The Liberty Counsel has put out a press release stating that the meeting with the medical team from Tufts went well. Attorney Richard Mast stated on video (discussed below) that the meeting with the medical team went well. He described it as "cordial." There were no statements that Dr Korson was or was not a part of the medical team. There were no statements about Justina's diagnosis or diagnoses. There were no statements about any immediate changes in her medical care. In fact, the Pelletiers and their spokespeople were uncharacteristically quiet about the entire meeting. (IMO)
According to Attorney Moran, the 60B motion was filed around noon. Why would they speed up the timetable for the filing? Why did the press conference not take place?
I did not find an announcement of the cancellation of the press conference on Rev Mahoney's twitter feed or Facebook, the #freejustina twitter feed or Facebook, the Miracle for Justina Facebook, the Liberty Counsel's twitter or Facebook, or anywhere else. Was the press conference canceled because the press did not show up or because the DCF/Tufts team meeting did not go as well as the Pelletier's spokesmen claimed? Perhaps there is some sort of new agreement for confidentiality between the parents and the medical team?
Rev Mahoney's twitter has a picture of Lou and Linda Pelletier with Richard Mast and Philip Moran reportedly right after the motion was filed. Linda appears to be crying in the photo. If she had just received the "good news" that DCF and Attorney Hathaway would agree or ascent to the motion, why would she be crying?
The youtube video of attorneys Richard Mast and Philip Moran "explaining" the successes of the day was not a press conference. There were no journalists in sight, there has been no mainstream media reporting of the "successful" meeting or the filing of the motion, and the "interview" was shot on an iPhone. So far, I have not seen an official transcript of the "interview" but I did listen to it a number of times. Both attorneys appeared (IMO) to be uncomfortable - stuttering, run-on sentences - something I would not have expected from experienced attorneys. I am not a transcriptionist, but below are a few quotes I was able to transcribe from the "interview."
Attorney Philip Moran:
"I filed a motion on behalf of Lou and Linda Pelletier this morning at about noon time."
"Rule 60B motion."
"We were hoping Judge Johnson would act on it today."
"We had indications from both DCF and Nancy Hathaway who is the attorney for Justina that they would not …. DCF would not oppose it, Nancy Hathaway indicated that she would assent to the motion, so that she could get home."
RE: "Polanowicz plan" "As of this morning the fourth step or the fourth leg of that criteria has been met. And as of now it is our position that they have complied with the entire plan that Secretary Polanatwitz has set forth and that it is time for Justina to go home. And we were hoping that he would act upon it."
The Judge stated that he would give the other side "at least two weeks to respond."
Nancy Hathaway joined them in chambers after a chance meeting. She indicated that she:
"Has not read it but she would probably ascent to it"
After leaving chambers, Attorney Hathaway called the DCF attorneys who said that "they had not actually received it but that they requested two weeks to respond to it."
"That seems to me to be much too long a period of time. If they are going to assent to it or agree to it, they could simply indicate that they assent to the motion. And we could go back to Judge Johnson and have him approve it or allow the motion without even a hearing. And that was one of the alternatives that I told him that we were looking for. He seems content on having a 2 week period for them to respond and then set a definite time after that for a hearing and that will take us to June 20th hearing - which is going to be automatically allowed anyway because that's when the 6 month period under his own review will come up."
"He seemed hung up on procedure as opposed to form."
"Hopefully, next week there will be some doings and we will be able to come back before him to expedite Justins's return home."
Unseen female voice:
"So it could still take 2 weeks:"
"Well, it could but we are hoping that …..Rev Mahoney is going to meet with Sect Polanowicz on Monday morning and we are hoping at the end of that meeting things will be move forward very quickly."
Attorney Richard Mast from Liberty Counsel: "At the end of the day we are really excited that the meeting with the Tufts health team went really well."
Call me cynical, but this does not sound like there is any sort of agreement in place to release Justina or even to assent to the Pelletier's motion to vacate the custody order. It would be normal professional standards to want to read the motion and investigate the facts before agreeing with or arguing the motion. It sounds like both attorney Hathaway and the DCF attorneys were cordial and noncommittal. It sounds like the The family's attorneys have finally convinced them to keep quirt while they ride the wave of (what they think is) public opinion and try to expedite Justina's release before DCF realizes that they have not met the intent of the reunification plan.
I hope that I am very wrong, but I don't think this is over.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cy1eVtJvoI&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop
http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=1446