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Unlikely allies unite in battle for Baby Sam
By ANITA KUMAR © St. Petersburg Times,
She telephoned her husband's bitter enemies -- Mark and Tracy Johnson. For years, the Vietris and the Johnsons had waged war over who should raise Christopher Vietri's biological son, Sam. But on that night, Mrs. Vietri told the Johnsons that her husband had beaten her, that she was through with him. Now, she said, she was on their side. Within 24 hours, the Johnsons' attorney was walking Mrs. Vietri through the legal process, urging her to get a court order to keep her husband away and to report him to police. Anthony Marchese, the Johnsons' attorney, acknowledges the situation might look a little too cozy but said that it's not a conflict of interest to help both Mrs. Vietri and the Johnsons. "She's a woman who needed help and I'm glad to help her whether her name is Vietri or Smith," Marchese said. "What can I do? I'll help anyone."
"They share something in common," Marchese said. "There's a bond there. If that's too cozy, I'm sorry. It's certainly not a conflict." But Martha Jane Patton, Vietri's Alabama attorney, said it's unfair for them to be working together. She also said it's suspicious that Mrs. Vietri's abuse allegations against her husband didn't surface until she started talking to the Johnsons. "It's all very interesting," Patton said. "But it's always been a David versus Goliath situation." Marchese said he even considered representing Mrs. Vietri himself, but recommended another attorney: Ted Millison, the same lawyer representing Sam's biological mother -- a former girlfriend who also accuses Vietri of abuse. Arne Vanstrum, an assistant ethics counselor at the Florida Bar, said just because several people -- the Johnsons, Vietri's wife and his former girlfriend -- are all on the same page does not mean there is a legal conflict. The only possible conflict, he said, is whether Millison can represent both Vietri's wife and former girlfriend. But Vanstrum said it's not a problem as long as both women understand and don't object. Now, all sides are watching to see whether the abuse allegations will help the Johnsons' case. The allegations against Vietri have not been proved, but the court considers them legally sufficient to keep him away from his wife until a hearing can be held Friday. Mrs. Vietri accuses her husband of five years of slapping her face, picking her up by the neck, shoving her into walls, choking her and threatening to "slit my throat" at least five times since November. She said her husband did not allow her to take the couple's 4-year-old son, Nicholas, with her when she left the house and that he has limited the time she can see her son. Vietri and his attorneys in Florida and Alabama have refused to comment on the abuse allegations. Mrs. Vietri spoke about the allegations, but she and the Johnsons were reluctant to discuss their conversation. Sam, who started kindergarten this fall, has been seeing a child psychologist for months and has been told some, but not much, about the custody fight. He met Vietri for the first time in February, and has visited with him twice since. The five-year adoption snarl was set into motion in 1996, when Sam's biological mother, Natasha Gawronski, signed newborn Sam over to an adoption agency and said she didn't know who the father was. Gawronski and Vietri broke up in the middle of her pregnancy, and she told Vietri their baby had died at birth. Vietri suspected his child hadn't died and filed for custody. Police had charged Vietri with hitting Gawronski when she was pregnant but prosecutors later dropped the charges after she refused to cooperate. Then, in March 1998, Gawronski testified that she told Vietri their baby was stillborn because he had beaten her and abandoned her and she wanted a better life for her son. She identified police photographs showing her with bruises and a swollen lip that she said she received when Vietri abused her. The judge in that case ruled in 1998 for the Johnsons, but the state Supreme Court overturned that decision, ruling that Sam should live with Vietri. Last month, the state's highest court sent the case back to the trial judge "for proceedings to determine the proper custody." Tuscaloosa Circuit Judge Philip Lisenby likely will hold another custody hearing before making a decision. No hearing has been set, and Mrs. Vietri said Patton, her husband's attorney in Alabama, called recently to try to broker a deal outside the court in which the Johnsons would retain custody and Vietri would have visitation rights. Alabama law allows Lisenby to consider Sam's best interests, while the Supreme Court can only consider the Johnsons' and Vietri's rights. That means Mrs. Vietri's allegations of abuse and her own custody battle for Nicholas could play a key role in the decision of who gets to raise Sam.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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