A lawsuit against the Tucson Police Department over a decision by two officers to leave children with their father who later killed them has been dismissed by a Pima County Superior Court judge.
On March 9, 2006, Jamie Hallam asked police to help enforce a court order giving her custody of her children, Ariana and Tyler Payne. The police refused. Four months later, the kids were dead and their father, Christopher Payne, was subsequently arrested.
In a nine-page decision released Wednesday, Judge Carmine Cornelio said there was no evidence on that day "that there was a high probability that substantial harm would result from their failure to remove the children from (Christopher Payne's) custody and care."
In an e-mail to the Arizona Daily Star, Hallam said she was "sicken(ed) and saddened" by the decision and her children would still be alive if not for the officers' decision that day.
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"Where is the justice in Judge Cornelio's decision? I don't understand how the Police Department can violate a court order. ... Why do we even have signed court orders by judges if they are going to be blatantly disregarded?"
Ariana, 3, and Tyler, 4, were living with their mother on Jan. 20, 2006, when she agreed to let their father take them for a weekend visit, to get reacquainted after three years of estrangement. The visit was extended a few times with Hallam's permission.
Hallam says Payne began avoiding her in early February, and on March 9, 2006, she met with Tucson police Officers William Nutt and Rene Gomez outside Payne's apartment to get her children.
She showed the officers a signed court order saying she had full custody of the children and Payne didn't have any visitation rights because he had a history of substance abuse and domestic violence.
The officers found Payne living in a tidy apartment with food in the refrigerator and children who appeared fine. Payne told them Child Protective Services was investigating Hallam for drug use, and he gave them a document showing he had filed for temporary custody.
When the officers called state CPS, a supervisor confirmed Payne's story and they left the children with him.
Although the police say the CPS supervisor told them she thought it best the children stay with Payne, she disputes it. She says she told them to abide by whatever the court order stated.
On Feb. 18, 2007, Ariana's remains were found in a plastic tub in a trash bin at a storage unit on East Prince Road. Police believe Tyler's remains were probably missed inside the trash bin and ended up at a landfill.
Payne was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and multiple counts of child abuse. He is on Arizona's death row. His live-in girlfriend, Reina Gonzales, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and testified against Payne. She was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Hallam filed a lawsuit against the city of Tucson and CPS; CPS settled for $1 million in June 2008.
The lawsuit said the officers had a duty to remove the children from Payne because Hallam had a valid court order and gave no indication she was under the influence of drugs.
In his ruling, Cornelio pointed out that the first time there was any indication there was anything wrong in the Payne household was in mid-April when one of Payne's relatives said Ariana appeared "dirty and scrawny."
"Given the lack of temporal connection between the time of TPD's visit to Payne's apartment on March 9, 2006, and any evidence concerning the abuse and neglect, plaintiffs cannot establish causation between TPD's actions and the abuse of the children," Cornelio wrote.
Hallam said she wonders where the justice is for her two "beautiful children."
"It feels as though my heart has been ripped out of my chest while it was still beating and I am left to survive with this big gaping hole where it once was. My children are never going to rest in peace, and neither will I."
Contact reporter Kim Smith at 573-4241 or kimsmith@azstarnet.com
