Daniel Hunter II, Lawyer in Batey Custody Dispute

A private service is scheduled Monday for Daniel Bear Hunter II, a longtime San Diego attorney who died at his home Monday after a brief illness. He was 62.

Hunter spent two years representing Brian Todd Batey during an emotional custody dispute between the boy’s homosexual father and fundamentalist mother that drew nationwide attention.

Hunter spent the last few years touring and giving presentations at international family research conferences in Europe.

Hunter also was involved in publishing numerous books including “Professional Ethics and Law in the Health Sciences,” which he recently co-authored with his wife, Dr. Edna Jo Hunter, a psychologist.

Hunter gained prominence while representing Brian Batey, who was caught in the custody battle between Frank and Betty Lou Batey. Betty Lou Batey refused to allow her son to visit his father. Frank Batey took the issue to court and a Superior Court judge gave Frank Batey custody of the child.

A few weeks later, the mother disappeared with the child and was later arrested. Hunter was appointed to represent Brian while the courts decided the case.

During the custody battle, Hunter criticized both parents. Eventually, a judge awarded custody rights to his father.

Marine Training Trial

Hunter also was involved in a major trial involving a U.S. Marine private who suffered fatal injuries during a mock bayonet battle in 1976. Hunter represented the drill sergeant who was in charge of the bayonet training. The sergeant was eventually acquitted.

Hunter was born in Los Angeles on April 28, 1924, and spent his childhood in San Diego. He graduated from Herbert Hoover High School in 1942. He entered the U.S. Marine Corps in 1943 and was seriously wounded during a beach landing at Tarawa in the South Pacific.

In 1951, the Marines sent him to attend Georgetown University Law School in Washington, D.C., and he was eventually admitted to the Washington, D.C., and California bars.

Hunter retired from the Marine Corps in 1963 and had been in private law practice in San Diego for 24 years.

Hunter is survived by his wife; four children, Daniel B. Hunter III of Rogue River, Ore., and Robert, Ninah and Barbara of San Diego, and four grandchildren.

The Monday service for Hunter, who will be cremated, will include military honors at Fort Rosecrans National Military Cemetery.