'Baby Sam' couple try to mend marriage

He's fighting for custody of his son. She accused him of abuse but moved back home. A judge will hear it all.

By ANITA KUMAR

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 20, 2001

Just weeks after Erika Vietri accused her husband, Christopher, of physically abusing and threatening her, the two are reconciling and trying to save their marriage.

But last month's allegations still may affect Vietri's battle to raise his biological son, Sam, after almost five years of bitter legal wrangling with the boy's adoptive parents.

The judge charged with deciding who should have custody of Sam will hear details of the spousal abuse accusations whether or not Mrs. Vietri tries to put them behind her.

Mrs. Vietri has accused her husband of slapping her face, picking her up by the neck, shoving her into walls, choking her and threatening to slit her throat five times since November.

But she recently moved back into the couple's house in New Port Richey and asked a judge this week to dismiss a temporary injunction barring him from seeing her.

"We are working on our marriage," said Christopher Vietri, 31, a partner in a computer company. "We think it's saveable."

Vietri, who has denied the accusations, blamed the problems in the five-year marriage on the intense stress caused by his fight with Mark and Tracy Johnson, the couple who have raised Sam in Tuscaloosa, Ala., since he was 3 days old.

Mrs. Vietri could not be reached Wednesday. Her attorney, Ted Millison, would only confirm that the two had reconciled -- which is not unusual, he said, after a couple appears in court.

The Johnsons' attorneys said they believe Mrs. Vietri's allegations, including one that her husband limited her access to their son, Nicholas, and plan to use them despite her attempt to save her marriage.

"I don't know (that the new development) is really going to affect the case," said Scott Stapp, one of the Johnsons' attorneys. "The proof is there."

After years of unexpected legal twists and turns, the Alabama Supreme Court sent the so-called Baby Sam case back to Tuscaloosa Circuit Judge Philip Lisenby this year.

Both sides claimed the court's decision was vague and perhaps did not fully understand until a Monday hearing that Lisenby will preside over another trial before ruling. It could take months before attorneys finish the fact-finding stage and are ready for trial.

Lisenby ruled for the Johnsons in 1998 after a trial that focused on the disputed adoption and whether Vietri abandoned his unborn son. This time, the trial will decide custody based on Sam's best interests -- allowing the Johnsons to delve into the Vietris' home life.

The judge could even order the two sides into mediation, which was attempted once but failed after Vietri changed his mind at the last minute about a compromise that allowed the Johnsons to keep Sam, his wife has said.

Vietri said he doesn't think his marriage problems will affect his fight to get Sam -- whom he had with a girlfriend before he was married -- even though his wife has said publicly he wouldn't make a good father.

"It shouldn't affect it all," he said. "One thing has nothing to do with the other."

His attorneys accuse the Johnsons of encouraging Mrs. Vietri to allege abuse and adamantly deny the accusations.

"Allegations are just allegations until they are proven," said Martha Jane Patton, Vietri's attorney in the custody case.

Mrs. Vietri, 29, who works as a cook in Zephyrhills, went to the police days after she left Vietri Aug. 12. The Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney's Office continues to investigate the case.

State Attorney Bernie McCabe said that if his office believes a crime has been committed, it has a duty to prosecute cases -- such as this one -- whether or not an alleged victim wants to cooperate.

"If you can prove the case without the victim, it's your charge to go ahead," McCabe said. "The success rate isn't high, but we still do it."

The Johnsons' attorneys wonder whether Mrs. Vietri returned to her husband because he genuinely plans to work on his anger problem or because he intimidated her into reconciling.

"In the history of domestic violence, this is a pattern," said Anthony Marchese, another of the Johnsons' attorneys. "We see this on a regular basis."

The five-year adoption snarl began in 1996 when Sam's biological mother, Natasha Gawronski, signed newborn Sam over to an adoption agency and said she didn't know the father's identity. Police had charged Vietri with hitting Gawronski when she was pregnant, but prosecutors later dropped the charges after she refused to cooperate.

Gawronski and Vietri broke up during her pregnancy, and she told Vietri the baby died at birth. Vietri suspected his child was alive and filed for custody.

Lisenby ruled in 1998 for the Johnsons, but the Alabama Supreme Court overturned that decision, ruling that Sam should live with Vietri. But after reconsidering, the high court sent the case back to the judge earlier this year.

Sam, who has started kindergarten, met Vietri in February and has visited with him twice since.

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