Custody feud exposes system flaws
Relatives wrestle for 4 young children of couple killed in Orange Mound home
A ringing house phone jolted retiree George England and his wife, Dujuna, from their sleep one morning this spring. The caller’s words were jarring: their daughter and son-in-law had been shot. Danielle and James Alexander were dead.
Dujuna ran through the house shrieking and wailing.
George England hurriedly dressed and shouted for his wife to get ready, too. They had to check on their daughter’s four young kids. Were the children OK? Where were they?
The Alexanders’ oldest, a chatty 7-year-old girl, woke up later than usual for school that Thursday morning, finding it odd the sun had risen before her mom flipped on the light and, as usual, rousted them with a silly “wake up” song. The secondgrader darted into the living room, finding her parents’ bodies on the couch. When she couldn’t wake them and saw blood, she called 911, then an adult cousin who, in turn, called the grandparents.
Now, nearly seven months later, Shelby County prosecutors are preparing their case against an admitted gang member and two other suspects who remain jailed on first-degree murder and theft charges in the April 24 shootings. A few blocks away, behind closed doors in Shelby County Juvenile Court, the orphaned children remain at the heart of a second courtroom battle, a custody dispute between relatives that exposes flaws in a system designed to protect the most vulnerable children.
An investigation by The Commercial Appeal found a Juvenile Court magistrate initially placed the two girls, now ages 3 and 8, and their brothers, ages 4 and 6, with the grandparents, unaware Dujuna England once lost custody of her own children due to a crack cocaine addiction. The 49-year-old grandmother told authorities she’s remained drug free for eight years and was willing to be tested, but no one has asked for a drug screen, she said.
Magistrate Sheldon McCall then sent the children to live with the cousin, Tracey Whitaker, designating her as the permanent legal guardian, unaware she lived with a registered sex offender. Even after learning Whitaker’s “paramour” was a convicted rapist, McCall left the children in the home, the newspaper found.
The cousin’s boyfriend is classified as a violent offender who must report to Memphis police investigators quarterly, according to police. However, Tennessee’s sex offender law allows him to live with children, even other people’s kids, because his victim was an adult. State law does restrict all offenders from picking up children who aren’t their own from school or taking them to a public park, day care or playground or living within 1,000 feet of those kidfriendly locations.
During a phone interview Monday, the cousin’s boyfriend, a 47-year-old over-the-road truck driver, said he lives in the home and is helping raise the children. Because the address and utilities are in his name, the newspaper is withholding it to keep the children’s address private.
The grandparents are appealing the magistrate’s ruling, seeking to regain custody. A new hearing before a different judge is pending.
Cases of dependency and neglect are private, by state law, so the newspaper was denied access to the case file and a recent hearing. However, audio recordings of four hearings in this case, part of the official court record, were obtained by the newspaper and provide a rare glimpse at how children’s fates can be hurriedly decided.
In this case, workers with the state Department of Children’s Services and the guardian ad litem — an attorney appointed by the court to represent the children’s best interests — either didn’t do thorough background checks or didn’t inform the magistrate of their findings. McCall didn’t know about Dujuna England’s past drug addiction until an Aug. 25 hearing, two months after he sent the children to live with the grandparents.
And when McCall decided to shift custody to the cousin, he didn’t know she shared a home with a sex offender. That was revealed only after the grandparents hired a private investigator to observe the cousin’s movements for a week.
McCall cited the confidentiality of dependency and neglect cases and declined to comment.
His boss, Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael, said ethical and legal restrictions barred all parties from discussing the custody battle, but Michael agreed to explain a judge’s role in these types of cases.
Judges are “neutral fact finders,” barred by law from conducting their own investigations, he said.
“Any judge, whether that is me or any of my magistrates, can only rule on the evidence presented in court, period,” Michael said Wednesday. “I can’t, as a judge, mine for evidence. It’s unethical.”
Instead, DCS workers and guardians are charged with conducting investigations and presenting evidence to the court.
In this case, despite at least four hearings in the nearly seven months since the murders, it’s unclear if McCall was ever told about the rest of the boyfriend’s violent criminal history.
Whitaker’s boyfriend’s listing on the state’s Sex Offender Registry and some details about other violent crimes that sent him to prison could have been discovered in online searches that take less than a minute and are free and available to the public.
The boyfriend didn’t want to discuss his arrest history, which spans a decade. His criminal case files, which date back to 1996, include allegations he shot a man, left paralyzed from the waist down; raped, beat, choked and threatened to kill his estranged wife, who had to be hospitalized; and beat a former girlfriend, waving a gun and threatening to kill the woman and stabbing her dog in the back with an ice pick. He told officials the girlfriend was the aggressor, pulling a knife in an argument that started over her children not cleaning up.
He pleaded guilty to reduced charges in each case. He served four years of a 10-year prison sentence for spousal rape, sexual battery and aggravated assault. Released in 2005, he was rearrested a year later in another domestic violence case. He pleaded guilty in 2007 to assaulting a girlfriend, court records show, and spent two days in jail, agreeing to a $500 fine.
“The past is the past,” he said, adding he has been blamed for things he didn’t do. He said he earns a good living, is engaged to Tracey Whitaker and will “most definitely” be a good influence as he helps raise the children.
“Whatever I have to do, I do — financially and morally — for them, to make sure they’re OK,” he said.
Veteran attorney Ray Glasgow, who isn’t involved in this case, said it’s not uncommon in a county brimming with dependency and neglect cases for children to be placed in homes that haven’t been thoroughly vetted.
“This is not unusual, not something weird that happened and fell through the cracks,” said Glasgow, who has represented children or parents in Memphis child custody cases for a decade.
“We all have the goal of protecting these children and families, but we’ve kind of lost our way for how to do it.
“We’ve cut a lot of corners and run these things through quickly ... There’s no excuse for it.”
GRANDPARENTS' PLAN
When James, 26, and Danielle Alexander, 23, were murdered, their parents came together to map out a future for the four grandchildren, agreeing on everything from custody and visitation to Christmas layaway.
“When we stepped up to the plate as grandparents, we stepped up together,” said James Alexander’s father, Jerry Alexander, a 54-year-old widower.
Alexander and the Englands had known each other for eight years, developing a mutual respect.
Dujuna England, a homemaker who said she overcame her addiction to crack about eight years ago, and George England, 68, a Vietnam Army veteran and retired over-the-road trucker, sought custody with the backing of the paternal grandfather. The trio headed to court in June, less than nine weeks after the murders, as a united front.
“I didn’t know we needed a lawyer,” said Alexander, a handyman by day who cleans doctors’ offices at night. “We were going in to court as respectable, hardworking grandparents who can provide for the grandkids.”
Alexander said it was “shocking” to learn Tracey Whitaker, a distant cousin related to his deceased wife, filed a petition seeking custody.
“I felt like I was speaking up for my side of the family,” he said.
Whitaker, second cousins with the children’s murdered father, had shared shopping trips and a special bond with the oldest child, relatives said, while maternal grandparents Dujuna and George England focused on discipline and religion.
After calling 911 the day of the murders, the secondgrader called Whitaker, a switchboard operator at WREG-TV Channel 3. She declined to comment when contacted by the newspaper.
hen the Englands rushed from their Whitehaven neighborhood to the crime scene in Orange Mound, police had already given the children toWhitaker. The Englands, in shock over their daughter’s murder, said they were confused when an officer told them the children were with the closest living relative. Someone from the Alexander family told the Englands a paternal cousin might have picked up the children.
The Englands said hours passed before they heard fromWhitaker, whom, they claim made them wait until the day after the murder to see the children and limited the visit to 15 minutes. The Englands called the state Department of Chil-
dren’s Services, thinking ,the agency would quickly bring the children to them to raise.
DCS invited both sides of the family to a child and family team meeting the day after the murder and decided to send the children to live with the grandparents while launching an investigation, which is routine.
The department ordered criminal background checks and fingerprint testing on the Englands, looking at their financial records and dropping by unannounced to evaluate living conditions.
During a June 23 hearing hearing in Juvenile Court, a DCS worker said investigationshome of Whitaker’s -and the Englands’ showed that “both homes were appropriate,” according to -recording of that session.
The department recommended McCall leave the children with the Englands, however, citing concerns -about “the background” of the cousin’s “paramour.” During the 29-minute hearing, a DCS representative didn’t elaborate, neither explaining that the cousin’s
boyfriend was a registered sex offender nor describing convictions. - his other felony a The magistrate didn’t ask. e McCall awarded the grandparents temporary custody but reversed that decision two months later.
During an Aug. 25 -hearing, attorney Sharon G. Lichliter, serving as -guardian ad litem, listed several concerns about the Englands. She said the ,grandparents subjected the two oldest children to a 90-minute ride on a day care bus to school, a routine the grandparents said their daughter began and they kept in place after her edeath. Lichliter also pointed n to four missed counselingthe two e sessions to help oldest children cope with the murders. d Lichliter told the magistrate that the grandmother lost custody of her children — including the children’s mother, who was then a teen — in 2004 in Alabama. England explained -that she regained custody in 2007 after moving back to Memphis and passing a series of drug screens. During a phone interview, she said she recently agreed to more random screens but was never tested.
McCall asked a DCS representative: “Were y’all aware of this? And yet you felt comfortable for the kids to go there when you were before me the last time?”
A DCS worker told McCall the department opted to recommend placing the children with the Englands over Whitaker because of the boyfriend’s history.
But DCS’ recommendation shifted during the August hearing, after Lichliter favored the cousin, citing concerns about the missed counseling sessions and discord between the Englands and the cousin. She said one example of the Englands’ lack of cooperation with paternal relatives, their refusal to allow the two oldest children to go with Whitaker to participate in a children’s fashion show on the Englands’ designated weekend.
The DCS worker told the magistrate Lichliter had conducted a “thorough investigation,” but the guardian never mentioned the cousin lived with a sex offender.
The magistrate also asked a Memphis Child Advocacy Center counselor, who treated the children, if she thought “Ms. Whitaker” — referring to the cousin, Tracey Whitaker — could meet the children’s emotional needs. The counselor began to say “I can’t really, I haven’t had much interaction,” but the magistrate interrupted, “The emotional needs?”
The counselor replied, “Yes, the emotional needs, yes.”
But the person the counselor observed twice with the children was Monique Whitaker, the cousin’s daughter, according to the audio recording of the hearing. If the counselor met with Tracey Whitaker, she didn’t mention it.
The counselor said she hadn’t spent much time with “the Alexanders,” meaning the Englands, but said the oldest child wasn’t happy living with them.
The Englands spoke for a combined total of less than two minutes and Jerry Alexander, who repeatedly tried to speak up, was never asked why he thought the Englands should get custody over a cousin from his side of the family.
Thirtyfour minutes into the hearing, the magistrate announced he was ready to rule after interrupting the guardian and asking her to “jump to the end,” because “this has gone on.”
McCall told the Englands, “I think you’ve done wonderful. You’ve taken them on trips, you’ve kept them busy. You did those things, but that emotional side, that trauma that I need to be addressed, I have deep concerns about whether you’ve met those needs.
“You don’t take them out of town when you know they have a counseling session.”
He said the cousin has a closer bond with the children and was the first relative the oldest child called after the murders.
McCall set up visitation schedules for all three grandparents, allowing them to keep the children certain weekends and a week during summer break, but he awarded permanent custody to Tracey Whitaker. The grandparents were audibly shocked, with George England stuttering and Jerry Alexander immediately asking how they could appeal.
“Our whole world was, whoa, just turned upside down,” Dujuna England said. “We lost our daughter and then lost the kids. No one should have to suffer that much loss in one year.”
We all have the goal of protecting these children and families, but we’ve kind of lost our way for how to do it.” ray glasgow, attorney
GRANDPARENTS REGROUP
The three stunned grandparents quickly pooled resources to hire an attorney and a private investigator to learn more about the cousin’s living arrangements.
All three said they were shocked and disheartened to learn Whitaker was living in a southeast Memphis house with a sex offender. The trio said they assumed the magistrate would immediately remove the children from the home — the address publicly listed as his primary address on the state Sex Offender Registry.
The Englands’ attorney, Juliet Hill-Akines, filed a petition asking the magistrate to remove the children from the cousin’s home and a hearing was held Sept. 3, nine days after the cousin was given permanent custody.
However, Hill-Akines didn’t provide the judge with certified court or law enforcement records or subpoena officials with the TBI or Memphis police to prove the cousin’s boyfriend was on the registry and listed the same address as the cousin.
McCall asked Whitaker if it was true that her “paramour” was on the registry. She confirmed it.
The magistrate replied, “I should have known that. That was never brought to my attention.”
McCall told the cousin, “He can’t go around the children. You need to let me know. It’s either him or the children. Which is it?”
Whitaker burst into tears, with someone asking for tissues. During the hearing, she never made a choice. Instead, she said her boyfriend was an over-theroad truck driver who is out of town, “He does not reside with me.”
The grandparents’ attorney told McCall. “He not only resides there, sleeps there, he’s the one transporting the girls, your honor.”
McCall decided not to move the children and instead issued a restraining order barring the cousin’s boyfriend from living with the children.
“Without knowing that, we placed custody with Ms. Whitaker,” McCall said. “But now that the court knows it and we admonish her. What I don’t want to do is cause more trauma to these kids. They’ve been through enough.
“And what we’re trying to do is keep that trauma down,” he said. “I’ve made my decision.
“I think there’s a remedy out there, as I’ve said, without me having to pick up these kids and move them, is that restraining order.”
It was unclear when DCS workers or Lichliter learned about the boyfriend’s history because the magistrate didn’t ask.
During a second hearing in September, the children’s guardian ad litem filed a petition asking the magistrate to remove the restraining order and allow the children to live in the home with the sex offender. She brought a Memphis police sergeant to court to testify that state law allows it because the rapist’s victim was an adult.
McCall dismissed the restrictions on Whitaker’s boyfriend.
Dujuna England later said, “They took children from a place where they were well taken care of. He can’t be around a school, can’t be around a day care or a park,” she said, referring to the cousin’s boyfriend. “It’s crazy.”
Jerry Alexander said the boyfriend’s violent history, while against adults, still concerns him.
“That didn’t make me feel any better,” the paternal grandfather said of learning the sex offenses were spousal rape and sexual battery. “It’s a lack of character. How can you trust the person?”
Whitaker’s boyfriend said he has nothing to do with the custody battle though he does live in the home with the Alexander children and helps provide for them.
“I’m just innocent in this,” he said. “Whatever they did to have them placed (in his home) that’s on them. That doesn’t have anything to do with me.”
He said he has six adult children, is a taxpayer who owns his own truck and makes “excellent money.”
“I do what I have to do for my children, along with everybody else’s kids,” he said. “I do whatever it is that it takes for the kids to grow up to be excellent. That’s what I do and that’s it. And for them not to make mistakes or any type of mistakes that I’ve made or anybody else has made.”
The boyfriend said no one was supposed to discuss the custody case and hung up at Whitaker’s direction.
Hill-Akines, the Englands’ attorney, and Lichliter didn’t return calls and the DCS child protective services investigator said she couldn’t comment. State law blocks attorneys and all parties from disclosing details about dependency and neglect cases. And in this custody dispute, McCall put a gag order in place, telling the parties they could be jailed or lose visitation. All three grandparents said they’re willing to risk going to jail to get the children out of the home and to let other residents know about their court saga.
“They think you’ll have to do whatever the magistrate says because you don’t have money,” Alexander said. “A lot of people don’t have the means to go out and get a lawyer.”
Dujuna England said her daughter had told her that if anything ever happened, Danielle wanted her parents to raise the children and keep them together.
“I think they didn’t think we’d fight so hard for the children, but these are my daughter’s children,” she said. “We want to keep our word. Then she’ll have some peace.”
The three grandparents said they never considered giving up and will appeal in Circuit Court if the children aren’t removed from the cousin’s care during the appeal in Juvenile Court.
“They wronged us and wronged these kids,” George England said. “They put them in danger. I’m gonna keep fighting. Somebody’s got to be held accountable.”