My Story Of The Unjustness In Chautauqua County Family Court

Hello and thank you for reading my blog about what happened to me in the courts in 2019 – 2020. It has been about 4 years since I got my son back in my custody and I have not gone into detail or even tried to think about the things that I went through for that entire year, but with this being an election year and voting in a new judge, I find it very important to share my story and hope you will share it with others and take this into consideration when voting this November.

My story initially begins when I was pregnant with my son. His father and I were together, on again off again for about 3 years prior. He left me for good when I was 6 months pregnant, did not show to the birth regardless of how many calls / text messages I had sent him, yet our son was a planned pregnancy so of course, I started the family court process shortly after I gave birth. Naturally I was angry with him for not acknowledging my calls and texts, one minute I would be sad then next i’d be mad. One week after I gave birth, Jeremiah went to the Ripley town court and had me arrested for harassment because of these texts. He stated they were “annoying”. I feel I must add that never at any point did i ever threaten Jeremiah with anything. After a few months, we finally had our child support and court order agreement made up and finalized. There was a period of time, about 2 months, where Jeremiah and I got along, communicated, and went out and did things with our son and my daughter. As usual, an “argument” or “disagreement” of some sort occurred via text and this one particular exchange day would change my life forever.

Jeremiah would usually have visitation with our son for 2 overnights per week. We would then exchange our son in a public place which was agreed upon to be Country Fair. As stated above, Jeremiah and I had a disagreement via text and I was quite disappointed and upset over whatever it was about. So on July 20, 2019, I drove out to the Country Fair to receive my child back from Jeremiah. Our son was not yet a year old, so he could not walk and had to be carried from vehicle to vehicle. I parked next to Jeremiahs truck, got out of my car and waited for him to bring our son over to me. Our son was asleep so we gently exchanged him as to not wake him up. I placed my sleeping son over my left shoulder and unfortunately gave the middle finger to Jeremiahs face. A decision I would regret the rest of my life. Not at any point did I touch Jeremiah with my hand. I turned around and started to put my son in his carseat and I could then hear Jeremiah talking on his cell phone to whom appeared to be the sheriffs department. I shall note at this time that Jeremiah works for the Chautauqua County Sheriff Dept in the jail division so these are his coworkers. I just continued to put my son in the car, shut the door, and started walking over to my drivers side door. Jeremiah proceeded to walk behind my vehicle and stand there as to not allow me to leave. I walked to the back of my car and reached for his phone so I could speak with the police. Jeremiah turned to his left, away from me and he dropped his phone on the ground, at no point did I get to touch his phone. He picked it up and continued talking on it as I then turned and walked to get inside my car. I got in my car, started it up, and saw Jeremiah was proceeding to stand behind it. I yelled out my window for him to move that I was about to back up. I put my car in reverse and slowly started to back out of my parking space. I am unaware if the car tapped him at any point or if he just moved out of the way, either way, he moved and I took the car over to a pump to get gas before heading home. I called the sheriff dept and told them what was occurring and asked if I had to stay until police arrived or if I could go home. They stated as long as I am not being detained by an officer, I can go home. I got gas in the car then went home.

A few hours later, officer Hallmark of the Sheriff Dept came to my house to get a statement from me. I told him exactly what I stated above and he told me he would get back to me after reviewing Country Fair’s video surveillance. 6 days later, some woman came to my house serving me with paperwork and I got a call from officer Hallmark stating I am being arrested for 4 things and I am go to to the jail to be fingerprinted. I asked the officer on the phone why I was being charged with all of that stuff if survailance shows I didnt do anything. He refused to speak to me about the issue. My charges were as follows: 1.) Harassment in the second degree: “That Danielle Martell did intend to harass, annoy and alarm Jeremiah by striking him on the right side of the face and nose with a closed fist”. 2.) Endangering the welfare of a child: “That Danielle Martell did knowingly act in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical welfare of a child less than seventeen years old when she did strike Jeremiah Mulson in the face while she was holding child”. 3.) Criminal mischief in the fourth degree: “Danielle Martell did attempt to take a cell phone from Jeremiah Mulson and did cause him to drop the phone while he was engaged in the process of seeking emergency assistance from police”. 4.) Reckless endangerment in the second degree: “Danielle Martell did recklessly engage in conduct that created a substantial risk of serious physical injury to Jeremiah Mulson by backing a car into Mulson as he was standing behind it. Officer Hallmark came up with all these charges right along side with Jeremiah’s father who was the Lieutenant of the Sheriff Dept in the jail division.

I had heard of a good local criminal lawyer whom I decided to retain for the criminal part of this. He stated to me it might be a good idea to hire him for the family court part of it as well. This ended up being a huge mistake. He is very good at what he does in criminal court, but ended up knowing little to nothing about how family court works. I will begin to list the dates, times and what occurred in court…….