FAMILY COURT REFEREE MENDELSON: Witness status as thief, liar, prostitute not relevant to her credibility

Rockland County Family Court Referee Dean Richardson-Mendelson made a surprising ruling Tuesday, as he decided that the credibility of a paper server in a child custody case could not be questioned even though she was recently convicted of prostitution and theft, as well as accused of lying by other persons she has served papers.

The mother in the case, Susan Carrington, denied ever receiving court papers from the courier, and her lawyer brought up the recent arrests and prior complaints of dishonesty to question the server’s credibility. Referee Mendelson refused to hear the evidence of the server’s possible dishonesty, stating that ‘anybody can serve papers.’

The custody battle between John McNelis and Susan Carrington in Rockland County has earned national attention as the mother Carrington has been deprived of all visitation rights of her children for four years.

Carrington, who lives in Maryland, has accused the Rockland courts of unfairly favoring McNelis, a member of a well-connected Rockland family. The Rockland County Times sat in on a public hearing in the custody battle this week to observe the dynamics of the case directly.

Carrington has attracted the support of Dr. Michael Stone, a famous New York psychiatrist.