In the longest hearing yet since the custody battle moved to Oklahoma, Baby Veronica's two sets of parents faced off in a Tulsa courthouse for more than six hours Monday.
The case has now moved to seven different courtrooms in half a dozen counties as the justice system tries to decide whether the child will stay in Oklahoma with her biological father or go back to South Carolina with her adoptive parents.
Monday's hearing, on the sixth floor of a state office building where the Court of Civil Appeals meets in Tulsa, came after the Oklahoma Supreme Court decided Friday to let Dusten Brown and his wife keep the girl for the time being while he challenges a decision to take custody away from him.
The court, however, has only temporarily blocked an order to give the girl to her adoptive parents, leaving open the possibility that the justices could send Veronica back to South Carolina even while appeals continue in Oklahoma.
Matt and Melanie Capobianco have court orders from both states giving custody to them, but Brown and the Cherokee Nation have vowed to "exhaust every legal option" before handing over the girl.
Over the weekend, as Veronica celebrated her fourth birthday, Cherokee Principal Chief Bill John Baker called the epic custody battle a test of tribal sovereignty.
Both Veronica and her biological father are members of the tribe, and Cherokee officials have promised to fight "to the end" to keep Veronica in Oklahoma, where she was born in 2009 before being adopted in South Carolina.
"They got Veronica out of Oklahoma by crook," Baker said in an online video of a speech that he gave in Texas. "There are big dollars at work."
The Oklahoma Supreme Court has decided that "it might be a good idea" to have a best-interest hearing before settling the custody dispute, Baker said.
Brown and the Cherokee Nation have been asking for such a hearing, but the court has not ordered one.
Like all the other hearings in recent weeks, Monday's was closed, and a gag order kept the attorneys from explaining what happened.
In previous statements, however, Brown's attorneys have argued that Veronica herself has a right to have her "best interest" considered before any final custody decision is made.
They have also suggested that the adoption process in 2009 didn't follow legal norms, especially because Veronica was removed from Oklahoma without her father's consent or knowledge.
The timing of the adoption may play a big part in the appeals.
The original adoption filing in South Carolina is dated Sept. 18, 2009, just three days after the birth.
South Carolina law requires that a child be "present within this state at the time the petition for adoption is filed," according to court records from that state.
The Capobiancos remained in Oklahoma with Veronica "about seven days" after she was born, according to the records.
The Capobiancos, meanwhile, likely will defend South Carolina's jurisdiction over the case, since the custody battle started there.
They can point to the "full faith and credit" clause of the U.S. Constitution, requiring one state to respect judicial proceedings in another state.
On Aug. 30 in Nowata County, District Judge Curtis DeLapp confirmed a court order from South Carolina, giving custody to the adoptive parents and demanding that Brown hand over the girl.
But later that same day, the Oklahoma Supreme Court temporarily blocked the order, giving Brown time to appeal the decision.
Four years ago, the Capobiancos arranged a private adoption with Brown's ex- fiancee and came to Oklahoma for the birth.
Celebrating her fourth birthday Sunday, Veronica has now spent roughly half her life with each family - the first two years with the Capobiancos in Charleston, S.C., and the past two years with the Browns in Nowata, an hour north of Tulsa.
Brown has said he was tricked into signing away his parental rights when he thought he was only agreeing to give custody to the birth mother.
He challenged the adoption in South Carolina, where the courts gave him custody in December 2011.
But the Capobiancos appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled this summer that South Carolina had misinterpreted a federal law in its original decision to give custody to Brown.
South Carolina then had to reconsider the case but didn't necessarily have to take custody away from Brown.
In July, however, the South Carolina Supreme Court gave legal custody back to the Capobiancos.
They came to Oklahoma last month, hoping to take Veronica back home with them.
Meanwhile, Brown is facing possible extradition to South Carolina to face a complaint of custodial interference, a felony that carries up to five years in prison.
His attorneys have said he has broken no law because he was under no obligation to obey the South Carolina court order while appealing the case in Oklahoma.
Summary of Oklahoma court actions
1. Nowata County Courthouse: South Carolina's court order to transfer custody had to be "domesticated" by an Oklahoma court, making it enforceable here. The case went to Nowata because Brown and Veronica live there. Decision in favor of the adoptive parents appealed to Oklahoma Supreme Court.
2. Cherokee County Courthouse: With Veronica staying with her grandparents on Cherokee Nation trust land in Tahlequah, the Capobiancos filed a "writ of habeas corpus" to have Brown and his family brought to court. They hoped to get an order to transfer custody immediately but instead agreed to enter mediation.
3. Sequoyah County Courthouse: Facing a felony warrant for custodial interference in South Carolina, Brown surrendered to authorities in Sequoyah County, apparently because a judge was on duty there to handle the bond arrangements. He faces an extradition hearing Oct. 3.
4. Cherokee Nation Courthouse: Before leaving the state for National Guard duties in July, Brown asked a tribal court to grant guardianship of Veronica to her stepmother and paternal grandparents. The Cherokee Nation has asserted jurisdiction because Brown and Veronica are members of the tribe.
5. Oklahoma Supreme Court: Brown and the Cherokee Nation are appealing the Nowata judge's decision to send Veronica back to South Carolina without a best-interest hearing.
6. Muskogee County Courthouse: For reasons not made public, the judge in Cherokee County removed herself from the case, and it was reassigned to a judge in Muskogee.
7. Court of Civil Appeals: It's not clear what kind of hearing was involved, but the two families met Monday for more than six hours in downtown Tulsa.
Michael Overall 918-581-8383
michael.overall@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Veronica parents in court
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