A Moment of Weakness (42 page)

Jackie was followed by Barry Burns, manager of a Portland convenience store, who had been thankful when Jade brought to his attention the content of magazines he’d been carrying on his shelves. He confirmed that she was merely looking out for the best interest of the community and especially the children.

“Do you think Jade Rudolph is a wacko, Mr. Burns?” Tanner managed to keep a straight face, but several members of the media snickered.

The old man on the witness stand grinned. “No, sir. She’s a hard worker, though. I’ll give you that.”

Finally, Tanner put Jade on the stand. They had agreed earlier
that Ty would remain in another room, spared the events of the hearing and from having to act as a witness. Jade felt it would be too much to put the boy through. Especially when he would soon find out the truth about Tanner.

Much like the press conference, Tanner walked Jade through a series of questions revealing the types of issues she had been involved in and her reasons behind them. Time and again, Jade’s answer was the same. “I felt I had no choice but to protect the children involved.”

“Has Ty ever said anything to you about where he wants to live, who he feels more comfortable with?” Tanner presented the question as casually as he could. He knew that Jim’s attorney would pounce on this, accusing Jade of brainwashing her son, but still he thought the court should hear what Jade had to say on the matter.

She struggled for a moment, and Tanner willed her to be strong.
Help her, Lord. Put your peace in her heart
.

Jade reached into her shirt pocket and took out a folded piece of notebook paper. “I could tell you how Ty feels, the things he’s said to me.” She held up the note. “Or I could read you this letter. He wrote it over the weekend and gave it to me this morning.” She looked at the judge and the members of the press. “He wanted me to read it to you.”

Tanner was speechless. Jade had said nothing about the note until now. A surge of hope welled up inside him, and he turned to Judge Wilder. “Your honor, we’d like to admit the letter from the boy as Exhibit A.”

“Very well.” Judge Wilder looked bored, as if she’d already made up her mind. Tanner prayed she hadn’t.

He turned to Jade. “You may read the letter now.”

Jade opened the paper near the microphone and the sound echoed throughout the courtroom. “ ‘Dear Miss Judge …’ ” Jade
swallowed hard. “ ‘I wanted to write you a letter so you would know where I want to live. I want to live with my Mom.’ ” Again Jade struggled. “ ‘I know that you think she’s forcing me to believe in God the way she does, but that isn’t so. I will believe no matter where I live. I will believe because the Bible is true more than anything else.’ ”

Jade wiped a tear as it slid down her cheek. “ ‘I am in fourth grade now, and that’s pretty old. I am old enough to know that my dad doesn’t really care about me. He talks about the hearing all the time, and he told his girlfriend he wanted me to live with him to prove a point. Also so he wouldn’t have to pay child support.’ ”

“Objection, your honor!” Jim’s attorney was on his feet, his face beet red. “The child’s letter is hearsay. There’s nothing on the record to indicate the plaintiff wishes to discontinue paying child support.”

Judge Wilder cast a look of reprimand at Tanner. “Objection sustained.” Her eyes moved to Jade, “You may continue, Mrs. Rudolph, but please refrain from reading statements that are based on hearsay.”

“Yes, your honor.” Jade kept her eyes trained on the letter and exhaled slowly. “ ‘My Dad doesn’t ask me about my day. He doesn’t go to my games, and he doesn’t even know my teacher’s name, or that I want to be a missionary when I grow up. After I play college hoops, of course.’ ”

Tanner felt his heart melt at his son’s words.
He wants to be a missionary, Lord
. Tanner watched several members of the media smile at the mention of college hoops. Ty wasn’t a brainwashed puppet. He was like any other child in America, with dreams and hopes and a desire for his parents to be interested in him. Tanner couldn’t wait to fill the role.

Jade drew a deep breath. “ ‘So, what I’m trying to say is,
please let me go home to my mom. She loves me more than anyone. And if you want to know the truth, I think it’s because that’s the way God wants her to love me.’ ” Jade smiled sweetly at the words her son had written. “ ‘Sincerely, Ty Rudolph.’ ”

There was a lengthy pause while the child’s innocent words hit their mark. Tanner turned to the judge. “The defense rests, your honor.”

Jim’s attorney tapped his pencil on the table and scanned his notes. Jade was certain at any moment he would take to his feet and cross-examine her, tear apart the legitimacy of the letter.

But instead he set his pencil down, rose, and announced that he had no further questions. Jade returned to her place beside Tanner as Jim’s attorney presented the court with his closing remarks. He referred to the dangers of intolerance and the frightening place the nation would be if parents like Jade were allowed to continue brainwashing their children. He completely ignored any reference to Ty’s letter until the end of his speech.

“Children say a lot of things that don’t necessarily make sense to adults.” The attorney smiled at Judge Wilder. “If children were able to make these decisions on their own, there would be no need for judges and courts.” He hesitated and glanced at Jade. “But in this situation we have Jade Rudolph—a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Her teachings and right-wing behavior will color the child’s perceptions for decades, perhaps for a lifetime.

“It is at times like this that we need to step in and make the decision that is truly best for the child. Even if it is not a popular decision.”

Jim’s attorney sat down, and Tanner had to give him credit.
His last line had said it all. Taking a child away from his mother because of her faith would not be a popular decision. But if it meant protecting future generations from the narrow-minded views of radical right-wing Christians, it might be the only choice possible.

Usually by this time in a hearing, Tanner knew which way the decision was going to go. But this case was different, more complicated. And the fact that he was so emotionally involved only complicated things that much more.

As Tanner stood to make his closing argument, he had the sinking suspicion that if he didn’t say the right things, Jade would lose this case. And her son. Their son. Matt handed him a brief. He had wanted to wait and see how the case went before deciding whether to use the information he and Matt had studied the day before.

Now he knew. The brief was their last hope.

Tanner addressed the judge and recalled character traits about Jade, elements that certainly seemed to prove she was neither fanatical nor extreme and definitely not given to brainwashing her son. As he spoke, he had the sense that Judge Wilder was barely paying attention. He fell silent and walked back to his spot at the table.

There he picked up a one-dollar bill and held it high for the judge to see. He remained that way for a moment so that everyone in attendance had the opportunity to view it. “This is a one-dollar bill, printed by the U.S. government and recognized worldwide as the national currency of this country.”

Tanner approached the judge and saw that she seemed slightly more interested than before. “In many ways, your honor, this dollar bill is what started these proceedings in the first place.”

He gestured toward Jade. “My client takes a stand against
violence, gets magazines removed from the store shelves, and someone—” he held up the bill again—“is out some money.” He paused. “My client takes a stand against books that preach a doctrine of murder and suicide; books get removed, and again someone is out money.

“But when my client takes a stand against a commercialized program replete with questionable material, a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, then suddenly she’s crossed the line.”

Tanner turned to face the courtroom. “Why?” He held up the bill again. “Because now the people who are out some money are the very ones who have the power to take away what she cherishes most of all.” Tanner’s gaze settled on Jade and he saw her trembling. “Her little boy.”

Tanner stared at the bill for a moment. “It says here—on this bill printed by our government—‘In God we trust.’ ” He paused again and sought out Judge Wilder’s face. “Is that so? Or is that only the way we
used
to feel, back two hundred years ago when it was popular to feel that way, back when our country was first founded?”

He looked at the bill again. “George Washington’s picture is on this bill, and I thought it would be interesting if we could put him on the stand, ask him what he thought about a country where a parent could lose custody of her child because of her beliefs.”

Tanner scanned the courtroom and saw that the reporters were spellbound. “I’ll tell you what … George Washington wouldn’t recognize such a country.”

He set down the dollar bill and held up Matt’s brief. “We can’t ask Mr. Washington to testify here today because we no longer have the benefit of his presence among us. However—” Tanner held up the brief—“we have the words he left behind.”

Tanner glanced at Jade and saw the surprise in her eyes. She had not known what he and Matt had been working on in their hotel room, but from the gleam in her eyes he could easily see she approved. He positioned the document so he could read it. “In a public address in May, 1789, George Washington stated: ‘If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the constitution … might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it.’ ”

Tanner let the comment settle over the courtroom. “Later that year in another public address he said this: ‘The liberty enjoyed by the people of these states of worshipping Almighty God agreeable to their consciences is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also among their rights.’ ”

The courtroom was utterly still, and Tanner felt as if the former president actually were on the witness stand. This time when Tanner spoke, he did so slowly and clearly, so that not a person in attendance could miss the message.

“Finally, in another public address in 1792, President Washington said this: ‘We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this land, the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry—’ ” he glanced at Judge Wilder—“ ‘bigotry and superstition. And that every person may here worship God according to the dictates of his own heart.… It is our boast that a man’s religious tenets will
not
forfeit for him the protection of the laws, nor deprive him of any right … whatsoever.’ ”

There was a lengthy pause, and Tanner saw a change in Judge Wilder’s expression. There was something humbling about listening to the words of George Washington, something that seemed to bring a measure of perspective to a system gone mad.

“And so your honor, I ask you to take seriously the words of George Washington, a man whose signature is found at the bottom of the constitution. On December 15, 1791, the First Amendment was added to the constitution.” Tanner read the Amendment in its entirety. As he let the last words sink in, he nodded slowly, facing the judge. “You will notice that it absolutely forbids the government to pass any law—or make any decision—that would prohibit the free exercise of religion.”

He leveled his gaze at Judge Wilder. “It seems to me, your honor, that this court has already done that by taking Jade Rudolph’s son from her because of her religious views. I ask you now, on behalf of Jade and the people of this country, to prove to this court and the members of the press that we are not willing to let go of the freedoms guaranteed us in the constitution. Rather, we will fight to the end to preserve them.

“Please, your honor, restore primary custody to my client so that the people of this nation can sleep easier tonight knowing their constitutional freedoms are safe. Thank you.”

Judge Wilder called a ten-minute recess and slipped through a door to her chambers. Muffled conversations broke out across the courtroom as reporters compared notes and guessed about the outcome. Tanner noticed them, but only briefly. His attention was on Jade and the paralyzing look of fear in her eyes.

He sat down beside her, blocking her view of the reporters and of Jim and his attorney. He spoke so that his voice was just loud enough for her to hear. “Worried?”

Jade nodded. “I can barely breathe.”

“She’s in there making her decision. Let’s pray.”

They were silent a moment, and Tanner brought their collective fears before the Lord, blocking out the voices around him so that finally he heard the one he was listening for.

Well done, my son. All things work to the good for those who love God.…

Okay, Lord, but let Jade get Ty back. Please
.

There was no response, and moments later Judge Wilder returned. She did not need to ask the court to come to order. Everyone in shouting distance was waiting breathlessly for her decision.

Tanner winked at Jade and mouthed a message to her: “Trust.”

Judge Wilder glanced at a sheet of notes and cleared her throat. “You must first know that I felt honored to have this case in my courtroom. On a personal level, I have to tell you I agree with the plaintiff. I believe we’ve reached a level of saturation as far as religion is concerned in this country. It had a place at one time but today is little more than a veil, a thin veneer intended to disguise the roots of hatred.”

She paused, and Tanner felt his heart rate double. Was it possible? Had she really understood the importance of what he’d read in his closing arguments?

Judge Wilder exhaled slowly. “The day will come, mark my words, where a parent will lose custody of his or her child if his beliefs are not in keeping with the nation as a whole. Extreme beliefs are dangerous, pure and simple.”

She stared at Jade, and Tanner feared for their system, a system that allowed a judge such obvious bias. “That said, the plaintiff in this case simply did not do a thorough job of showing potential for harm. Ms. Rudolph’s views, while extreme in my opinion, have not been proven to be dangerous. She has not staged a sit-in at an abortion clinic, nor does she belong to a cult that requires her to ignore medical treatment. Those are a few of the many circumstances that would have caused me to uphold the lower court ruling.