Difference between revisions of "The Lion's Den"

This article is the detailed summary of Matt McMaster's recount of events that inspired his candidacy to run for Cobb County Superior Court Judge against incumbent Judge Robert D. Leonard, II (a.k.a., Rob Leonard) in 2022. The original article was published here [https://mcmasterforcobb.com/why-matt The Lion's Den] in 2022 as notice to the Cobb County, GA voters of what appears to be a broken family court system.

From the period of February 2021 through September 2021, while I represented a Father trying to get custody of his daughter from a Mother who was in and out of jail fighting drug addiction, I watched Cobb County Superior Court judges take action (or inaction) that put a 15-year-old girl (now 16) in the home of a 42-year-old single man, not blood related to her who had a history of [https://thewikilaw.org/wiki/images/3/3a/Cobb_Superior_21101795_Affidavit.pdf physically abusing the Mother]. Sure, the girl’s Mother had issues with drug addiction, but the Father, Aunt and Grandparents were very much involved in her life, at least before April 15, 2021. No, this 42-year-old man did not have standing to obtain custody of this child at the time even under child election laws. When I stood my ground against the judge’s decision to grant this man standing, the judge said, "Listen, Mr. McMaster, you're really getting on my nerves to be honest with you.” I responded telling the Judge that "I don’t play politics." He began yelling at me telling me to appeal his decision if that is what I wanted and when I asked why he was yelling at me he said, "Because you're driving me crazy. Okay. You're really irritating me.” I responded: "I'm a human being before I'm an attorney." This was Cobb County Superior Court Judge, Robert E. Flournoy, III, who was appointed to the bench in 2002 by the governor of Georgia at the time.

Since that April 15, 2021 hearing, Father has not been able to communicate with his only daughter while she has been in the custody of the 42 year-old-man. Because this young lady is now 16 years old, if our worst fears materialize into reality, this man cannot be prosecuted for statutory rape under Georgia law. See O.C.G.A. § 16-6-3. No, this man did not adopt her; and no, there was no emergency warranting such a placement of this child. He is merely one of at least five (5) ex-boyfriends that the Mother has had over a period of eight (8) years, with one major caveat: he was represented by Judge Flournoy's  former attorney who helped Judge Flournoy gain custody of his grandson in 2010 and also happened to be Judge Flournoy's election campaign Treasurer since 2016. I later learned that this is Judge Flournoy's lame duck term, meaning he is not running for re-election in 2022.  Here is an Affidavit of the child's Aunt which shows how dangerous this man and the circumstances enabled by Judge Flournoy truly are.

UPDATE:  On April 18, 2022, Judge Flournoy disclosed in a hearing that his wife recently hired the same Guardian Ad Litem as her probate attorney. Judge Flournoy finally recused himself from the above described cases on April 25, 2022 upon the Father's request in light of the latest conflict with the Guardian Ad Litem. However, in his recusal orders Judge Flournoy blamed this mcmasterforcobb.com website for his need to recuse himself without mentioning his conflict of interests with the opposing attorney and the Guardian Ad Litem. The Father still has not seen his only daughter in over a year as the case now hangs in limbo. This is all the tip of the iceberg. If you want to know more about Cobb County court corruption, visit thewikilaw.org.

Matthew D. McMaster, Esq.

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