The Region : Court Reinstates Child-Stealing Charge

A state appeals court in San Diego reinstated charges against a woman accused of stealing her son from her homosexual ex-husband. The 4th District Court of Appeal said Superior Court Judge Earl Maas erred by throwing out a child-stealing charge against Betty Lou Batey in January, 1985. Maas had dismissed the charges because Batey had been fined and jailed briefly for contempt in 1984 after taking Brian Batey, now 15, while he was in the lawful custody of her ex-husband, Frank Batey. “Essentially, Maas said that if she’s punished in the domestic action, she can’t be punished criminally,” said Steve Casey, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, which appealed Maas’ ruling. “Our position was that the contempt action was civil and unrelated to the criminal action. What this (appellate court ruling) does is revive the criminal case.”