Wisconsin domestic abuse case gains international attention
A controversial case of domestic abuse in Bloomfield, Wisconsin has garnered the attention of international media. According to the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal, Russian media began covering the case of Martin and Kathleen O'Brien, who were charged with 11 felony counts of child abuse and 12 misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct involving their adopted Russian children in May.
The O'Brien family, who have four biological children, have adopted six additional children beginning in 2004. The abuse charges stem from three of the children: two Russian-born boys who are now 18 and 14 and an American-born boy who is now 14.
Although child protective services took custody of five of the six adopted children in August 2011, the litigations against the family still continue as more anecdotal evidence comes from the children.
Many of the children have stepped forward and told investigators stories of their abuse, alleging that the parents would punish the Russian children differently, oftentimes resorting to physical abuse. In addition, when outside, the adopted children had to be working and were not allowed to use the family pool. There were multiple instances when the children were forced to stand barefoot in the snow for doing an inadequate job shoveling the O'Brien's driveway.
Due to other domestic abuse cases, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has created tighter restrictions for U.S. citizens who want to adopt Russian-born children, causing the Russian media to increase coverage on the O'Brien case, says the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
While most of the case will depend on the anecdotal evidence provided by the O'Brien family members and their neighbors, it will be necessary for Wisconsin court reporters to produce high quality deposition transcripts.
If other lawyers or investigators wish to ensure that their cases are conducted with the highest quality deposition transcripts, they may want to use court reporters that also provide video deposition services.
