Michael J. Algeo On The Bench In Maryland

To the left is a picture of the honorable Michael J. Algeo. He is a judge in Montgomery County, Maryland, who recently made the insane decision to turn two year old Prince Mcleod Rams over to his father, Joaquin Rams, for unsupervised visitation. Joaquin Rams has a rather extensive criminal resume....that is, record for such things as domestic violence and sexual assault, and is also a suspect in the death of his mother. But none of this was legally factored into the decision made by Judge Algeo, and when Algeo was presented with evidence concerning the other cases and the murder investigation, along with testimony from witnesses, the judge referred to the information as "smoke, which he could see through." On October 21, after Judge Algeo saw through the smoke, Prince visited his father, unsupervised, and was taken to the local emergency room with assorted injuries and dried blood in his nose. Social Services was called because Joaquin Rams did not explain these injuries to hospital staff's satisfaction, and Prince later died. If Judge Algeo is so good at "seeing through smoke", why didn't he see this coming?

First of all, domestic violence and sexual assault are serious crimes, and thugs who commit these crimes really never change. Second, people who are being investigated for murder do not generally make the best parents. Yes, that's a bit biased, but hey......who might suddenly have a reason to run from the law, taking the child along for the ride? Someone who is being investigated murder, of course. May the Gods help the child who is old enough to talk and notices his noncustodial but visiting parent has committed a crime: how safe is a child in THAT situation? Third, the judge should not have said "smoke, which he could see through." He should have said, "smoke, through which he could see." Either the smoke from whatever he had smoked before court had not cleared, or Algeo smoked too much of the wrong stuff when he should have been learning proper grammer. Upon closer examination of this case, it appears that Hera Mcleod, Prince's mother, meticulously presented evidence to the court, and attended hearing after hearing, only to be told by Judge Algeo that the situation was "her fault", for "falling in love" with someone who had violent tendencies, and that he "hated" family law court hearings! Why does the judicial system in this country have a permanantly open season declared on mothers who try to protect their children?

Judge Algeo will probably not have any difficulty with Maryland because of Prince's death. In Maryland, assault and battery is generally not even prosecuted if the victim is a child. Children who are kidnapped from other states and taken to Maryland are often not returned for months. Victims, especially women, are blamed for incurred assaults, and the only language the courts in Maryland occasionally understand is money, and even then, whoever has the highest priced attorney and can pay for the most time from an attorney usually wins. When a child's life is at stake, no one in the judicial system in Maryland is concerned. This is just a part of Hera Mcleod's letter to Judge Michael J. Algeo. The rest of it can be read here.

"In case you still don’t remember me, I would like to take a moment to remind you. I was the woman who came into your court room in March of 2012 (and again in July 2012) begging you to keep my son safe from his father. You heard testimony from several women Luc had abused. I told you about how I had fled Luc’s house in July 2011 with my newborn son and the clothing on our backs – that was after Luc had raped my then 19 year old sister. You heard testimony about all the people who died around Luc (including the mother of his older son and his own mother) All the horrifying information we presented, however, was still not enough for you to choose to keep my son safe.

I watched my son’s body slowly shut down for nearly two days as I waited for the doctors to officially declare him brain dead. As I watched my innocent baby boy die, I thought about you. I remembered how you told us you hated Family Court. I remembered how you blamed me for falling in love with a con man. I remembered how you talked about fairy dust and how you explained that my son would need to come home with cigarette burns before you would believe Luc was abusive. I remember how you rolled your eyes, appeared to fall asleep on the bench, and openned up your computer as if to read your email – you did all of this as I pleaded with you to keep visitations supervised."