State Police Get Ugly with Father
Protesters in Springfield

November 22, 2000

A group of fathers has been picketing every Monday outside the Hall of Justice in Springfield to protest what they say is "blatant sex discrimination" against men.

But things turned ugly last month when five state troopers in plain clothes threatened the men with arrest and took their names and pictures so they could be summoned to District Court for a hearing to see if criminal charges should be filed.

Lieutenant Higgins led the team of police and said that he was being easy in that he could have arrested them on the spot if he so desired.

The confrontation was apparently the work of Judge David G. Sacks, Chief Justice, Hampden Division Probate & Family Court, who had ordered the arrest of the founder of the group, Paul V. Trimboli, Jr., two weeks earlier because of remarks he made to the judge after he was told he could not see his son for one year.

Members of the fathers' group, Fathers and Children Together, say that the judge is really attempting to stop Trimboli from helping fathers who appear before the court. They say that Trimboli advises as many as six fathers each day.

The remark that angered the judge was when Trimboli said: "Just for the record, Your Honor, I'd like to state that I hope you would die too," referring to earlier testimony by another witness. Fifteen area fathers had attended the hearings that day in support of Trimboli. Nine were present at the time he made the comment.

"While Trimboli's remarks were intemperate, his frustration is understandable in seeing that he was denied from seeing his son," said Rod Snelling, a member of the group. "Judge Sacks appears to have misrepresented the nature of Trimboli's comment."

Trimboli was still being held on $2500 bail which the fathers hoped to raise when we went to press. He had been in jail for two weeks.

There was a full evidentiary hearing on a request for a restraining order in which the mother of Trimboli's 12-year-old boy had the burden of proof to substantiate accusations against Trimboli.

Trimboli contended he had exercised ordinary parental discipline after his son had been violent with him. According to witnesses at the hearing, there was no evidence that should keep Trimboli from caring for his son on a routine basis.

Judge Sacks, nonetheless, put a one-year restraining order on Trimboli which restricted him from seeing his son and later issued a warrant for Trimboli's arrest due to his remarks.

"If we're going to hire people to judge cases, they should meet a better standard than this," Snelling said.

Trimboli, a former city councilman in Agawam, is 44-years-old. He was found innocent of charges of assault and battery against his son in 1998.

According to testimony at the hearing, the mother has a history of violence, one time assaulting a police officer. Sources claim that she also has a history of drug abuse, including marijuana and cocaine and was hospitalized at Bay State Medical Center as a result of one incident of prescription drug abuse. The father has repeatedly requested an independent expert to perform psychological examinations on himself, the mother and son, but the judge has refused.

The state police told the picketers they are being charged with violating Chap. 268, sect. 13A which prohibits picketing in order to "influence" a judge, but lawyers say that such a use of the statute is clearly unconstitutional.

F.A.C.T. says it supports "shared parenting" and seeks to promote fairness in the adjudication of family law. For more information contact the Fathers' Rights Hotline at 1-413-295-DADS.