Parents of slain wife also want to adopt 9-year-old
By Sheila Burke
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Tennessee Supreme Court on Monday said the parents of a man who murdered his estranged wife and two others should be able to adopt the couple's 9-year-old daughter, as opposed to the slain woman's parents.
The decision involves a custody battle and adoption fight over the child of a man who opened fire at the Tennessee Department of Transportation headquarters in Jackson in 2005. David Lynn Jordan was sentenced to death for the murders of his estranged wife, Donna Renee Jordan, 31, and two others.
The unanimous decision, written by Chief Justice Janice M. Holder, held that people who don't have physical custody of a child can still win the right to adopt.
"It's going to be pretty devastating for them," Jeff Mueller, an attorney who represented the slain woman's parents, said of the grandparents who had custody of the girl for 3½ years.
The decision was about what's in the best interests of this child, said one of the attorneys who represented David Jordan's parents.
"The father's parents, the paternal grandparents, shouldn't be criticized and held accountable for something he did independent of them," said David Camp, an attorney in Jackson.
Both sides tried to adopt
A juvenile court put the little girl in the custody of her mother's parents a week after the shootings and ordered her to visit the other set of grandparents one weekend per month.
The maternal grandparents filed for adoption after David Jordan was convicted of the murders and condemned to death. The other set of parents filed an intervening adoption request in the Chancery Court of Madison County.
A Madison County judge decided the girl would be better off with her paternal grandparents because they were younger, had more financial and social resources, and were better equipped to help her deal with her mother's death.
The slain woman's mother admitted to calling David Jordan "evil" in front of the girl. The grandmother reportedly described to the child the murders and what would happen to her father.
Holder, in her opinion, said the girl "should not be burdened any more than necessary with the details of her mother's death and the surrounding events."
It's good that the girl can finally remain with her paternal grandparents, who love her deeply.
ReplyDeleteHer father loves her and always wants what is best for her.
God bless this young girl in her life journey with you.