Tragic Death of 2 Year Old After Custody Case Preventable: Judge Eugene Hyman

Stunned by the recent death of a 2-year-old girl at the center of a hard-fought California custody case, observers wondered what might have been done differently to prevent the tragedy. Although the case is still being investigated, news reports indicate Madeline Layla Samaan-Fay likely died as a result of a murder-suicide by her father, Mourad "Moni" Samaan, 49. Their bodies were found over the weekend. The deaths, which may have been caused by carbon monoxide poisoning while the two were in a sports utility vehicle, followed an award of custody to the girl's mother, Marcia Ann Fay. She is well-known as a deputy to state Attorney General Kamala Harris, recounts the Capitol Weekly. Following news of the deaths, Samaan's father and brother reportedly blamed what they called a corrupt court system for the custody award. But it was additional comments made by the brother, who is an attorney, that provided an unusual focus for public outrage. In a television interview with Fox News, lawyer Nabil Samaan, who apparently did not have a role as an attorney in the custody case, implied that his brother had acted appropriately. "I think he did the right thing. I'm proud of him," Nabil Samaan said, prompting the network's reporter to ask him what he meant. Replied Samaan: "I think justice was done." Late yesterday, the Center for Judicial Excellence filed a complaint with the State Bar of California asking that it consider lifting Samaan's law license over the comments he made concerning the child's death. They demonstrate both a lack of requisite moral character needed to work as a lawyer and conflict with an ethical obligation to support the Constitution and the laws of the United States, the CJE contends. However, lawyers who regularly defend other lawyers in ethics cases tell the Capitol Weekly that Samaan's comments aren't likely to result in his disbarment, or, it appears, even lesser legal discipline. 

Family Law Channel Host Judge Eugene Hyman says each county should have a death review committee to review each potential domestic violence related death in the county to determine what might/should have been done to potentially prevented or avoided the death.  Hyman also maintains the importance of file sharing between divisions of the court especially criminal and family.