By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ 08.31.07, 9:06 PM ET
MIAMI -
A judge in an international custody dispute over a young Cuban girl said
Friday that she was concerned about the mental state of the mother, a
key witness, and feared she might hurt herself.
But Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Jeri B. Cohen maintained that Elena
Perez was competent to testify as the girl's father in Cuba tries to
regain custody of the 4-year-old girl.
Cohen told Perez late Friday that she wanted to make sure the woman was
not alone over the Labor Day weekend.
"You have to go on some medication to stabilize yourself because you
can't go on like this day after day," Cohen told a weeping Perez.
"I don't want you to hurt yourself," added Cohen, even calling Perez's
friend and asking her to look after the woman.
The girl, her half brother and their mother legally entered the U.S. in
2005, but Perez gave up custody after she attempted suicide.
The girl's father, Cuban farmer Rafael Izquierdo, wants her back. State
officials favor adoption by her foster parents, a Miami former sports
agent and his wife. The couple has adopted the girl's half brother.
Perez has accused Izquierdo's attorneys of asking her to lie to bolster
his efforts to regain custody of the girl.
The exchange followed a tense day in court, in which several witnesses
contradicted the girl's mother regarding letters and the photos she had
exchanged with the girl's father.
"There's a lot of inconsistencies, here. She's a very complex person and
she has very complex motives. There's no question about it," Cohen said
of Perez.
Izquierdo's lawyers have repeatedly said an increasingly distraught
Perez is not qualified to testify.
"If you're referring someone to psychiatric services, you have no
business having them testify, whether they meet the legal standards of
competency or not," said Izquierdo's attorney Ira Kurzban, a top Miami
immigration lawyer.
"I think there are some things she says that are more believable than
others," said Alan Mishael, an attorney for the girl's foster parents.
But he said he was concerned about her allegations that the attorneys
tried to get her to lie.
Perez's testimony about the letters and photos of the girl are important
because state officials claim that Izquierdo abandoned the girl after
she emigrated to the U.S. in 2005.
Perez testified Wednesday that Izquierdo had sent her the letters, but
on Thursday she reversed herself, saying that Izquierdo's legal team had
come up with the idea of fabricating them.
Perez's cousin, Noelia Leal, testified Friday that she sat in on Perez's
entire meeting with attorneys and never heard of such a plot.
"She said she always communicated with her family and sent letters and
that her daughter's father would always stay in touch with her and she
would send him birthday photos," Leal told the judge.
Another friend testified Perez had proudly shown her Izquierdo's letters.
Perez told the judge she wanted to clear the air in part because she was
afraid of being charged with perjury and in part because she wanted the
judge to believe her about other aspects of the case.
Kurzban says Izquierdo agreed to let his daughter seek a better life in
the U.S. but had no way of knowing Perez would have to give her up. Both
sides have agreed to keep the girl's name confidential.
Throughout her testimony, Cohen repeatedly asked Perez whether she was
helping Izquierdo so she could, in fact, regain custody of her daughter.
Perez repeatedly denied that was her motivation.
"I want her to be with her father," Perez answered. "Her mother is dead
in life."
Although the facts are different, the case is drawing comparisons to the
custody dispute eight years ago over Elian Gonzalez, who was eventually
reunited with his father in Cuba.
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