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Lawyer Jailed For Contempt Is Freed After 14 Years
H. Beatty Chadwick has been in a staring match with the judicial system for the past 14 years, and the system just blinked. Chadwick was ordered to pay his ex-wife $2.5 million after their divorce. He refused to pay saying that he couldn't because he lost the money in a series of "bad investments." The judge in the case didn't believe him and sent him to jail for contempt. That was 14 years ago. Last week another judge let Chadwick go saying that "continued imprisonment would be legal only if there was some likelihood that ultimately he would comply with the order; otherwise, the confinement would be merely punitive instead of coercive." Chadwick, now 73, is believed to have served the longest contempt sentence in US history.
do we get to find his treasure now?
Reminds me of Nothing but the Truth, except his motives were a heck of a lot different. Furthermore, Kate Beckinsale is ridiculously hot.
Never give up the source
This guy must have really hated his ex-wife.
Just because you are wrong and I called you out on it doesn't mean I am a Troll.
It's seriously scary that this guy was basically in debtors prison for 14 years! Wasn't it a bit obvious after say 6-12 months that the guy either didn't have the money or wasn't going to ever hand it over? I can't believe that the original judge thought it was fair and ok to keep this guy in jail for over a decade on the assumption (not proof) that he was lying.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
It's not like this is an RNO story. Chadwick wasn't imprisoned for taking a moral stand. Divorce isn't especially nerdy. What's the relevancy to my life that this story brings?
I'm not trolling, either; I just want to know if there's some angle that I'm missing.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
He should have just told the judge that he spent all the money on hookers and blow.
A judge would understand that.
Was "H Beatty Chadwick" - that's a wealthy, old money name if I've ever heard one. He's got the money.
I fail to see where the benefit is in keeping an old man in jail for so long, at taxpayers expense, is.
14 years? I've seen figures of $30,000 PA to keep a prisoner captive. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_cost_of_one_prisoner_in_the_U.S.
So we're talking $420,000 so far spent on this man. Instead he could have had assets seized and been forced into work, and paying tax, and having some money garnished. Or his actual money would have shown up after a few years when he thought people weren't looking.
It's not as if he was a danger to people on the street - the number one reason to put someone into jail.
Lawyer Jailed for Contempt Freed After 14 Years
The fact that he was a lawyer has little relation the story - he could've just as easily been a baker, a banker, a doctor...
#DeleteChrome
What does it say about the judge that he/she (I'm guessing he) would leave the guy imprisoned for 14 years for contempt? Are we looking at some near-cosmic game of chicken? Is this just a face-off between two enormous egos? Is there nothing in law that prohibits truly insane sanctions such as this? Or that limits the power of a judge to apply them - apprently without any sort of review or oversight? Did the judge just forget the guy? Didn't anybody ever remind him about the guy rotting in jail simply because he didn't do what the judge said to do? I'd really like to hear the judge's rationalization of why this happened.
If his ex-wife wants half of everything she should get to serve half the time in prison.
How hard is it to prove he has the money?
Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
This has got to be one of the scariest stories that I've ever read. No trial and not even evidence was necessary to put this guy in jail for 14 years. If that doesn't make you question the legal system nothing will. I think there is need for contempt of court punishments but they seriously need to be looked at in light of this case. For example, anything over two weeks should need the agreement of three judges and there should be a cap of a year. I would argue that in cases like this there should be a jury trial with evidence from both sides, the only trouble with that is it's virtually asking the guy to prove a negative (e.g. he doesn't have the money) but it's better than allowing one guys will to send him away for essentially ever. If there was a trial at least the guy would have some idea the maximum penelty and be able to formally present some evidence of how he lost the money - because surely there would have to be some sort of paper trail or other evidence of $2.5 being spent.
I used to have a better sig but it broke.
You can "prepay" with a huge retainer your lawyers. Good way to 'hide' money.
Let's see -- 14 years in prison, x 3 meals a day, plus housing. $2.5 million in renewing CD's x 14 years = PROFIT.
And at 73 years old, He can now file for SSI and collect max benefits.
Hmm also at 73 the memory's not so good and I don't remember where the bank is... or I hope the bank hasn't turned the money over to the State of PA after 14 years as 'unclaimed accounts'.
Not after 14 years.
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Just goes to show: you can lead a man to the door, but you can't make him use your keys and walk through it.
This judge should be removed from the bench, and perhaps prosecuted for doing this to this man. 14 years! WTF?
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Still I think 14 years in prison without a trial is a scary thing in any legal system.
Yes, he was a real asshole. The problem I have with this is that the legal system is supposed to be about what you can prove, not what you "know". You, the judge and I all know that this asshole isn't really broke. But if the judge and his ex-wife's lawyers can't prove that he has the money, then it's not right to hold him in a cell for so long.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
But I like the new index. I managed to banish idle stories from the classic index, how do I banish them from the new index? I don't care how newsworthy some random editor thinks they are. I do not want to ever see them.
Need a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
You heard it here first: The US is a tool of terrorism
I'll just keep reading sits like www.nomarraige.com and girllookslikeabitch.com. No seriously, before someone jumps down my throat for saying that. I think if I was this guy, I would have worked out some kind of deal with my ex-wife before I spent what could be the majority of my golden years in jail. I never understood why people want so much stuff from their ex, most of the time requiring that they have to stay in contact with them. I would understand if children were involved, but I've never wanted to see her again after it's over. Too much else to do in life.
Actually it was a complete waste to ever stick him in prison. As others have said, let him loose, tax the hell out of him, garnish his wages, and make him pay what he owed. But sitting in prison has simply cost the tax payers money, prevented him from paying his owed debt by working, and potentially collecting the money he "hid". The judge was a fool in this case and accomplished nothing.
In fact this is a good example of why it's stupid to ever stick someone in prison because they owe money to someone else. It's far better to keep them out of prison, make sure they're working, and then collect the money owed. In fact, what are the odds that instead, they could have let him go, watched his bank transactions for a bit, then frozen his accounts and paid his debts? If he really did still have access to the money.
Maybe, or MAYBE he really didn't have the money, so he couldn't really afford the toilet paper!
Its expensive to keep that baller image.
That's what ya get folks
For Makin Whoopee
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Which means that he should have been tried in a court of law with a jury, and the prosecution should have had to prove that he did have he money.
Just because we think someone is an asshole should not mean we get to imprison them.
and we all know the TV doesn't lie, especially when their biggest source was most likely the ex-wife. Then again, maybe she was doing landscaping and having her toilet paper rationed because he lost all of his money in a bad investment.
-PainKilleR-[CE]
Is it a crime to be an ass?
Divorce awards are the problem, not tightwads.
love is just extroverted narcissism
Can you link to evidence of these claims?
Pro-tip: prenuptial agreements are for suckers.
This is NOT the type of country I want to live in. I would rather live in the old Soviet Union!
Ruby Neural Evolution of Augmenting Topologies
Will he be re-imbursed for his time? Imagine how much you could have made in 14 years. Another 2.5 Million perhaps (given that he works in real estate)
The solution is to charge you with a crime (for refusing to comply with the court order, etc) THEN throw your ass in jail. It's not ok that a judge can sentence someone to jail for an indefinite period without a trial and conviction. The current system is enabling judges to be assholes.
Then when she sued for divorce he hid all his money in some offshore company and pretended it was lost in a "bad investment". It was a blatant lie. This guy deserves to rot in prison until he decides to come clean.
No, he deserves to be charged with purjury, which is the crime of lying under oath. Then a jury needs to be convinced beyond reasonable doubt that he did in fact lie. Then he gets punished per the laws passed by the appropriate legislative body (which probably won't include 14 year prison sentences).
People should go to jail for committing crimes. Crimes should be established by laws passed by legislative bodies. Whether somebody has committed a serious crime should be determined by a jury of their peers.
Not for contempt...
Rather for spite.
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
"This guy is a real tool....This guy deserves to rot in prison"
Yeah, but what happens when some judge thinks you are a real tool, and deserves to rot in prison for 14 years? With no trial? No evidence? No jury?
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In order to do any of those things however, they should be able to prove that you have the ability to provide those key. They need to account for people who lost their passwords. Hell, even gmail accounts for people who lost their passwords.
People will loose their stuff, and forget things. You can't imprison them for that!
Instead of the 2.5 million the wife should have gone for the standard "ex-wife is set for life" package with the house, car, and alimony of 50% of the guy's income and or gains for life.
Tax the hell out of him how? Are you going to pass special legislation targets only at him?
If he doesn't work, and from what I understand he doesn't, then he has no wages to garnish.
He was put in prison for contempt of court, not owing money.
Watch his bank transaction? All he has to do is have the money sent to him as he needs it via Western Union or MoneyGram. He could also do other fun things, like staging a fake lottery and claiming it as winning. Granted he would have to pay taxes on the money, but he would not have to share it as it was not "won" during the marriage.
Money laundering just takes a little creativity.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
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"tax the hell out of him"
Judges don't impose taxes. Taxes are not levied on crimes. You seem to be completely oblivious about the purpose and even the basic definition of taxes.
You can't charge him for what he owed, since he didn't owe a set amount. He probably owed a proportion of the assets that the couple had. The problem was that he hid the money over seas, and refused to allow the courts to investigate. He had two ways to free himself: pay up, or let the courts search his overseas assets.
Ironically, your suggestions are more draconian that sticking someone in jail.
Then when she sued for divorce he hid all his money in some offshore company and pretended it was lost in a "bad investment". It was a blatant lie. This guy deserves to rot in prison until he decides to come clean. He held the keys to his release the entire 14 years. He was just a stubborn liar.
Whether or not he knows the whereabouts of the money is totally immaterial. Even the judge who freed Chadwick believes he knows where the money is.
The fact of the matter is, this is America pal. We don't have judges summarily meting out punishments to people. We have due process, and trials by juries of peers, and things of that nature.
Contempt of court is a special case where a person is detained, not as punishment for refusing to comply with a lawful court order, but as coercion to comply with said order. The new judge ruled that Chadwick's confinement was in fact a punishment, not coercion, because after 14 years, Chadwick was unlikely to be coerced to comply with the lawful court order.
If Chadwick ought to be punished, fine. But let's advocate doing it in a manner that is consistent with our ideals (and the US Constitution, Amendments 5 and 14).
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
This guy deserves to rot in prison until he decides to come clean. He held the keys to his release the entire 14 years. He was just a stubborn liar.
Wait, wait!
When is it my turn to have the right to decide which activity qualifies for being 'asshole' enough to justify spending life in prison without a trial? Is there a list to sign up for this right?
There's a few things that people are doing which I think shouldn't be done in a good society, nothing would please me more than seeing those assholes rot and die crying with no way of getting released .
So what about Martin Armstrong?
Laws have to writter and this means somebody has to have thought of what could happen. This hostage taking by the court is supposed to convince you to comply. Most people do. The only people who often refuse are journalists out of principles that most of would support.
This guy ain't somekind of hero. If he really didn't have the money, he could have fought that in court, but he didn't. Me thinks he got the money and an enormous stick up his ass that made him act this way.
The entire world relies on the fact that people more or less follow the rules. Someone who doesn't can seriouysly upset the system. Take serial killers. One of the "rules" of society is that you kill loved ones, not random strangers. Most murders are solved but serial killings are the major exception because it is very difficult for the system to deal with someone who works outside it.
Say a person is standing in front of your door. Doesn't go away when asked, doesn't go away when it rains or snows. If arrested resists, if released goes right back. If sent to jail, the moment he is out is right back. Year in, year out. What can the system do? NOTHING!
The system relies on people, even criminals, to obey the rules. If you really just don't, the system falls apart.
Just as countless women are killed by abusive husbands despite restraining orders and jailtime because if an abuser just does not listen, well the only cure then is the death penalty or he will go back and kill his ex.
We can more or less live without fear until the day we are on the wrong end of someone who just doesn't follow the rules.
This guy broke the rules and got trapped in a grey area where society doesn't work anymore. Nobody has any answer for somebody NOT complying with a court order other then prison and/or death.
Proof? 14 yrs and no proof the money ain't there or a payment.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
$2.5 Million over 14 years amounts to about $178k/year (not including interest earned if he had it invested somewhere). A great "up yours" to his gold digger ex-wife.
"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?" --Yoda {whips out green light saber}
I saw this story on TV a few years ago.
This guy is a real tool. He was a multi-millionaire ultra-tightwad. He made his wife do all the landscaping on their mansion. She left him when he started rationing her toilet paper usage.
Then when she sued for divorce he hid all his money in some offshore company and pretended it was lost in a "bad investment". It was a blatant lie. This guy deserves to rot in prison until he decides to come clean. He held the keys to his release the entire 14 years. He was just a stubborn liar.
You're completely wrong.
I think this country still believes in innocent until proven guilty.
You're no better than the judge if you feel that way. You need to use the law to make judgements, not your feelings, empathy, biasness, or your strong latina back ground.
-- If we don't stand up for our rights, now, there will be no right to stand up for them later.
All of this is absolutely, 100% irrelevant. I don't think anybody here on /. will argue that this guy is not worthy of condemnation, I am sure he is human pond scum, but that is NOT a good reason to put someone in prison! In America you have the right to be an a-hole -- you don't have anything to worry about until you A) violate the law and B) a jury of your peers decides that there is sufficient evidence of said infraction as to punish you for it. That is not what happened, this judge put a man in jail on a whim, because he would not immediately cooperate, which is a grotesque abuse of judicial power. He should have been brought up on fraud/perjury charges in a criminal court. If he was found to be in violation of the law, then it would be legitimate to send him to prison. Short of this, keeping him in jail for such a long time is inexcusable.
To the haters: You can't win. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine
He probably LIKED being in prison, where he could save money and the government paid for everything he needed.
Qxe4
Before you sharpen your pitch forks too much, there is one thing to look into. Did the man in this case have proof he actually lost the money? Was the money traceable? Did the court have proof he at one time had the money?
Look, the woman and the court presumably had indisputable proof he had the money shortly before the divorce. I think we all understand the likely thing that happened next was he put his money in a untraceable location and *failed* to provide any documentation. He could as easily claimed aliens took his money, can you prove they didn't?
The courts can't imprison you for something they have no evidence of, but remember they had evidence and he absolutely lost. Once he loses the case, he HAS to comply. If courts are literally unable to punish you for failing to follow a court order, all court orders would be ignored. Really, every court order would be ignored and why not? They court has no power to do anything about it. After a trial do you have to have another trial for ignoring the results of the first trial? Followed by another trial for ignoring the results of that trial and so on? And imagine what the case would look like "Members of the jury, here is the court order for the defendant to do X, we will now call the pervious judge as a witness to verify that X was not done."
OK, you may think that the court would have been better served by taking other assets it could reach. Maybe that might have worked in this case. But if Courts are unable to enforce rulings they literally have no power at all.
So basicaly what are you saying is, if i am a judge, and i order you to fly across the street or more credible to produce the 10kg of heroine which you buried in the forest, and you don't comply then of course you are breaking the law, and should go to jail for 14 years?
Ok, I read the article, I also read the NYT article. Unless my eyes skipped over it I didn't see any mention of the name of the judge that cited him with contempt, only the name of the judge that let him out. I wonder about reporters who leave the "who dun'it" info out of an article.
1) Send $2.5 Million overseas.
2) Get divorced.
3) ??? (x14 years)
4) PROFIT!
It is better to set the gulity free than to punish the innocent.
The more interesting societal issue: At what ratio?
So after you is ok a 14 year term for 2.5 mil your own money, and not endangering anyone? As a matter of fact i heard smaller penalties for robbing a bank of 2.5 mil, or for murdering someone!!
Except that they stated that he had it hidden offshore. Their 'proof' was in essence the lawyer's lack of proof.
It's obvious he was a multi-millionaire. Their proof of this is that HE'S LIVING LIKE A MILLIONAIRE IN A MILLIONAIRE'S MANSION, AND IS A WELL KNOWN MILLIONAIRE! Where'd the money go? Lost it in bad business? Fine, toss us some proof, any proof. An invoice for buying something ludicrously expensive, an email or letter, a bank receipt, ANYTHING. The slightest shred or hint of ANYTHING indicating where millions of dollars... which tends to have paper trails... disappeared to.
He didn't show them anything. Thus... contempt. Personally, I don't think he should have been let out. Now he can spend his millions of dollars for his last decade or whatever of life on himself and himself alone.
I don't think anybody here on /. will argue that this guy is not worthy of condemnation ...
I will.
What is going to happen to the Judge? He deserves his own trial now. This guy was in his custody and either intentionally left to rot in captivity, or unintentionally forgotten about? Either way, if a parent with custody of a child did that, or a caretaker with custody of an ill person, they would be charged with a crime.
Also - what that guy even married for 14 years?
In order to convict someone of perjury, you need evidence that they actually lied. What they are lacking for that conviction is that evidence which he conveniently didn't turn over. So while they could have charged him, they don't have the evidence to convict him for lying.
Strangely, we manage to convict murderers without their cooperation in the investigation.
If there isn't any evidence that the guy was lying about the $2.5M, then isn't it wrong to stick him in prison for 14 years?
What a screwed up society we live in where a man is forced to live for over a decade in a jail cell for not giving his worthlessly evil wife millions of dollars for betraying him. Western society is full of anti-male propaganda and protects women far better than it protects men. It's despicable and ultimately saddening.
"continued imprisonment would be legal only if there was some likelihood that ultimately he would comply with the order" you mean that after twelve years, or hell, two, it was still unclear that he committed to his story?
in that it gives us insight into who you are. I think this "bitter man" mentality says everything about your personal defects, and next to nothing about women in general. Whenever I hear this kind of bitching I immediately wonder what kind of looser attracts the kind of woman you describe, or alternately, how clueless you must be to have overlooked the boundless clues to your mates deficits. I've been with my wife for a dozen years. She has almost always made twice my salary - often earning a solid six figures. We don't separate out finances, and she has never begrudged my sometimes extravagant purchases of giant TVS, toys, music, whatever. If she were to split today, far more than half of what we have would rightly be hers to take. I suppose it's possible we could have a terrible breakup sometime. But I know her better than anyone, and I can't see her making it so bad as to negate the many incredible years we have had together. I think in general - with exceptions of course - people deserve the mate they find. All told, you probably just suck. And I'm super awesome.
46 & 2
Are you even aware that the violence committed between couples is split evenly between men and women? I'm sure feminist propaganda would have you believe otherwise, but if you knew anything about social psychology you would be shocked to find out women are perpetrators of severe violence just as often as men.
That's the point, he went to court. The jury said he is a millionaire and he should put up his cash. Judge said pay up or show insolvency. He didn't and he was in contempt. At any point this guy could file for bankruptcy, show all his financial records, at the very least put a "best" effort into it. Even showing the "losses" in his overseas assets. So what he did?
Nothing.
In the end, he didn't sign a petition by the wife that says he was poor. I am not saying this was the best solution. Maybe the state didn't have the laws in place to garnish wages like this. It could be that the only tool the judge had was to force an order. Whats really telling is that while his lawyer had been working pro bono for 6 years, how much was he being paid for the last 8...
He could of left at any time, but he was THAT much of an asshole that he thought jail was better than paying his wife's fair share.
I don't think you get it... he had the power to get himself out of prison!
Imagine your mom coming home and seeing the TV in your living room just... gone. She goes to her son and says "WTF happened to the TV?!" and he replies that it was broken. Being suspect that he sold it or something as there was no mess left behind at all, she says "ok, where are the broken pieces?" and the son refuses to show them to her. The mom sends him to his room until he fesses up to doing whatever he did with the TV or showing her the broken pieces of the TV. The son is particularly stubborn and chooses not to own up to what he did, and the mom is just as stubborn and won't let him out until he fesses up.
Its the same thing here, the guy apparently made zero attempt to prove his losses or come up with the money. I do agree that at some point, you have to look at what the maximum sentence would have been for any potential crime he may have committed, maybe add some time on for good measure, and then let him out. Then again, maybe that is what the judge did.
Its just mind boggling that this guy would rather sit in prison than make any attempt, no matter how meager, to prove his losses.
"contempt of court" is that all-encompassing non-offense that occurs anytime somebody fails to treat a pathologically vain cross-dresser with a gavel like a vacationing Olympian deity.
- William Grigg
The problem with your argument is that he DID provide proof of the bad investment. It's patently ridiculous, but he has documentation that had made the bad investments. On the T.V. Program that profiled this case, roughly 6-8 years ago, they actually showed them.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
All this could have been avoided if the poor bastard had just NOT MADE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE A MAN CAN MAKE -- MARRIAGE. Guys, if you have not yet done so, take 10 minutes to Google for the problems of marriage for men. Or cut to the chase and skim nomarriage.com, either way. Educate yourself on the realities of marriage, please.
Dude, he HAD the trial. That's how it was established he owed the $2.5M. When the trial was over he a) refused to pay up, and b) refused to show any reason why he couldn't (other than an assertion that he couldn't). I have no sympathy for the guy.
There was substantial evidence that the guy 1) moved the money out of the country, and 2) snuck it back into the country and hid it. He had like 14 appeals, and all the judges agreed with the original: the guy was thumbing his nose at the court. He could have gotten out of jail at any time if he had just done what the original court ordered. I have absolutely zero sympathy.
The plaintiff produced credible evidence that the guy was lying when he said he had used the funds to pay off a debt. He sent the money overseas, then snuck it back into the US and hid it somehow. He was far from innocent.
Geez, the assumption around here that the judge was some kind of moron who likes throwing people in jail for no particular reason is nuts. The guy appealed this order over a dozen times, and every time he was told (based on evidence the plaintiff had gathered) "you have the money - cough up". He just refused.
Dude, he HAD the damn trial. The plantiffs presented evidence that he had control of this money. The judge ordered him to pay it. He refused and was jailed for contempt. He appealed 14 times and was each time told to obey the original court's order. This business of being imprisoned without trial is BS... he had the trial, and refused to abide by the results.