Baby Veronica case: Dusten Brown to stop custody fight for Veronica
The girl’s biological father spoke for the first time since he gave up custody Sept. 23.
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From left, Robin Brown, Chrissi Nimmo the assistant attorney general for the Cherokee Nation and Dusten Brown announcing no more litigation in the Baby Veronica case Thursday in Tulsa. STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World |
Posted: Thursday, October 10, 2013
Ending a custody battle that stretched across two states and
dragged on for nearly four years, Dusten Brown will drop all litigation
in the "Baby Veronica" case, he announced Thursday.
"I cannot bear to continue it any longer," Brown said, holding back tears. "I love her too much to continue to have her in the spotlight."
"I cannot bear to continue it any longer," Brown said, holding back tears. "I love her too much to continue to have her in the spotlight."
With no realistic chance
of getting the 4-year-old girl back from her adoptive parents in South
Carolina, Brown and the Cherokee Nation called a press conference to
explain why they would dismiss their appeals with the Oklahoma Supreme
Court.
Brown faced difficult decisions that "no father should ever have to make," he said.
"The most difficult decision of all was to let Veronica go with Matt and Melanie Capobianco last month," Brown said.
"It was no longer fair
for Veronica to be in the middle of a battle. It was the love for my
daughter that finally gave me the strength to let go of things I can no
longer control."
The decision came 17 days
after Brown handed the girl over to the Capobiancos, who took Veronica
back to the suburbs of Charleston, where they had raised her for the
first two years of her life.
The handover came after
several weeks of court hearings in more than half a dozen counties
across Oklahoma as Brown and his tribe tried to fight court orders from
South Carolina to change custody.
The state Supreme Court
initially agreed to keep Veronica in Oklahoma while the appeals went
forward. But the justices reversed the ruling Sept. 23, and Brown handed
over the girl within hours.
Brown broke down several times while reading his statement, part of which was addressed to his daughter.
"One day you will read
about this time in your life. Never, ever for one second," he said,
pausing as he choked back tears. "Never, ever for one second doubt how
much I love you, how hard I fought for you or how much you mean to me."
Brown still faces a
felony complaint in South Carolina for not handing over Veronica sooner.
And both Brown and the Cherokee Nation are facing contempt of court
proceedings, in which the Capobiancos have asked to be compensated for
legal fees and other expenses.
A tribal attorney called
on the Capobiancos to drop the contempt of court proceedings and to use
their influence to have the criminal charges dropped, too.
"We're asking you to listen to your heart," Chrissi Nimmo said, "and do the right thing."
While it was Brown's decision to end the legal battle, the tribe supported it, she said.
"We lost that legal
battle," Nimmo said. "And now the best thing for Veronica is for the
litigation to end and the healing to begin."
Brown won custody of
Veronica in 2011 after courts in South Carolina ruled that he hadn't
given "voluntary consent" to the adoption, as required under the federal
Indian Child Welfare Act, which was intended to keep Native American
children with their tribes.
The U.S. Supreme Court,
however, ruled this summer that ICWA didn't apply in this case, because
Brown hadn't had custody of Veronica at birth.
Courts in South Carolina
then demanded that Brown give Veronica back to the Capobiancos, which he
refused to do for several weeks while appealing the decision in
Oklahoma.
Meanwhile, in South Carolina, a coalition of Indian rights groups has dropped a federal lawsuit on Veronica's behalf.
The Native American
Rights Fund and other groups were accusing South Carolina of violating
Veronica's civil rights by taking her away from her tribe and biological
family without a "best interest" hearing.
Officials wouldn't comment on why they dropped the lawsuit.
Fuck the capobiancos. Seriously. They look so evil and I feel so sorry for Veronica having to live with scum like them. I hope Dusten wasn't threatened to drop the suit. If there is any justice in this world, some night when Veronica is safe at their house with a babysitter these two losers will skid on ice and smash their car into a tree and croak. We can only hope.
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