REYNOLDS’ DAUGHTER SENDS LETTER TO JUDGE
The daughter of former U. S. Rep. Mel Reynolds appears to be taking the blame for her father’s failure to appear in a federal courtroom last week.
That absence prompted U. S. District Judge John Darrah to issue an arrest warrant for Reynolds, who missed the court appearance to remain in South Africa at the side of his daughter, whom Reynolds said was facing spinal surgery and is possibly suffering from cervical cancer.
Now Marisol E. Reynolds appears to have written an open letter to the judge, sent to news outlets Monday morning. Mel Reynolds’ attorney, Richard Kling, could not immediately confirm its authenticity, but he said he advised her against such a move.
“I’ve told her not to do that,” Kling said.
The letter indicates Marisol Reynolds “pleaded” with her father to stay overseas because she had two recent bad reactions to her pain medication for scoliosis.
“Your Honor, on the 48th aniversity ( sic) of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I want to start out by saying that I deeply apologize for causing you to feel that your orders to my Father have been ignored,” the letter states. “My Dad had told me from the day he arrived the date he was required to be back. Please understand he had no intention of violating your order.”
The letter says Marisol Reynolds faces surgery and wants her father to accompany her to her next series of tests. It also takes another swipe at the media.
“I know there are those in the media that hate my father so much that they are too cynical to appreciate why my Dad chose to be with me,” Marisol Reynolds appears to write. “For them my Dad is just another deadline and just another opportunity to continue their negative narrative regarding my Dad.”
Never has the media reported “the great job my Dad did with raising the three of us after he became our custodial parent,” according to the letter.
Mel Reynolds announced in a news release last week that he would return from Africa to face federal tax charges. He made that statement a day after Darrah issued his arrest warrant.
He recited a litany of flaws in the “racist” federal criminal justice system that was forcing him to leave his daughter in her time of need. He faces four misdemeanor counts for failing to file tax returns from 2009 to 2012.
“The judge did not even consider my daughter’s devastating medical situation, it was only his rules that are set up by and enforced by this system that mattered,” Mel Reynolds wrote.
“So I must leave my child to face this alone, because the system excludes her because of her race as someone not to be concerned about.”
Despite the former congressman’s promise to return to the United States, Kling said Monday that he hasn’t heard from his client since late last week.
“I have no idea where he is,” Kling said.