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Allexis Holmes, ex-wife of Kings player, sought justice in courts that set her up to fail

Allexis Holmes was set up to lose this case before it even started.

Holmes lost the custody battle for her son when she agreed with her ex-husband, Sacramento Kings center Richaun Holmes, to go to private arbitration. Richaun has millions of dollars, an expensive legal team, and the support of an NBA franchise deeply invested in maintaining his public image — and theirs.

A recent ruling in a Georgia court grants Richaun full custody of the couple’s 6-year-old son, a development that was triumphantly paraded around Sacramento by the Kings’ communications team. But there’s nothing to celebrate here, much less to gloat about.

Opinion

No one ever wins in custody disputes. But when the custody battle is between someone who is rich and someone who is not, one side is set up to lose. That’s what happened here; Allexis lost to a system that benefits the wealthy party. Private mediation is often recommended in family court, but according to documents available from the Superior Court of Riverside County for parents in the same situation as the Holmeses, it’s not a recommended process when the parties “lack equal bargaining power or have a history of domestic violence.” As the ex-wife of an NBA star, alleging child abuse, Allexis falls in both categories.

Private mediation is a system that plays out in secret, which is what this terrible dispute was when the Kings mysteriously ended Richuan Holmes’ season in March. There was no specific reason given, but as The Bee reported, he left the team because his ex-wife was seeking a restraining order in Sacramento.

Allexis claims Richaun is hiding behind a private court mediator whose ruling ultimately decided the fate of all three cases. Richaun has been paying for a private mediator in Los Angeles for years, Allexis claims.

By bringing her case to Sacramento and to a third court in Georgia, Allexis finally stepped out from beneath the shadow of a deal she erroneously agreed to when she thought she was helping Richaun’s career by keeping their custody battle quiet.

Meanwhile, because of that mediator’s decision, Allexis has been forced to live in the Sacramento area even though it is not her home. She has been forced to live in a city that idolizes her son’s father.

She pursued the case for a third time, in Georgia, not because she was trying to evade the California court system, but because that’s where she lives. After her story was made public, Allexis claimed she received threatening text messages from people she believes to be associates of her ex-husband, which prompted her to seek a third restraining order in Georgia.

The court in Fulton County, Ga., remanded her back to the private Los Angeles-based mediator, stating in documents that it was “disturbed by (Allexis Holmes’) apparent attempt to use the protections afforded to victims of domestic violence by this Court and the laws of this state to evade the Custody Order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, California.”

I am more disturbed that three courts failed to consider why a potential victim would do whatever it takes to get justice, including representing herself without a lawyer because she can no longer afford it.

The latest ruling granting Richaun full custody underscores how hard it is for domestic violence victims to find justice in the court system, and the desperate lengths they will go to get the outcome they seek.

Both the Sacramento court and the Georgia court have now questionably leaned on the rulings of a private mediator in Los Angeles rather than address the potential crimes that occurred in their jurisdictions. Moreover, the privately-hired mediator is erroneously referred to as an LA County Superior Court judge in the Georgia court documents — lending credibility to judgments that are much more complicated than they appear.

Public statements from Richaun’s lawyers have consistently sensationalized Allexis’ actions, presumably to gain ground in the court of public opinion. But, away from the spin, it’s clear Allexis is acting more in desperation than disrespect.

Perhaps most frustrating is that the court system could be doing much more for the Holmes family and families like them. Why not remand Allexis and Richaun to parenting classes? Allexis has said she simply wants Richaun to receive the help he needs to be a good father, but she cannot convince anyone that it’s necessary. Richaun still has not come up with a convincing argument as to why his son came back from a visitation at his home in Sacramento in February with a visible wound inflicted on his face. First, the excuse was the boy’s excema and now Allexis claims he’s said it was due to roughhousing.

I still believe Allexis Holmes. I hope that someday her child will understand how much his mother loved him and tried to protect him.

There must be a better way to treat people who may have been victimized, who don’t understand the legal complexities of family court, and who can’t afford someone to explain or navigate these complexities for them.

Allexis is one of the millions who go through the California court system every year and who struggle to find someone to listen to them. Meanwhile, these victims are terrified for themselves and their loved ones, and at the most vulnerable point in their lives.

Allexis Holmes was never going to win against the money and power trying to keep her silent.