After 23 years as the Chief Justice of the Family Court, the Honorable Jeremiah S. Jeremiah, Jr. will retire as soon as Governor Carceiri appoints someone to take his place. Justice Jeremiah announced his decision on Friday April 2, 2010 in the courtroom at the Garrahy Judicial Complex and stated that it was based upon the fact that he felt "it was time for him to move on to the next stage of his life."
The complete article from the Providence Journal Online is shown below.
R.I. Family Court Chief Jeremiah to retire
Friday, April 2, 2010
By W. Zachary Malinowski
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr., the longtime chief of the state Family Court system, announced on Thursday that he will retire from the post he has held for the past 23 years. He will remain on the bench until Governor Carcieri names a successor.
Jeremiah, 74, of Warren, told Family Court judges and magistrates of his decision at 9 a.m. in Courtroom 5A in the J. Joseph Garrahy Judicial Complex.
“He feels that he has accomplished a great deal as chief judge and it is time for him to move on to the next stage of his life,” said Ronald J. Pagliarini, the court’s chief of staff. “He wants to spend more time with his grandchildren, his wife and children, and he wants to do more traveling.”
Jeremiah, who has had problems with his legs and uses a walker, has never shied from controversy.
Gov. Edward D. DiPrete named Jeremiah to the Family Court in 1986 and elevated him to chief judge a year later.
In 2007, following the death of a Barrington teenager in a boating accident that involved alcohol, Jeremiah asked police chiefs across the state to refer teen drinking cases to Family Court rather than to local juvenile hearing boards.
A few months earlier, Jeremiah began sending teens to the state Training School after concluding that some police agencies and the public felt that Family Court did not take underage drinking charges seriously.
Last year, he contacted a Journal reporter after a teenager appeared in his courtroom with extensive cuts and bruises on his face and body. The boy and his lawyer told Jeremiah that several Woonsocket police officers beat and kicked him in a city park and inside the Woonsocket police station.
The FBI launched an investigation that has resulted in the indictment of a Woonsocket police officer on a felony charge of violating the teenager’s civil rights.
In December, despite objections from the state Department of Children, Youth & Families, Jeremiah ordered the state to return a newborn baby and three other children to a woman who had suffered from psychiatric problems.
Jeremiah said he felt that the DCYF had been heavy-handed in its decision to remove the children because they lacked electricity in their apartment. He knew that the woman suffered from depression, and that she and her husband, a convicted felon, were facing an uphill battle, so he assigned a home health aide to make daily checks on the family to make sure things are working out.
So far, there have been no problems and Jeremiah said that things are going so well that the daily visits have been cut back to weekly visits.
Victoria M. Almeida, president of the Rhode Island Bar Association, has practiced law in Family Court for more than three decades. She said Jeremiah was a progressive chief judge whose primary focus was the well-being of the children who appeared before him.
“The Family Court was not just a job for him, it was a vocation,” she said, adding that he has a big heart and was always willing to give a troubled teen a second chance.
Jeremiah, who met with a reporter Thursday afternoon in his office on the sixth floor of the Garrahy courthouse, said he first began thinking about leaving the job three months ago. He said he talked about it with his wife, Theresa.
“Can I retire?” he asked her.
“Yeah, as long as you get a part-time job,” she said.
As chief judge, Jeremiah said he was proud of establishing the Juvenile Drug Court, Family Treatment Drug Court, Re-Entry Court, the Mental Health Court Clinic and a separate domestic violence calendar.
He said his retirement has nothing to do with a class-action suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union this week that charges the Truancy Court with violating the constitutional rights of children and their parents.
Jeremiah acknowledged that his physical problems have slowed him down. He badly injured both knees and suffered a severed tendon after falling in the courthouse and on a trip to California. And, three times over the past year, he said he has been hospitalized for having fluid buildup in his lungs.
“My mind is still sharp,” he said. “But I think a younger person should take over.”
Aside from hearing cases, Jeremiah has administrative responsibilities overseeing 18 judges and magistrates and about 150 court employees across the state. His judicial staff is second in size to the Superior Court.
He brushed off charges from defense lawyers that he can be tyrannical and difficult to appear before.
“I require them to be prepared,” Jeremiah said. “I’ve never been discourteous to a lawyer who’s prepared.”
Jeremiah said the part of the job that he will miss the most is helping turn around a young person’s life.
A few years ago, a young man appeared before him on a robbery charge. Jeremiah told him that if he straightened himself out and graduated from high school, he would buy him lunch.
Two months ago, a soldier in an Army uniform dropped by his office. The boy who had committed the robbery had grown up into a responsible young man.
“Can I buy you lunch?” the soldier said.
Jeremiah was tied up and couldn’t go, but he said that he plans on taking him up on the offer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Divorce, Immigration, or Estate Law in RI or MA contact Massachusetts and Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer Rui P. Alves at 401-942-3100 or CONTACT him via email.
