Georgia Man Spends More Than a Year in Jail for Not Paying Child Support and He’s Not the Daddy
Published by Jamie Myles on July 17, 2009 in USA & Canada-
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Man jailed even though two separate paternity tests proved he is not the father.
Imagine being in a court room and hearing the judge sentence you to jail for something that you have had no involvement in. As you look around the court room you realize you are actually going to jail and you are innocent. It is happening to men every day in America.
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How many men are in jail unjustly because of support enforcement? Frank Hatley is just one of many.
In 2002 DNA samples proved that Frank Hatley, age 50, is not the father of Essie Lee Morrison’s son who was born in 1987. Morrison told Hatley the child was his. The two never married and had only a very short term relationship. Ms. Morrison named him as the father when she applied for DSHS benefits. Two separate DNA tests in the last nine years confirmed he was not the father of the boy, who is now 21.
After 2001 hearing, Superior Court Judge Dan Perkins relieved Mr. Hatley of any future child support obligation but ordered him to pay back owed support. When Mr. Hatley lost his job in June of 2008, and could not make the payments, the state of Georgia decided to disregard the fact that he was not the father and had him thrown is jail for failure to pay child support.
After The Southern Center For Human Rights took on Mr. Hatleys case, Judge Perkins issued a Court order for his release from jail On Wednesday July15 2009, and an order freeing him from financial obligation to the Georgia Department of Human Resources.
Mr Hatley is not satisfied with this. He feels that he needs justice since he was defrauded out of thousands of dollars and over one year of his life by the State of Georgia and Essie Lee Morrison.
This fraudulent activity by the Child Support Enforcement Agencies and by many women is not uncommon.
30% of paternal DNA tests prove that the named father is in fact not the biological father. If a man cannot afford to get Dna testing done, It is assumed that he is admitting to be the father as far as support enforcement is concerned. This is an outrage and needs to be dealt with as such. It is unlawful imprisonment when the state wrongfully imprisons someone they know is innocent It is fraud when they extort money by threatening these men with jail if they don’t pay for children who are not theirs. The women who perpetrate the fraud in the first place should go to jail. If they do not know who the daddy is, they should just say so instead of committing fraud by naming whoever they think may or may not be the father.The whole support enforcement system is corrupt when they are extorting money with the threat of false imprisonment. Someone needs to be held accountable.
This is a very unique write. This is sad. Wrong judgement is really bad. Have my liked it.
Interesting article.
Write Up is too good…..but a wrong judgemen can ruin a person’s whole life.This is really sad.
Interesting article, nice to read something out of the norm.
This pisses me off. I think that the entire child support system needs to be overhauled.
For that matter, the entire custody rights needs to be overhauled.
Men are treated unfair in many, many custody cases.
That would suck beyong anything.
instead of paying DSHS paying benefits to these women, they should pay for DNA testing. and if the women are in fact lying they should face the charges. further more benefits are earned! sleeping around should entitle anyone to benefis
Georgia Legal system is the laughing stock of the country. I think the people of Georgia should vote out any politician that will nmot overhaul your family court system. I cant beleive you all voted for morons that actually allow this to happen to an innocent man
How about holding the judge accountable for his lack of due diligence. He failed miserably and should be removed from the bench. These “robed ones” have too much power and ability to destroy people’s lives with the drop of a “hammer”. All too often common sense is thrown right out the window and why we can’t do anything about it is beyond me. Aren’t our prisons crowded enough without putting innocent people in them too???
Just to show how screwed up the child support laws are, the mother of my 2 children, both of which I have custody of, is over $30,000 behind in child support. I get a call from support enforcement about every 6 months to a year asking if I had received anything, and if I want them to continue trying to get support from her. They say they know where she is, and she has income but they won’t garnish it. They say the worst they can do is suspend her license. I ask if it was the other way around and I owed what they would do…they’d toss me in jail for non payment.
Chris Ronk,
I completely agree, It pisses me off too. Who’s going to overhaul the system, the goverment? Your kidding me…RIGHT.
Instead of collecting payment, just take em (men or women) to the woodshed and beat thier asses.
yes, it seems men have the downside, no matter who is really right or not. Its not going to change, sadly. It just wont. there is too many people that find its easier to screw someones’ life up in some way, to get some money, then go without. I wish it would change. I wish some people could be accountable, but they wont. Its too much of a touch subject, that nobody will take the risk of looking like the bad guy by defending the people that get screwed over. Lazy, stupid judges and law enforcement dont care about the individual. That’s too time consuming. What’s important is that the person making the complaint, gets help first, whether it’s correct or not. Our country is ruled by the DOLLAR, not necessarily the law, in lots of instances. People forget that simple fact. We battle against it everyday, in some way or another