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Man Ordered To Apologize To Wife On Facebook

New submitter Marillion writes "Photographer Mark Byron was so bothered by his pending divorce and child visitation issues that he blasted his soon-to-be ex-wife on his personal Facebook page. That touched off a battle that resulted in a Hamilton County judge ordering Byron jailed for his Facebook rant — and to post on his page an apology to his wife and all of his Facebook friends, something free speech experts found troubling."

9 of 400 comments (clear)

  1. The lesson here isn't about free speech by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's about how men are shit on in pretty much any divorce case.

    Wife alleges you hit her? Off to jail, guilty until proven innocent buddy.

    Wife alleges you molested the kids? Say goodbye to your kids forever, pal. Maybe if you're lucky we'll let you see them for a few hours once a month with a supervisor present.

    Wife wants child support? We don't care that she's spending all the money on her new ex-con boyfriend's meth lab, you'll pay it or it's jail for you, sparky!

    Wife is a drug addict who neglects the kids? Tough luck pal, she's still getting full custody over you. That's what you get for showing up to court with a penis.

    Wife won't let YOU have the kids during your court-appointed custody days? File this paperwork. We'll look into it in about a year, if you're lucky.

    You won't let HER have the kids during her court-appointed custody days? Freeze, motherfucker! Get you're hands on your head NOW! ON THE GROUND, ASSHOLE! DON'T MAKE ME SHOOT YOU!

    Welcome to the world of divorce court, Mark.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:The lesson here isn't about free speech by Toe,+The · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, it's also about free speech.

      Someone being required by law to post an apology is rather frightening.

      You can't even force a kid to say a prayer, but you can force a guy to pretend he is apologetic?

    2. Re:The lesson here isn't about free speech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A forced apology is not an apology.

    3. Re:The lesson here isn't about free speech by Bill_the_Engineer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      However, this is from my experience as a third party witness. Once of the premarital discussions I had w/ my wife was to agree that we'd settle shit like adults if things went sour. Life's too short to be worrying about making the other miserable. There's no need to drag kids through that crap either. The more disagreements you can resolve outside of the court amicably the better, IMO. Now we'll see if things actually pan out that way if I ever have the cross that bridge...

      Speaking as a third party witness to several divorces. You underestimated the influence of your wife's potential attorney. He will strongly encourage your wife to ask for what's more than "rightfully" hers in order to have an advantage during negotiations. Remember the attorney is looking out for himself while he represents your wife. Being fair is not his objective. Getting the most for his client so that he himself will make more is his primary concern. Also the more contentious the divorce the more legal fees he is allowed to charge.

      I have seen amicable divorces but it's a rare thing.

      --
      These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
    4. Re:The lesson here isn't about free speech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      More true than you'd know, buddy.

      Consider:
      - Women are almost never arrested, arraigned, prosecuted, or convicted of filing false police reports - BUT
      - A false police report = an arrest record, which can be used against the man in the divorce proceedings.

      True story: my best friend was going out with a waitress, knocked her up... his own fault for failing to use a condom. But he manned up, did the right thing when they split up a year and a half later, filed for custody.

      Judge basically told him he had NO legal rights to his kid other than visitation. He got weekends at first; then the bitch ran two states away to prevent him from even having that after he filed another motion for more rights, followed 2 months later by her filing paperwork about how, from 800 miles away, he had supposedly "not arrived for his visitation once in the past two months." Meanwhile he's got 5 motions in asking the judge to order her to return and stop interfering with his visitation rights.

      Judge THEN ordered... that she move back to the city and not leave without informing the court (a) where she was going and (b) that her travel must not impact his visitation rights. She got back into town, filed a false police report, claimed he had come over and "beaten" her. Police actually did their job, examined her for bruises, took her to the ER to get checked up... not a fucking scratch or bump on her or the kid. She admitted to their faces she was lying to get him in trouble when confronted... but they couldn't haul her in ("because it would leave the kid with nobody to look after her") and the local DA refused to prosecute ("not enough evidence and we'll never get all 12 members of a jury to convict her"). So, there's a record of her CALLING IN a false police report, but no arrest and no arraignment and no conviction on her record... meanwhile my buddy spent an overnight in jail because "standard procedure" said he had to be held in a cell till they could release him after morning paperwork.

      She ran off again a few months later.. and the judge REFUSED to hold her in contempt of court for violating his orders, just filed another "return or else" order.

      Eventually the judge ruled to give her sole custody and my friend only "visitation rights" on a permanent basis, because the now 3-year-old kid had "a mother-child bond." Despite the fact that my friend had been fighting tooth and nail for the right to be a parent to his daughter. The only reason my buddy has custody now is that she turned over custody when she moved in with her "boyfriend" a year later, because the boyfriend didn't want to have kids in his house.

    5. Re:The lesson here isn't about free speech by El+Torico · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Remember to record everything on video; just ask Salvatore Miglino
      The Evil Bitch of a Mother-In-Law called 911 and lied immediately after she shot him three times in a planned ambush. Fortunately for him, she's as stupid as she is evil and used a crap ass .22 caliber automatic that jammed. If he didn't have the recording, he would be the one in jail.

      --
      In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is usually crucified.
    6. Re:The lesson here isn't about free speech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Absolutely agree. Having recently gone through a divorce and custody battle myself it amazed me how blatantly biased the family court system is against men that have done no wrong and only want to continue to be a part of their children's lives.

    7. Re:The lesson here isn't about free speech by kelemvor4 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's about how men are shit on in pretty much any divorce case.

      Wife alleges you hit her? Off to jail, guilty until proven innocent buddy.

      Wife alleges you molested the kids? Say goodbye to your kids forever, pal. Maybe if you're lucky we'll let you see them for a few hours once a month with a supervisor present.

      Wife wants child support? We don't care that she's spending all the money on her new ex-con boyfriend's meth lab, you'll pay it or it's jail for you, sparky!

      Wife is a drug addict who neglects the kids? Tough luck pal, she's still getting full custody over you. That's what you get for showing up to court with a penis.

      Wife won't let YOU have the kids during your court-appointed custody days? File this paperwork. We'll look into it in about a year, if you're lucky.

      You won't let HER have the kids during her court-appointed custody days? Freeze, motherfucker! Get you're hands on your head NOW! ON THE GROUND, ASSHOLE! DON'T MAKE ME SHOOT YOU!

      Welcome to the world of divorce court, Mark.

      I bet those that have never been divorced think you're exaggerating. When I got divorced, the first time I saw my lawyer he pretty much laid it out exactly as you did. He did mention there were some fairly reasonable reasons for most of that stuff.. but I have forgotten what they were.

    8. Re:The lesson here isn't about free speech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A good parent is, above all, a role model.

      A bad husband is a bad father.

      A bad wife is a bad mother.

      In more general terms, anyone who breaks a close trust has no place in a position of responsibility.

      A failing marriage can be ended amicably. The partners are free to hump others after this.