings.  I suspect your assertion is made because the State is liable for the harm caused by the unethical, illegal actions of it's employees and contracted service providers Nancy Sherman, Jeffrey Jennings, Dan Polage and Jennifer Lesmez. To reiterate, are you suggesting it is not illegal to violate a person's individual rights under the Washington State Constitution and the Constitution of the United States of America when agents of the SOW, a DMHP, a Deputy Prosecutor, Assigned Counsel for the Defense, and a psychiatrist, submit and/or suborn perjured and fraudulent testimony to obtain the Court Order? You appear to be stating that the AG's office has no legal duty to investigate Civil Rights crimes committed against people with psychiatric diagnoses; and no duty to prosecute perpetrators who criminally victimize vulnerable adults with psychiatric diagnoses?

In fact, Mr. Nelson, the State has a legal duty to ensure that my son's individual rights are secured, and effectively preserved when it's agent's petition the Court to commit him to Involuntary Treatment. The State failed to do this. It is the State's duty to prosecute felony crimes, which victimize vulnerable adults; I would think it is in the State's best interest to prosecute felony crimes committed by Officers of the Court, and people acting as the SOW's agents that victimize vulnerable adults. The failure to conduct a criminal investigation implies the SOW has no fiduciary interest in actually performing it's ethical and legal duties in order to preserve the individual rights of people subject to being deprived of their liberty in civil commitment proceedings by agents of the state EVEN though State and Federal Law require the state to perform these duties... 

These events resulted in a  temporary loss of my son's Liberty---for six months; and a permanent loss of my son's Second Amendment Rights, these actions also violated his individual rights under the 4th, the 8th and the 14th amendments---in effect, and in fact, these are Human Rights Crimes.  What infuriates me, is these events further traumatized my son, who was and is a trauma victim.  The treatment he received at CSTC can best be described as torture, as Human Experimentation, i.e. Crimes Against Humanity.  The reason I file complaints on his behalf Mr. Nelson, is that he has cognitive and neurological impairments which also compromise his ability to effectively defend and advocate for himself. These injuries were caused by Jon McClellan, Medical Director of CSTC, who tortured my son using him as a guinea pig in Drug Trials.  It's true the Statute of limitations has tolled on Jon McClellan's crimes, it is also true that his crimes were a violation of State and Federal Law and the Nuremberg Code; Jon McClellan's crimes violated both my son's and my Constitutional Rights.  Worst of all, Jon McClellan permanently disabled my once brilliant son who at the age of seven, had an IQ of 146; but today can't do what he did at the age of seven. He did this without Informed Consent, and in spite of my vehement protests--and he was enabled to do this by agents of the state working in DSHS Children's Administration who violated State and Federal Law, and ultimately committed over a million dollars of Medicaid and Child Welfare fraud . 

I share these facts because they are the necessary background which must be understood and are relevant to as to why I report crimes committed, not only because the crimes further traumatize my son, but also because Mandated Reporters working for the State do not. Once again, the State of Washington has failed to do it's duty with due diligence, or with ethical integrity, and also once again, the State of Washington is denying any responsibility to perform a duty owed to my son. 

RCW 71.05.520

Protection of rights — Staff. The department of social and health services shall have the responsibility to determine whether all rights of individuals recognized and guaranteed by the provisions of this chapter and the Constitutions of the state of Washington and the United States are in fact protected and effectively secured. To this end, the department shall assign appropriate staff who shall from time to time as may be necessary have authority to examine records, inspect facilities, attend proceedings, and do whatever is necessary to monitor, evaluate, and assure adherence to such rights. Such persons shall also recommend such additional safeguards or procedures as may be appropriate to secure individual rights set forth in this chapter and as guaranteed by the state and federal Constitutions.

[1973 1st ex.s. c 142 § 57.]

  

The more recent felony crimes committed in the summer of 2010, caused my son, who is a large man of 6'3" and close to 300 lbs., to be so severely traumatized that it took me three weeks to convince him it was safe for him to step outside into our fenced yard. 

It is obvious the State of Washington is not compelled by any sense of ethical duty, and that it fails to perform it's legal duty to preserve and protect the individual rights of people who have psychiatric diagnoses in Civil Commitment proceedings. In my son's case, the State of Washington FAILED utterly and completely.  My son's rights were neither preserved nor defended, he was further traumatized yet again, and suffered further iatrogenic harm.   

My point is simply this: The State of Washington has a legal duty and I should not need to get an attorney to compel the Attorney General's office to ethically perform a job as an Officer of the Court that is in fact the AG's ethical legal duty to perform according to Washington State and Federal Law. Your email message suggests that the only way the AG's office and State of Washington will comply with State, Federal and International Law to ensure that individual rights are preserved and defended for people who are Court Ordered to Involuntary Treatment, is if the State is forced to perform it's duty. In effect, you imply the AG must be compelled to do the tasks he is obligated by Law to perform.  I am not surprised at your outrageous claim; but I am once again disappointed. 

I would like to point out that legal action against the State, would be legal action against the people who live here, my neighbors and my family members who pay your's and the Attorney General's salaries; that hardly seems just. Why can't you simply DO YOUR JOBS as paid public servants and demonstrate some ethical integrity? Stop trying to blow smoke up my proverbial skirt, and stop abdicating responsibility for performing your legal duties with ethical integrity. You are public servants with an obligation to serve the people; are you aware that it is the people who are the State of Washington? The State of Washington is not the public mental health and social service systems. Protecting the criminals who are public servants that commit felony crimes, and victimize vulnerable people whom the State has a duty to protect, is not serving the people, i.e. the State of Washington. 

Respectfully,

Becky Murphy

An Officer of the Court

I used this symbol because before Mr. McKenna was elected as Washington State's 

Attorney General, he was admitted to the Washington State Bar; which made him an 

Officer of the Court. 

via The Seattle Times:

August 28, 2012 at 10:30 AM
McKenna: Legalization of marijuana not a states’ rights issue
Posted by Andrew Garber

Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna said legalization of marijuana is not a states’ rights issue, when asked Tuesday what he’d do as governor if voters approved Initiative 502 in November.

“I don’t think it’s a states’ rights issue. I think you have federal supremacy when it comes to laws like this,” he told reporters in a conference call. “If our state attempts to legalize a product, which is still criminalized under federal law, the feds will move forward and prosecute under federal law.”

I-502 would legalize possession and sale of up to 1 ounce of marijuana. It would impose a steep excise tax on marijuana and cannabis-infused products at new state-licensed marijuana stores, and would allow state-regulated grow farms.

McKenna opposes the measure, as does his Democratic challenger Jay Inslee. When pressed for details about what he’d do if the measure was approved, McKenna declined comment.

“I don’t want to comment on what could happen with a law that’s not going to pass. If it passes in November, we’ll evaluate what actions we need to take,” he said.

McKenna also said Tuesday he would not release his income tax returns.

Inslee released five years of federal income-tax returns last week and called on McKenna to do the same. McKenna has said previously he wouldn’t release the documents, but his campaign indicated last week that he was reconsidering.

On Tuesday, McKenna reaffirmed his earlier position. “It’s a phony issue. Anyone who wants to know what my salary is, what property I own, what debts I have, etc., can look at that on my F1 (financial disclosure reports),” McKenna said.  read

Something is phony alright! I'm certain it is Mr. McKenna.  The man is entitled to his personal opinions, as are we all. However, recognizing what is and is not within the rights of the citizens who reside in the State of Washington, is not not simply a matter of his own personal opinions; but a matter of Law. McKenna seems to be confused about the Law itself; indeed, he is seems confused about the role of an Attorney General. Those who wish may look at Mr. McKenna's F1 file; he could simply be open, honest and forthright to save the voting public the trouble, couldn't he?    

I admit I'm biased...But I happen to know that Mr. McKenna as the Attorney General, has failed to prosecute people who victimize vulnerable adults and children; and I take that personally, it's impossible for me not to. He has failed to defend victims of crime, failed to investigate and prosecute crimes when the perpetrators are State employees, or contracted service providers, acting under the State's authority. One of the victims, is my son.  More than a year after informing Mr. McKenna's office of felony crimes having been committed in Superior  Court; I received a response from his office.  Since he is the AG, he is an Officer of the Court, and the head of Washington State Law Enforcement; I don't believe waiting to respond for over a year after a person contacts his office reporting the crimes of fraud and perjury being perpetrated by service providers operating under the authority granted to them by the State of Washington is doing his job ethically or honestly...The AG's Executive Assistant characterized my contact with Mr. McKenna's office as recent, which is not accurate.

As I stated, we're all entitled to our own opinions, and I have one I'd like to share.

 McKenna is a 

Washington State's Attorney General, Rob McKenna Protects Perpetrators Instead of Victims

First published September 7, 2011 

Girls who were sexually assaulted at two psychiatric facilities in Washington State were not protected by Child Protective Services. In both instances, Mandated Reporters failed to report repeated sexual assaults of two teen-age girls, as required by law.

Child Study and Treatment Center

The facilities where these sexual assaults occurred are Child Study and Treatment Center, the State of Washington's psychiatric research facility for children and adolescents, above left; and Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center pictured below. In both of these facilities staff who had a duty to report to Law Enforcement and to Child Protective Services did not, and when these events were finally investigated none of the staff who failed to report, were held accountable.

Children's Hospital

In both cases the perpetrators were risks known to hospital staff. Both perpetrators had sexually assaulted other girls in the facilities, prior to assaulting the girls this blog post is about. In neither  case were any mandated reporters prosecuted for the gross misdemeanor crime of failure to report; and no one lost their job.

My son was at CSTC when these the rapes at CSTC occurred. It was apparent to me on visits that Anthony Grant was preying on the girls---I repeatedly complained to staff. I was told he needed, "more training;" later I discovered this inappropriate response was being made by the same staff psychologist who managed to get Angel to recant...which allowed Anthony grant to remain on staff, to rape another girl. story here

The girl who was assaulted at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center was assaulted by another patient who had sexually assaulted another patient a year before. The second assault was caught on video; but after watching the video, the staff member erased it. The crime was not reported to the Police, and the victim did not receive immediate appropriate medical attention. In fact, the crime was not reported until the victim complained about ongoing abuse from the perpetrator---who had been put in a room right next to the victim! Supposedly, here in Washington State, destroying evidence of a crime is a crime; and Failure to Report to Law Enforcement and CPS the sexual assault of these girls is a gross misdemeanor. When CPS does eventually "investigate," it's findings were inconclusive?! I'd be willing to bet the perpetrator in the second case is a Ward of the State and identified as a 'Sexually Aggressive Youth' which meant the State failed to provide protection against KNOWN threats in both cases.

via The Seattle Times:

"For several days, until the girl found the courage to report the assault to staff, the boy passed her sexually suggestive notes, came into her room while she slept and asked to have sex, and forced his way into the restroom to proposition her, according to the CPS findings and the girl's parents."

"It was then that the girl told staff, who called CPS. Police were also contacted, and the boy was charged in Seattle Municipal Court with one count of assault and one count of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes."

"Despite the apologies, the girl's parents say they still are confused. They learned in a letter from Children's that a videotape that had recorded the assault in the conference room had been reviewed by Anne Moore, the unit manager, but had then been erased. And it wasn't until about 12 months after their daughter's assault — after CPS had been made aware that another girl on the unit in the summer of 2006 said the same boy assaulted her — that CPS conducted a full investigation." here.

In both cases, Psychiatric Hospital Staff failed to protect their patients from a known threat; which is what both perpetrators were after the first incidents. ONE Victim of sexual assault was not enough to fire the Staff member at the State's Psychiatric facility for children. A video tape of a crime was not enough for Staff at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center to act on a traumatized victim's behalf. No staff members lost their jobs for failing to report a sexual assault as required by law. Every one of them had a duty to protect and were negligent, and failed their duty to these girls, whom they had a duty to protect.

Things that trouble me greatly about both of these cases: Both perpetrators were allowed to plea to lesser crimes, even though both had known prior victims...Staff members were aware of the danger the perpetrators posed to the girls. In both cases, reports were filed ONLY after the traumatized victims came forward themselves. Psychiatric professionals failed to reach out to sexually traumatized victims; and I cannot wrap my mind around that---it is not acceptable, it is criminal.

I can only conclude that prosecuting crimes committed against vulnerable children is not a priority for Rob McKenna, our Attorney General. What other explanation could there be for mandated reporters working in the only State Psychiatric facility for children, Child Study and Treatment Center and at the world renown, Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center not being prosecuted for the Gross Misdemeanor Crime of failure to report? Rob McKenna failed as well.

It is individuals who work for the people of the State of Washington who failed these girls. It is not the system that fails our vulnerable children and adults. The idea that 'the system' is failing; or is broken is an notion that has allowed individuals who are negligent in the performance of their duties, to be rewarded with impunity for their complicity. Individuals who fail to report crimes, and fail to defend children and vulnerable adults to whom they owe a duty, are culpable in the crimes they fail to report, and should be held accountable in a Court of Law, by the Attorney General who also owes these victims a duty. Child and Adult protective services, "The System," cannot be fixed without holding those entrusted to watch out for children and vulnerable adults accountable when they are criminally negligent. Failure to hold State employees and other contracted professionals the public pays to work with vulnerable children and adults accountable increases the State of Washington's potential liability; one would think this would be incentive for the State of Washington to act proactively in behalf of children and vulnerable adults.

Some of the people who failed my son, Isaac, have since retired with pensions. Attorney General, Rob McKenna failed to even do a cursory investigation, not even a simple interview in response to the criminal complaint I filed on my son's behalf. This tells me that Rob McKenna protects perpetrators much more zealously than he protects children or vulnerable adults who are victimized by state employees or agents of the state.