Judges Baker, Green Haven’t Allowed Mom To See Her Twins in More than Two Years

By Woody Jenkins, Editor, Central City News – Baton Rouge

Bright and early on Saturday morning, Dec. 2, 2023, Katherine Diamond was hard at work on the riverfront in downtown Baton Rouge, picking up trash. She had on her yellow vest, as did the others who were there for a variety of wrongs, such as shoplifting, drug abuse, or DWI.

However, unlike others who were sentenced to “community service” for committing crimes, Katherine Diamond hasn’t been convicted of anything. In fact, she hasn’t even been charged with a crime.

Diamond is not an alcoholic nor has she ever undergone treatment for alcoholism. She’s never been a drug user or had a drug problem.

She’s never been accused of child abuse by the state.

Yet, Katherine Diamond, the mother of two 12-year-old twins, has not been allowed to see her children since January 2022. 

Besides continuing her “community service” in December, Family Court Judge Erika Green began sending Katherine Diamond to Parish Prison every Saturday.

In Ms. Diamond’s words, “My life is over. I’m in living hell.  Will no one in this city or state stop and listen to what has happened to me?  Is the system so broken and so corrupt that there is no way to get justice?”

Katherine Diamond does indeed have a story to tell.

Her case for the custody of her children was handled by Family Court Judge Pam Baker for six years and the past six months by Family Court Judge Erika Green.

Since this case began, her legal bills to try to see her children have totalled well over $150,000 and another $200,000 in legal services have been donated. She has gone through a litany of attorneys who have so far been unable to get her children back.

To add insult to injury, she has even been ordered to pay more than $70,000 of her husband’s attorney fees!  That’s something rare.  

Yet, failing to pay for her husband’s attorney fees is the reason Judge Erika Green has been sending Ms. Diamond to Parish Prison.  The judge is trying to force her to pay money which Ms. Diamond says she doesn’t have — much like debtor’s prison in centuries past.

Having to spend part of her weekends in “community service” with criminals is another way Judge Green is trying to force Ms. Diamond to pay her husband’s legal bills.

But what’s really at the bottom of this!  Why were Katherine Diamond’s children taken from her?  And why can’t she get them back?

Katherine Diamond lost the right to see her children and hasn’t been able to get it back because she has been accused of child abuse by her ex-husband! However, the ex-husband never reported the alleged abuse to police, the District Attorney, or the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services.

So the accusation hasn’t been investigated by the police, the District Attorney’s office or the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services.  In fact, Katherine Diamond says she has never been questioned by the government at all.  Nor have the children ever been interviewed by DCFS or any representative of state or local government.

Exactly what kind of child abuse has Katherine Diamond been accused of?

Family Court Judge Pam Baker said in open court that Katherine Diamond’s is a terrible case of child

abuse.  So exactly what did Katherine Diamond do?  What do you have to do for a Family Court judge in East Baton Rouge Parish to say that 

it is a terrible case of child abuse? 

Murder? Rape? Torture? Sexual abuse? Child abandonment?

No, in this case, the allegation of child abuse is that Katherine Diamond abused her daughter when her ex-husband brought the twins to meet Katherine so she could take them for a scheduled custody exchange. The ex-husband was videoing the event. The video shows the little girl standing next to Katherine, who is trying to put her in the car.  The mom struggles with the girl for about 10 seconds and then lets the girl free.  The brother is pulling on his sister and tells her to get in the dad’s car.  She then jumps in with her dad and is smiling. 

The father never gets out of the car to facilitate the exchange, never says, “Get in the car with your mother,” and never intervenes to stop the alleged abuse. He just films it.

  This video is the primary evidence that Katherine Diamond is a child abuser. Yet, the video does not show child abuse by any standard.

Immediately after the incident, Katherine Diamond called the police to complain that the father failed to give her the children for custody exchange.  

According to court testimony, the father said the police arrived and that he felt they were “belligerent” that he had not handed the children over to the mom.  Even though the alleged abuse had just occurred, he did not report the abuse to the police at that time or at anytime afterwards.  Such a report would have triggered an investigation. 

So what is really going on?

Family Court is a different world.  It is a place where the judge is very powerful, and higher courts are extremely reluctant to intervene.  Some attorneys refuse to practice in Family Court after having seen the injustices done there.

If the Family Court judge says she found child abuse, the court of appeal is unlikely to look at the “facts” much further than that.

Because there are no cameras in the courtroom in Louisiana as there are in many states, the appellate court often struggles with the ability to determine whether an abuse of discretion has actually occurred. When they are in doubt, they often take the easy way out and defer to the trial court.

If no objective appellate court judge takes the time to review the entire record and transcript of the trial and make an independent review of the facts according to the law, then great injustices can occur.

Katherine Diamond says she knows that for certain.

Over the past two years, Ms. Diamond says the money she has been forced to spend on attorney fees exhausted all of her resources and has kept her in financial bondage. 

But that is only the beginning.

In addition, there is child support.  Katherine has to send a check for child support to her husband’s attorney every month in the amount of $1,000. 

Then there is the matter of her ex-husband’s attorney fees.

Louisiana is a state where normally each party in litigation pays his own attorney fees.

However, in Family Court in this state, it is quite possible for you to be ordered to pay your spouse’s attorney’s bill. And that’s exactly what happened to Ms. Diamond! 

So far, Judge Baker and then Judge Green ordered Ms. Diamond to pay her ex-husband’s attorney fees amounting to more than $70,000!  Judge Baker and then Judge Green ordered that she be sent to jail unless she makes monthly payments to her husband’s attorney for legal bills. 

That leads to why Katherine Diamond is picking up trash on the riverfront.  Judge Baker said she must do community service in part for being in contempt of the court for not timely paying the $70,000 to her husband’s attorney.

Judge Baker also ordered Katherine Diamond to vacate the family home and ordered a sale of the house even though there has been no trial on community property.  That is on appeal right now.

“It is depriving me of all my assets, which they have done, attempting to take my home, and to deprive me of my children, while having to pay my husband’s legal bills,” Diamond said.

So Katherine Diamond continues life as it has become for her.  Trying to work as an architectural draftsman.  Writing, calling, talking to anyone and everyone who could possibly help get her children back.

“Is there no answer for a mother like me?” she asks.  “I feel thrown away by our state and the world,” she said.  “Do I have any rights as a parent, or is it all just a sham?  I’ve never abused my children.  Will the courts do justice or just yield to whatever a biased judge says?”

That is indeed the question raised by Katherine Diamond’s case.

In September, Judge Baker recused herself from the case, and it was assigned to Family Court Judge Erica Green.  

However, so far, Katherine Diamond has still not seen her children, is still paying her husband’s legal fees and child support, and is still picking up trash on the riverfront and reporting to Parish Prison on Saturdays.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Over the past year, the Central City News has read scores of transcripts, briefs, and motions in this case.  All the while, we were seeking to understand some rational basis for the bizarre, one-sided, and unjust treatment of Katherine Diamond in this case.  For a mother to be kept from seeing her children for more than two years on trumped up, false allegations of child abuse borders on criminal.  For the same mom to be forced to pick up trash and go to parish prison time after time for failure to pay her husband’s attorney fees is beyond tyrannical. Now, in a major blow to the First Amendment, Family Court Judge Erika Green put a gag order on Katherine Diamond, forbidding her from posting on social media and giving interviews to the media.  This wildly excessive decree violates the First Amendment, Ms. Diamond’s ability to defend herself, and the public’s right to know what is going on in the courts. 

We believe the Family Court system in East Baton Rouge Parish is out of control, deeply flawed, and should be overhauled or shut down completely and its duties transferred to the 19th Judicial District Court.

Email: woodyjenkins2020@hotmail.com