Judges & Navigating a Broken System

District Magistrates Commission: Incestuous Corrupt Judicial Appointments

The Idaho legal system is incredibly self-serving and opaque. Judges are appointed by the district magistrates commission. This is made up of a group, including other judges and local attorneys. So, instead of the public having a say, the same group of people keep appointing each other. This is how corruption continues, unchecked.

Membership on the Commission is prescribed by law in Idaho code 1-2203. In the First Judicial District, which covers Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Kootenai, and Shoshone counties, the Commission is comprised of the following individuals:

1. Judge Lamont Berecz, Administrative District Judge (Kootenai County) — Commission Chairman
2. Ronald G. Jacobson, Mayor of Post Falls (Kootenai County) — Appointed by Governor
3. Jim Hammond, Mayor of Coeur d’Alene (Kootenai County), Resigned from office — To be replaced with Mayor appointed by Governor
4. Nancy Lewis, Mayor of Kootenai (Bonner County) — Appointed by Governor
5. Magistrate Judge James Combo (Kootenai County) — Appointed by Administrative District Judge
6. Philip Lampert, Benewah County Commissioner
7. Luke Omodt, Bonner County Commissioner, Resigned from office — To be replace by next Bonner County Board of Commissioners Chair
8. Tim Bertling, Boundary County Commissioner
9. Leslie Duncan, Kootenai County Commissioner
10. David Dose, Shoshone County Commissioner
11. Juli Smith, Elector (Kootenai County), Regional Director for US Senator Mike Crapo — Appointed by Governor
12. Michael Boeck, Elector (Bonner County) — Appointed by Governor
13. Mary Cusack, Attorney, Partner at Cusack Linscott Merck Law Firm, PLLC (Kootenai County) — Nominated by the district bar association, Appointed by Idaho State Bar
14. Craig Zanetti, Attorney, Managing Partner at Amendola Doty & Brumley, PLLC (Kootenai County) — Nominated by the district bar association, Appointed by Idaho State Bar
15. Michael Rosedale, Bonner County Clerk — Appointed by Administrative District Judge

My Divorce Experience with Corrupt Kootenai County Magistrate Judges

From the moment the separation and divorce began in March 2023, I was thrust into a legal system that was predetermined to strip me of all due process rights. The judges, without even hearing the details of my case, operated under a set of assumptions that are simply their biases rather than principles of justice. Here’s what I quickly learned about how Judge Stow and Judge Pittman think in practice:

Mothers Are the Parent, Fathers are Here for Money

• Your daughter belongs to your wife. You have few rights whatsoever, and we will force you to litigate against your ex just to see your child.
• Your wife has complete control over visitation. She doesn’t need to provide a reason to deny you access. If your wife withholds custody, not only will we not hold it against the mother, but we will label you as an absentee parent.
• If she doesn’t want you to see your child, you’ll have to spend every dollar and resource you have to fight for even minimal contact. We don’t care if this is totally ruinous to finances for both parties. We don’t care what impact this has on the children either.
• The status quo favors mothers. Any disruption to the child’s life with the mother is seen as unnecessary, even harmful. Any disruption of the father-child bond is irrelevant, and actually favored.
• The mother can take your child anywhere in the world. You can’t take her out of Kootenai County. This is just an arbitrary use of our power. There’s no reason we won’t let you take your daughter to Spokane, we just want to arbitrarily limit what you can do. But the mother? She can go anywhere on planet earth, and she doesn’t need to notify you.
• The mother’s behavior, background, or ability to parent is irrelevant. No evidence you present will change that. The court doesn’t care that the mother has engaged in child abuse.
• The mother’s false accusations will be believed. Even when she admits the accusations will false, the court will still hold the accusations as truthful.
• The mother permanently decides you child’s schooling, medical decision, and schedule It’s a privledge for fathers to be able to see their children, it’s not a right. You’ll be responsible for bearing the complete burden of visitation, including picking up and dropping off the child wherever the mother pleases. You’ll have no say in how she’s actually raised.
• If the mother abuses the legal system, we will reward her. We don’t care if she used fraud & manipulation to set a status quo. We don’t care what impact this has on you or your child.

What Judges Actually Think of Fathers

• Fathers are primarily seen as financial providers. Their emotional or physical presence in their children’s lives is treated as optional, and frankly, an annoyance for the court to have to address.
• Your ability to parent is irrelevant. We’re concerned about courtroom decorum, tone of voice, and court rules. If any of this is objectionable, then we’ll cut you off from your daughter in a heartbeat, no matter the impact it has on her.
• Don’t bother submitting evidence or a parenting plan. We aren’t going to consider your evidence or parenting plan anyway, so you’re just wasting everyone’s time. The court does not care what schedule will work for me, or what preferences you have in seeing your daughter.
• Your financial situation is irrelevant. The court does not care whether or not what’s ordered is feasible or not. We don’t care what impact this ultimately has on your daughter. And, if you can’t keep up with what we order, you will lose all visitation rights, go to jail, or both. And if this happens, we don’t care what impact this has on the child.

This was the reality I faced from the very beginning, and it continued until Judge Stow signed the final order in November 2024. Throughout the process, the courts and lawyers seemed determined to place the blame on me, ignoring the actions of my ex-wife, all the people lying for her, and the judges who enabled her.

Judge Caldwell: Protective Orders as a Weapon

Before the divorce even began, my ex-wife had already set the stage to paint me in the worst possible light. She had been planning for the divorce and used every tactic to gain the upper hand. One of her most effective tools was Judge Caldwell, a judge known for handing out protective orders like candy.

In my case, an argument between my ex-wife and me was enough for Judge Caldwell to issue a protective order and throw me out of my own home. There was no domestic violence, no drugs, no drinking—just a heated disagreement. My ex-wife claimed she felt “unsafe,” and that was all it took. The police showed up, and I was forced to leave my home.

This was nothing more than a strategic move by my ex-wife. She had been setting the stage for months:

• She told our daughter’s pediatrician that I had been starving her by putting her on a vegan diet. I only found out about this accusation a month before our family was scheduled to move.
• She created a plan for us to move cross-country, only to cancel it days before the move.

Of course, I was upset. Who wouldn’t be? But instead of addressing the issues, my ex-wife ran to Judge Caldwell, claimed she felt unsafe, and secured a protective order. The court didn’t care that there was no evidence of violence or threats. They didn’t care when she changed the locks on the house. Due process was nowhere to be found.

Judge Clark A. Peterson, enormous amounts of misconduct and arbitrary rulings

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Here’s just some of this judge’s behavior:

• On June 5, 2012, Judge Peterson signed a Stipulated Order regarding mortgage payments requiring Petitioner and Respondent to violate Federal law by misappropriating the minor children’s Social Security funds. “I could have been thrown in jail for misappropriation of Social Security benefits as the children’s representative payee if I had spent the money on the home mortgage according to the local Social Security office, two attorneys, and an agency in town that managed people’s accounts as the representative payee. I spent $70,000 on legal fees and experts.”
• On June 19, 2012, while court was in session, Judge Peterson stated his opinion that the Plaintiff should not have custody of her children. “This biased statement was made without the benefit of a custody trial. The only custody trial ever heard by Judge Peterson in this case was in August 2013. This opinion was strange considering no allegations of neglect or abuse had ever been made by anyone regarding the Plaintiff.”
• On August 23, 2013, testimony from Parenting Coordinator Tim Van Valen (who later became a district magistrate judge) was thrown out. “He [Van Valen] recommended that no change of custody should be implemented at that time. Judge Peterson stated the Parenting Coordinator was not allowed to make custody recommendations. This violated his earlier precedent from March 2012 in which he ordered that a disqualified parenting coordinator would create the custody schedule without any input from the court whatsoever.”
• Judge Peterson ordered Plaintiff and Respondent to never call their children on the phone while in the custody of the other parent. “This was in the absence of any testimony from either party that phone calls had caused any problem in the past. This violated standard court precedent.”
• On January 10, 2014, Judge Peterson held a pretrial conference without notifying Plaintiff. On January 31, 2014, Judge Peterson ordered Roland Watson to represent the Plaintiff as a private attorney against her will.

Judge Pittman: A Corrupt Magistrate Judge, A Hated District Court Judge

After the protective order, the case moved to Judge Pittman. I was told he was one of the “better” judges, but my experience couldn’t have been further from that. Judge Pittman consistently ignored evidence and displayed clear bias against me. When I presented proof of severe neglect and child abuse by my ex-wife, he dismissed it outright, refusing to even hold a hearing. Yet, when my ex-wife made false accusations based on hearsay, Judge Pittman used them to grant her temporary sole custody.

This broke me. In January 2024, I suffered a mental breakdown—a direct result of the relentless stress caused by my ex-wife’s manipulation, Judge Pittman’s rulings, and the attorneys involved. As soon as I struggled, my ex-wife filed a motion to remove all visitation rights, and Judge Pittman granted it. From January to August 2024, I was completely cut off from my daughter.

It’s worth noting that I had never needed psychiatric help before this divorce. The system, designed to protect families, instead pushed me to the brink. Judge Pittman eventually removed himself from the case when he was promoted to District Judge. I can only hope others don’t have to endure the same biased treatment under his authority.

Judge Stow: A Facade of Calm, a Reality of Bias

After Judge Pittman’s departure, the case was reassigned to Judge Stow. His calm demeanor masked a deeply biased approach to my case. He imposed an oppressive and expensive visitation schedule, refusing to consider my circumstances while placing no burden on my ex-wife.

At one point, I was in the process of finding a new attorney after firing my previous one during my mental breakdown. I filed a motion for an extension to secure representation, but Judge Stow denied it. At the hearing, he went further, ruling that I wouldn’t be allowed to submit any evidence at trial. This was a blatant denial of my due process rights.

Despite having an attorney at trial and presenting evidence of my ex-wife’s neglect, abuse, and criminal behavior, Judge Stow refused to consider any of it. His final ruling in August 2024 was a devastating blow. He labeled me an “absent father” and accused me of interfering with medical appointments, parroting the lies and hearsay my ex-wife had presented.

In the end, nothing had changed from the beginning of the case. I was left with the same oppressive visitation schedule my ex-wife had demanded from the start.

The Aftermath: A System That Failed My Daughter

My ex-wife and her sister have eight children between them, fathered by five different men. They’ve made it their mission to keep every single one of those fathers out of their children’s lives. These are two of the most manipulative, toxic individuals I’ve ever encountered, yet the court system handed them another child to raise.

I had gathered extensive documentation of my ex-wife’s behavior, but it fell on deaf ears. The judges didn’t care. The system didn’t care. And now, my daughter is paying the price.

The Appeal I Couldn’t Afford

My attorney assured me I had a strong case for appeal. The rulings were riddled with legal errors and violations of my due process rights. But by the time the trial was over, I was financially drained. The deadline to appeal came and went, and I was left with no recourse.

Final Thoughts

This experience has left me disillusioned with the family court system. It’s a system that claims to prioritize the best interests of the child but often seems to prioritize maintaining the status quo, no matter how flawed or harmful it may be. Fathers are treated as second-class parents, and evidence of a mother’s misconduct is routinely ignored.

To any father going through a similar battle, know that you’re not alone. The system is broken, but your love for your child matters. Keep fighting, even when it feels like the odds are stacked against you. And to those in positions of power within the legal system: it’s time to do better. Children deserve relationships with both parents, and fathers deserve to be more than just a paycheck.