Judge Keith has abused his judicial discretion in ways that have increased family conflict and familial alienation. His decisions have resulted in separation of children from parents far beyond what is typical or necessary. He has done this in the following ways:

1. He often uses the secrecy and privacy of his chambers off the record to push for decisions about child custody, showing he is uncomfortable with open and public hearings and fails to create a record for appellate review. In so doing, he violates basic principals of American law and jurisprudence.

2. He reflexively rules in favor of custodial parents. In one well-known case, his rulings allowed a young child to be moved thousands of miles away from the non-moving parent, even though the child already had an excellent, well-established relationship with her father and a deeply routed support system, in family, friends, school and community.

3. He regularly ignores or minimizes evidence and testimony that would support greater paternal involvement and decision-making. He has demonstrated bias against joint physical custody even though there is no preference in the VA code for sole or joint custody. In some situations, he actually has reduced the parenting time of the non-custodial parent to less time than agreed upon by both parents and their attorneys.

4. He shows little appreciation of father-child relationships. For example, he approved the move of a ten-year-old child away from his father across the country and opined that the demonstrated excellent bond between the father and child would not be substantially impaired.

5. He fails to decisively enforce visitation orders and substitutes his personal convictions for evidence. In one instance he reduced the father’s parenting time with his adolescent boys to a dinner every two weeks, which increased alienation fostered by the custodial parent. This decision was made notwithstanding the fact that the father already had temporary joint legal custody and was shown to be an outstanding and involved parent, and even though neither parent had requested any reduction in visitation time.

In summary Judge Keith demonstrates an ingrained bias against fathers and he does not assure frequent and continuing contact with both parents, as the Virginia Law requires.

Individuals are willing to provide testimony and transcripts in support of these statements.

For further information contact Fathers for Virginia (FFV), http://www.fathers4virginia.com/  FFV is an affiliate of American Coalition of Fathers and Children (ACFC).