Arizona Lawmakers Expose Corruption, Murdered Children, and a Billion-Dollar Custody Cartel

Since my testimonies before the Arizona and the Idaho legislatures on Family Court violence, there have been additional hearings both in Idaho and in Arizona. I have always underscored the need to cover Family Court abuses in terms of preventable killings from murder, mayhem, and suicide — and to leave behind the convoluted legal and academic verbiage — so as to call attention to the true magnitude of the crisis, in stark medical terms. Without this, we will fall short of appreciating the true severity of this national emergency — without appeasing, pleasing, or trying to sound “professional”. This would amount to a Battered Nation Syndrome. Now, after more than three years since I started urging this approach, legislatures are hearing it, and journalists are covering it:

By Richard Luthmann

Published August 29, 2025

Shocking, gut-wrenching testimony rattled … a Joint Legislative Ad Hoc Committee hearing on August 27, 2025, [as Arizona] Senator Mark Finchem and Representative Rachel Keshel presided over an explosive inquiry into family court corruption.

The scene was part exposé, part rallying cry — a final public hearing where desperate parents and whistleblowers laid bare a system that they say routinely puts children in danger….

One national advocate even applauded Arizona for “leading the way” on this issue — with 17 other states reportedly watching the proceedings closely. This hearing underscored why many now frame family court reform as the civil rights fight of our time….

For nearly three hours, witness after witness delivered harrowing accounts of institutional betrayal: judges ignoring evidence of abuse, child protective services (DCS) snatching kids from loving relatives, and court-appointed experts milking parents for cash….

“This should never happen. Not once, not ever,” testified one expert, emphasizing that hundreds of children nationwide have been murdered by abusive parents after courts dismissed safety concerns.

Finchem and Keshel vowed Arizona would spearhead a national crusade to end these horrors. Their message was clear: the days of “kids for cash” justice are numbered in Arizona.

A formal report with reform recommendations is due within weeks.

Killer Family Courts: Kathy Sherlock and Kayden’s Law

The hearing’s first witness set the tone with a story so tragic it silenced the room. Kathy Sherlock, a mother from Pennsylvania, recounted in gripping detail how her 7-year-old daughter Kayden was brutally murdered by her ex-husband after a family court denied her pleas for supervised visitation. Sherlock fought back tears as she described years of sounding the alarm about her ex’s instability — to no avail….

Kayden Mancuso with her mom, Kathy Sherlock

Sherlock’s worst nightmare came true:… during one of those unsupervised visits, the father smashed Kayden’s skull with a 35-pound dumbbell and tied a plastic bag around her head, killing the little girl in cold blood. He then committed suicide, [leaving] Sherlock outraged and devastated.

In halting but forceful words, Sherlock told lawmakers how the system failed her family at every turn. She spent 18 months and tens of thousands of dollars battling for her daughter’s protection, only to be accused of “parental alienation” by her ex’s attorney and ignored by the judge.

“I buried a beautiful 7-year-old after spending thousands of dollars in a system I had faith in. I thought it would protect her,” Sherlock testified, voice shaking. “No parent should have to bury their child — especially when it could have been so easily prevented,” she said.

In a blistering indictment of family court culture, Sherlock noted that even convicted abusers can have more rights than their victims in custody cases….

But Sherlock refused to let her daughter’s death be in vain. She channeled her grief into activism, becoming the driving force behind Kayden’s Law — a package of reforms designed to prevent such tragedies.

“I honored my daughter by working tirelessly to campaign for family court reform,” she said, describing how she and fellow advocates pushed Kayden’s Law all the way to the White House.

In 2022, President Biden signed the reform into federal law as part of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Sherlock has since traveled state to state, urging local legislatures to adopt Kayden’s Law provisions. Arizona’s hearing was one more stop on that mission.

“We’re in 10 states so far,” she noted, stressing that every state needs to implement the law’s life-saving measures.

Finchem and Keshel thanked Sherlock for her courage. Her message was unambiguous: Kayden’s death was preventable, and the “backwards” family court practices that put a child with a known abuser must be overhauled — in Arizona and across the nation.

Killer Family Courts: National Movement and Pollock’s Call to Action

Next came Danielle Pollock, a leading voice in the national family court reform movement. Pollock, policy manager at the National Family Violence Law Center, helped originate Kayden’s Law at the federal level. She flew in from Washington, D.C. to put Arizona’s fight in a broader context — and to issue a rallying cry for America’s other 49 states.

Her testimony was both blistering and inspiring. Pollock applauded Senator Finchem and Rep. Keshel for “leading the way” by holding these public hearings.

“I’ve encouraged other states to follow suit,” she said, praising Arizona for exposing what has long been hidden in family courts.

Pollock framed the stakes in stark terms: “Kayden is one of many children — one of hundreds, if not thousands — who have been murdered by an abusive parent after a court was involved, and safety concerns were raised by the protective parent, but custody was nevertheless granted to the dangerous person,” she said. “This should never happen. Not once, not ever.”

She cited chilling examples: A Florida little boy named Grayson, a Utah child named Aum, a California girl named Piqui, a New York boy named Tommy — all killed by a parent after courts ignored warnings and forced unsafe visitation. In one case, a mother in a witness protection address program was still ordered to hand her kids to the abusive ex she was hiding from — with deadly results.

“Days later, she’s dead — stabbed and beaten in her home,” Pollock recounted, describing how the father then gained full custody of the children after the mother’s murder.

In another case, a Texas mother was murdered by her ex. Yet, a family court gave custody of their child to the killer’s father — allowing the imprisoned murderer ongoing access to the boy.

Pollock’s litany of horrors made it painfully clear: what happened to Kayden is happening nationwide, in case after case, due to a broken system.

Despite the grim content, Pollock … noted that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women studied this crisis and “named Kayden’s Law as a best-practice model for nations to emulate”….

By the end of Pollock’s testimony, it was evident that a national movement is afoot — and Arizona finds itself at the forefront. Finchem thanked Pollock for her expertise and vowed the state would not let her down.

Killer Family Courts: Attorney Moore Exposes the Legal Cartel

If Kathy Sherlock and Danielle Pollock provided the heart and vision of the reform movement, Attorney Michael Moore brought the receipts. A veteran trial lawyer of 45 years, Moore has made a career out of suing Arizona’s child welfare agencies on behalf of wronged families.

He stepped up to the microphone with a wry challenge: “I appear here today to attempt to convince you all to put me out of work,” Moore declared….

What followed was a blistering whistleblower account of how the family court/DCS apparatus operates, essentially as a cash machine for professionals. Echoing earlier witnesses, Moore asserted that money is the root of the problem: by his estimate, “it’s a billion-dollar business in this country” — a “cottage industry” of judges, lawyers, custody evaluators, therapists, and others all profiting from high-conflict custody fights.

“People are making billions off of this industry,” he said bluntly, “and if they change it, it hits ’em in the pocket”….

Representative Keshel later dubbed this insidious practice a “legal cartel” that preys on families’ desperation. Moore agreed, describing how even court-ordered “reunification therapy” programs can be a scam — expensive camps that “force children to bond with” an abuser under threat of punishment….

Beyond the financial gouging, Moore exposed a stunning lack of accountability. He testified that Arizona’s DCS (Department of Child Safety) has an Ombudsman’s Office that receives “between 10,000 and 12,000 complaints” each year — and essentially none get remedied…. Meanwhile, when families sue DCS for violating their rights, taxpayers end up footing the bill….

“DCS does not hold those people responsible who are found to have violated constitutional rights,” he emphasized.

In two of his victories, the caseworkers who traumatized families kept their jobs with zero consequences….

Representative Keshel … drove home the bottom line: “The taxpayers are on the hook when there’s a lawsuit against DCS. What are we paying out of our pockets to defend this?”

The answer — millions upon millions — clearly landed with the committee…. The takeaway was unmistakable: Arizona’s family courts and child welfare system have been running as a “billion-dollar racket”, but the jig is up. With candor and concrete data, Moore helped pull back the curtain, giving reformers a roadmap to start cleaning house.

Killer Family Courts: Raw Testimonies

Perhaps the most searing moments came from Arizona parents and grandparents themselves — ordinary families who say they were crushed by the very system meant to protect them. One by one, they stepped forward to recount personal nightmares of abuse, retaliation, and official indifference….

Her voice cracking, [Mary] Betzel said the experience taught her that family court is “not about truth or children’s best interests — it’s about power and money.” Lawmakers shook their heads in dismay at her account of systemic betrayal….

The picture [Dean] Gensco painted was of a rogue agency that rides roughshod over families, with judges rubber-stamping whatever DCS wants. Finchem was visibly alarmed. “There’s a recurring theme here with DCS,” he noted — a theme of no transparency and no accountability”….

Nicole Skinner’s … story highlighted what many other parents at the hearing echoed: family courts don’t just fail to protect children, they actively shield insiders and powerful players while leaving protective parents bankrupt, endangered, and silenced….

Michael Bertrand … lifted his shirt slightly to show scars: “I have two feet of scar. I’m missing one of my internal organs, and three others are permanently damaged,” he said matter-of-factly…. He spoke of uncovering a “third-party gang” — essentially a domestic terrorist group — “operating under the protection of a written legal instrument of the Arizona Superior Court.” In other words, he believes corrupt insiders shielded a criminal outfit to help destroy him…. As wild as parts of his story sounded, no one in the room doubted one thing: this man had been put through hell by a system that lost all semblance of justice.

Killer Family Courts: Final Words

By the hearing’s end, dozens of other citizens had signed up to speak — a testament to the widespread outrage — but there was not enough time.

Rep. Keshel managed to squeeze in one last bombshell on the record: She relayed the case of an Arizona family whose five children were taken by Nevada’s child services. According to evidence Keshel cited, the two youngest (just 3 and 4 years old) were being “raped repeatedly” by foster parents, and the oldest, a 14-year-old girl, had gone missing under state care. “They have no idea where she is right now,” Keshel retorted, highlighting the interstate indifference the family faced….

Finchem adjourned the hearing [with the promise of a] formal report from the committee, [to] be issued within 15–21 days…. “We will not tolerate this any longer…. We’ve got a responsibility to take action”….

What happened in Arizona this week was more than a hearing; it felt like the first tremors of an earthquake that could shake family courts nationwide. For the first time in a long time, these parents and advocates see cracks forming in the once-untouchable system’s fortress…. The people have spoken, the truth is on record, and reform is on the horizon — for Kayden, for all our children.

(Read the full article here: https://luthmann.substack.com/p/killer-family-courts.)

*Please help us to impeach an archetypal Family Court judge, Jane Gallina-Mecca! She practices serial kidnapping and serial killing; traffics children to pedophilic sex rings and Satanic cults; and threatens, falsely arrests, and facilitates the murders of witnesses. You can find more information about her at ImpeachMecca.org, and detailed documentation on her evident mental unfitness and homicidality at AlanTChan.com.