An Oregon mother is celebrating a partial victory this week after a court ruling in a high-profile child custody case that has made headlines across the country and thrust a Vashon family into the national spotlight.
A King County Superior Court Judge on Monday said Trisha Conlon of Silverton, Ore., could move forward in her efforts to gain full custody of her sons, 13 and 14, who she believes are not safe living on Vashon with their father John Cushing and his partner Kristine Cushing. Kristine Cushing shot and killed her and John Cushing’s two young daughters in Southern California 20 years ago and was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. The two divorced shortly after the incident then remarried in 2005. During the interim, John Cushing was married to Conlon and had two sons with her.
Judge William Downing overturned a family law judge’s July decision that Conlon could not attempt to modify the couple’s parenting plan, which currently allows one of her sons to live with the Cushings on Vashon full time and the other to visit during school breaks. Downing ordered an investigation by a court-appointed child advocate,
or guardian ad litem, into the boys’ living situation on Vashon as well as Kristine Cushing’s current mental health and psychological treatment.
Conlon’s attorney Todd DeVallance said he and Conlon were pleased with the judge’s decision. Although Downing did not grant Conlon temporary custody of the children as she had hoped, DeVallance said they were glad there would be an investigation into the boys’ well-being, possibly resulting in the opportunity for Conlon to gain full custody of her sons or for other safeguards to be put in place.
“Her primary concern is making sure her kids are safe,” DeVallance said. “Allowing her case to go forward and appointing a guardian ad litem on the behalf of this kids will make sure that happens. That’s all that we can ask for at this point.”
John Cushing’s attorney Nancy Sorensen was unavailable to comment. She and the Cushings have not spoken to the press through the course of the legal proceedings.
Downing heard arguments in the case last Thursday, when at least a dozen members of the press crowded into his Seattle courtroom where he was expected to rule from the bench on the controversial custody case. Instead, Downing said he needed to take time to think before ruling on what he called a difficult case.
In a brief statement Thursday, DeVallance told the judge Conlon’s sons are unsafe living with Kristine Cushing, who blamed the 1991 killing of her children on a bad reaction to Prozac. DeVallance said Conlon is also concerned for her sons’ emotional well-being in the home.
“One can’t imagine being 13 years old and being faced with the reality that the woman in the next room killed her children in their sleep,” DeVallance told the judge.
But Sorensen, John Cushing’s attorney, argued that Conlon had no legal basis to change the couple’s parenting plan, as there had been no evidence since the plan was written that the children are at risk. Cushing sat solemnly at her side, often with his head down.
“The sole evidence presented by the mother is one tragic episode that happened 20 years ago,” Sorensen said, adding that the son who lives full time with the Cushings on Vashon is happy and excels both academically and socially.
In a short rebuttal, DeVallance said he and Conlon had no new evidence to present because the Cushings have been guarded about their lives on Vashon, even telling the boys to lie to their mother after Kristine Cushing moved back into John Cushing’s home in 2008 — an event that occurred after the couple divorced a second time and Kristine Cushing moved out for about a month. He said they have been given little information about Cushing’s mental illness or current treatment.
“The state of her current mental health remains largely unknown to us,” DeVallance said.
Kristine Cushing was not present at the hearing.
She and John Cushing found themselves in a media spotlight last month, after Conlon went public about her initial loss in court, even appearing with her attorney for interviews on the Today Show and the Fox channel. A story by the Associated Press was picked up in The New York Times and dozens of other newspapers.
While Kristine Cushing has at times been labeled an unsafe child killer in the press, those who know her on Vashon have come to her defense. Cushing, a painter who has had shows on Vashon, sells her cards at various retail outlets and is an active member of St. John Vianney Church, is kind, gentle and should be trusted around children, friends from her church say. Just this Sunday, she sang in the choir there.
But Downing, in his six-page ruling, said there is adequate reason to consider a change in the couple’s parenting plan. John Cushing, he noted, now lives with a woman who has a history of violence with children.
What’s more, the judge said, it was significant that Cushing concealed from Conlon the fact that Kristine Cushing was living in his home.
“Negative inferences can be drawn both from the father’s act of deception itself and also as to the reasons he may have felt the need to conceal the true facts,” Downing wrote.
The court-ordered investigation will include a home visit on Vashon and interviews with the children, parents, Kristine Cushing and other adults who know the son who lives on the Island.
The guardian ad litem (GAL) will also review Kristine Cushing’s treatment records and consult with her treatment providers.
The judge also made note in his ruling of Conlon’s media campaign against the Cushings.
“At the same time, the GAL may choose to look into whether what the Court Commissioner termed the mother’s ‘media campaign’ has been unnecessarily harmful to the children and constitutes an abusive use of conflict,” he wrote.
DeVallance said he and Conlon were looking forward to learning what the investigation, which is expected to be complete within 90 days, will uncover.
“We’re asking that the children be protected from Kristine,” DeVallance said, “but at this point in time we just want to get the information we’ve always wanted.”
