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War, War, War See other War, War, War Articles Title: ight to Keep Children Away From Killer Is Lost Fight to Keep Children Away From Killer Is Lost SEATTLE (AP) — Trisha Conlon’s motherly instinct seems reasonable: she does not want her teenage boys living with a woman who shot and killed her own daughters in their sleep 20 years ago. Enlarge This Image Manuel Valdes/Associated Press Trisha Conlon lost a court battle that will allow her two sons to live with their father and his first wife, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity of shooting her two children 20 years ago. But that will happen on Sunday because of a bizarre and convoluted custody dispute with her former husband, John P. Cushing Jr., a retired Marine fighter pilot. Mr. Cushing, who lives on Vashon Island south of Seattle, is back together with his first wife, Kristine, who used a .38-caliber handgun to kill their daughters, who were 4 and 8, at their home in Orange County, Calif., in 1991. The killings shocked the well-to-do community of Laguna Niguel. Many wondered how Kristine Cushing — who seemed like a “super-mom,” ferrying the girls to music, soccer, dance and the orthodontist as her husband was on military assignments overseas — could snap so tragically. She blamed a bad reaction to Prozac for the killings, was found not guilty by reason of insanity and served nearly four years in a mental institution. After a decade of psychiatric monitoring, Ms. Cushing received an unconditional release from the State of California in 2005, when the authorities determined that she posed no risk. But that has done little to soothe Ms. Conlon. After learning that Ms. Cushing had returned to Mr. Cushing’s home, Ms. Conlon went to court to alter the parenting plan for the two sons she had with him. “I just don’t understand how a person could have marital relations with the person who killed their children,” Ms. Conlon said. “It just doesn’t make sense to me.” But the court ruled against Ms. Conlon. Commissioner Leonid Ponomarchuk of King County Superior Court said that since the boys had been spending time with Ms. Cushing since 2008 with no problems — even if it was unknown to Ms. Conlon — there was not evidence of a change in situation that would warrant a change of the parenting plan. “I have to look at this dispassionately,” Commissioner Ponomarchuk said. “Would I ever want my children around her? I would say no. But that is an emotional reaction coming from a parent.” In court declarations, Mr. Cushing has emphasized that Ms. Cushing was considered temporarily insane, and thus “there was no crime committed.” “There was a horrible tragedy that resulted in the deaths of our two daughters,” Mr. Cushing wrote. Ms. Conlon and her lawyer, he added, “seem to feel that anyone who suffers from temporary insanity is incapable of recovering from that condition. Kristine’s doctors disagree.” “Kristine M. Cushing is doing well,” he wrote. “She is busy, enjoys life and loves me and my sons.” Mr. Cushing noted that he stored his guns at a friend’s home when he was not using them at a range. Ms. Cushing said in her own declaration that she loved Mr. Cushing’s sons “very much” and has “a good relationship with both of them.” Ms. Conlon lives in Silverton, Ore. She and Mr. Cushing married in 1995 and divorced in 2004. Their older son is 14 and lives with her during the school year, while the younger son, 13, lives with Mr. Cushing. The boys are together during holidays and vacations, which they split between their parents. Mr. Cushing remarried his first wife in 2005. Ms. Conlon suspected that Ms. Cushing might be back in Mr. Cushing’s life, but said she did not learn it for certain until two years later, when she received a call from a Washington State Child Protective Services worker. The worker told her that the agency had just received a call from Ms. Cushing’s therapist, who reported that she was living with children again. Ms. Conlon threatened then to go to court to seek a change in the boys’ parenting plan, court records show. Instead, Mr. Cushing told her not to worry about it; Ms. Cushing had decided to divorce him and move out. But the divorce was never finalized. Ms. Cushing moved back in. According to a court declaration by Mr. Cushing, that was in March 2008. For the next three years, Ms. Conlon said, she had no idea her boys were spending time with Ms. Cushing. Mr. Cushing deliberately concealed that fact, she claimed, by instructing the boys to refer to their stepmother by a different name — “Mrs. M.” Ms. Conlon said she became suspicious early this year that Ms. Cushing was back in the house. She arrived at Mr. Cushing’s home to drop off her older son for spring break and saw a painting by Ms. Cushing hanging on a wall. It was dated 2010. She and her lawyer, Todd DeVallance, hired a private investigator, who confirmed it. Ms. Conlon went to court in mid-June and was granted full custody of the boys for 30 days, at which time she would have to make a showing in court that the parenting plan should be permanently modified. The hearing was on Monday. Mr. DeVallance and Ms. Conlon are appealing the decision to the King County Superior Court judge assigned to the case. But they cannot get a hearing until Aug. 25. In the meantime, Ms. Conlon will drop the boys off with the Cushings on Sunday, she said.
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