Murderer to pay C$ from jail.. huh??

http://blogwonks.com/2008/07/17/shou...ort-from-jail/

Should Murder Suspect Pay Child Support from Jail?

Glenn Sacks

July 17, 2008

Here's another idiotic aspect of the child support system--demanding that
incarcerated obligors continue to make child support payments even though we
know they have no income and no ability to pay. Then, when they're released,
they're several thousand dollars behind on child support (with interest on
overdue payments added), and are subject to arrest or driven underground.

This problem has now been recognized by the Justice Department and Hillary
Clinton actually addressed it during her campaign--to learn more, see my
co-authored column New Justice Department Report's Recommendations Could
Reduce Prisoner Recidivism (Chicago Sun-Times, 10/26/07).

Usually the above scenario applies to low-income minority men incarcerated
as part of the asinine War on Drugs. In the case below, the charges are far
more serious--murder.

Nonetheless, it is still stupid and unfair to continue the man's child
support obligation. If he's convicted, he'll be in jail the rest of his
life, so the obligation is irrelevant--it'll never be paid. If he's
acquitted, then he'll be behind on child support when he's released, with
all the concomitant problems, even though he is legally blameless.

From Murder Suspect Ordered To Continue Paying Child Support From Jail
(Southern Maryland Online, 7/13/08):

A Lexington Park man accused of murdering his estranged wife's boyfriend and
attempting to kill her in the process must continue paying child support for
their three children.

A ruling by Circuit Court Master F. Michael Harris last week determined that
Koummane Virasith must still make the child support payments to Melissa
Virasith despite being detained in the St. Mary's County Detention Center.

The double shooting that took the life of Thomas John Saunders, 38, and
seriously injured Melissa Virasith, 40, occurred April 10.

Before the shooting occurred, Melissa Virasith had filed two domestic
violence complaints against her husband for alleged abusive behavior. The
couple separated in 2006, court documents stated, with Koummane Virasith
made to pay $400 a month in child support.

Melissa Virasith wrote to the court in late June stating that child support
was now vital to her keeping her family going while she was recovering from
the shooting.

"I have no income and will not have any income for some time to come,"
Melissa Virasith wrote. "I feel that he is still responsible for the support
of our three sons and I do not want to modify our support agreement."

Melissa Virasith stated in her letter that she was currently a paraplegic as
a result of the shooting and was undergoing therapy at a hospital in
Baltimore.

In a letter to the court written little more than a week after Koummane
Virasith allegedly shot the two victims, he stated that he had always paid
his child support on time every month while gainfully employed.

His incarceration in the detention center now made that impossible, he wrote
in the letter.

-------------------------------------------------------------

http://somd.com/news/headlines/2008/7934.shtml

Murder Suspect Ordered To Continue Paying Child Support From Jail

Posted on July 13, 2008

By Guy Leonard, County Times

HOLLYWOOD, Md. (July 10, 2008) -- A Lexington Park man accused of murdering
his estranged wife's boyfriend and attempting to kill her in the process
must continue paying child support for their three children.

A ruling by Circuit Court Master F. Michael Harris last week determined that
Koummane Virasith must still make the child support payments to Melissa
Virasith despite being detained in the St. Mary's County Detention Center.

The double shooting that took the life of Thomas John Saunders, 38, and
seriously injured Melissa Virasith, 40, occurred April 10.

Before the shooting occurred, Melissa Virasith had filed two domestic
violence complaints against her husband for alleged abusive behavior. The
couple separated in 2006, court documents stated, with Koummane Virasith
made to pay $400 a month in child support.

Melissa Virasith wrote to the court in late June stating that child support
was now vital to her keeping her family going while she was recovering from
the shooting.

"I have no income and will not have any income for some time to come,"
Melissa Virasith wrote. "I feel that he is still responsible for the support
of our three sons and I do not want to modify our support agreement."

Melissa Virasith stated in her letter that she was currently a paraplegic as
a result of the shooting and was undergoing therapy at a hospital in
Baltimore.

In a letter to the court written little more than a week after Koummane
Virasith allegedly shot the two victims, he stated that he had always paid
his child support on time every month while gainfully employed.

His incarceration in the detention center now made that impossible, he wrote
in the letter.

Harris agreed to enforce the current order, court records ref lect, and even
more Harris actually found that Virasith had had himself incarcerated so
that he could avoid making the payments.

Virasith was first ordered to start making the payments in October of 2007.

Pauline Mandel, an attorney with the Maryland Crime Victim's Resource Center
who represents Melissa Virasith, said that her client declined to comment on
recent proceedings.

Virasith is set to be tried for Saunders' murder and the shooting of his
wife in September, according to court papers.

State's Attorney Richard Fritz told The County Times that he will seek life
imprisonment for Koummane Virasith for the double shooting; Fritz said he
was also considering filing motions that called for the defendant to
imprisoned without the possibility of parole.

Fritz said in a hearing before Circuit Court Judge C. Clarke Raley that he
had been waiting for three to four weeks for an attorney from the Public
Defender's Office to enter an appearance as Koummane Virasith's lawyer in
the murder trial.

The public defender's office has taken the case.

Fritz said progress in the case had stalled as he was waiting for another
attorney to receive the discovery of all the evidence uncovered in the
shooting investigation.

"I'm happy because discovery can continue and we can move towards trial,"
Fritz said. "We want to stay on course."

RELATED INFORMATION:

Ex-Husband Shoots Wife, Another Man Dead, April 11, 2008
http://somd.com/news/headlines/2008/7483.shtml