Murder
One of Gardner’s more notorious cases involved two physicists, Marc and Zitta Friedlander, involved in a custody struggle over their two sons. Gardner supported Marc Friedlander’s claims for custody.
While the battle was raging, Marc took things out of the court and into his own hands–literally–by accosting Zitta as she walked to her car after work. He shot her 13 times.
Supported by Gardner, Friedlander then claimed he was insane at the time of the murder. The jury didn’t buy it and convicted him.
In another case, Joyce Wallace, a physician, sued Gardner, stating he had claimed to be a therapist who would help Wallace and her ex-husband get along better, when Gardner had actually been paid by the ex-husband to perform a custody evaluation. While Gardner denied any wrongdoing, Wallace collected $25,000 in settlement.
In an August 1996 ruling, a New York judge debunked Gardner’s theory, stating, “there was no competent medical proof (or for that matter even any evidence) at trial that such a ‘syndrome’ is a recognized diagnosis in the psychiatric field.” A California attorney put it more bluntly, describing it as “a bit of flimflam.”
Nevertheless, a growing trail of ruined lives has followed the use of “parental alienation syndrome” and other psychiatric labels, which at best add only heat and confusion to custody situations that are already emotionally supercharged. All too often, they add further injustice and victimize those who have already been wronged.
According to National Center for Protective Parents director Joan H. Pennington, “A pattern has emerged in thousands of cases across the country, revealing flagrant gender bias against mothers in incest cases and leaving parental child abduction, suicide and murder in its wake.”
Other cases are under scrutiny by Freedom and by the Church of Scientology’s Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), established in 1969 to investigate and expose psychiatric violations of human rights.
“Parental alienation syndrome is another fraudulent diagnosis from the psychiatric industry, which is looking to garner as much money as possible despite the devastating consequences to children,” said Peter Dockx of CCHR. “The results from the increasing use of this diagnosis in family courts in California and elsewhere is causing untold harm to children and robbing mothers of their sons and daughters.”
CCHR has documented that whenever psychiatry enters the scene, whether it be in schools, courts or some other sphere, suffering and violations of human rights ensue. Since psychiatry insinuated itself into the criminal courts, Dockx noted, the quality of justice has declined and society has become more dangerous. Today, family courts are being perverted and undermined.
“The way to curb the further erosion of the justice system and to prevent destruction of children’s lives,” Dockx said, “is to demand an end to the fraudulent use of psychiatric labels and to get rid of psychiatry in the courts.”
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What You Can Do
For more information about the harm caused by psychiatry in the justice system and what can be done about it, order your free copy of Psychiatry: Eradicating Justice from the Citizens Commission on Human Rights at (800) 869-2247 or (323) 467-4242.
If you know of abuses as described in this article, contact Freedom at (323) 960-3500 or the Citizens Commission on Human Rights.
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