I began to follow the Darren Mack case on Court TV last week after I came down with a pretty serious stomach flu.

The case is criminal charges filed against a Reno businessman for the murder of his estranged wife and shooting the family court judge who presided over the divorce case.

What interests me about the case is the husband’s claim of temporary insanity in regards to the shooting of the judge. I am looking forward to a good week of evidence presented by the defense on how the Beast Machine can drive you crazy.

There is little doubt of the truth of this contention, even if I doubt Mr. Mack’s assertion that he was driven to attempt the assignation of the judge from three hundred yards with a high powered rifle. He hit the judge, but the double plane glass shattered the bullet and saved the judge’s life.

But hopefully some truth will arise out this horror.

One of the first truths arising out of this mess is found in the first public statement made by the judge after the shooting. It is clear the judge is struggling with the horrific impact of his efforts to preside over this divorce and I give him credit for this.

"What we need to do and what we try to do in the Family Court is come up with a resolution where there is neither a winner nor a loser, but it is inevitable in many cases," he said. "So we need to work on our resolution opportunities."

            I am sorry, your Honor, but the Family Court’s efforts on this have backfired and helped create the Beast Machine that destroys thousands of families a year. You are arguing against the fundamental nature of the system you work in and actually making things worse.

            Within the Family Court system, this ‘neither a winner or a loser’ creates additional stress, not the reduction of stress.

            Take our case for an example. The Guardian Ad Litem removes Glen from Patricia’s care. A couple of months later State Protective Services removes Jessica and Montie from Patricia’s care. Six months after this, Family Court restores joint custody to Patricia, but leaves all actual decision making with me and allows Patricia only supervised visitation with her children. Nine months after this, Patricia is arrested on the only enumerated crime that results in termination of parental rights – the murder, attempted murder, or conspiracy to murder the other parent and the Family Court responds by awarding me ‘temporary’ full custody.

            During each one of these actions, the Beast Machine sought to avoid the appearance of Patricia losing or me winning. If you listen to the hearing on January 15, 2003 you would never guess the circumstances arising behind the hearing called for the sole purpose of addressing Patricia’s deteriorating mental health.

            Nothing is ever resolved in a world of a court system with no winners or losers. After two full custody evaluations, the psychologist made it clear that such evaluations would be a ongoing and now normal part of the children’s  lives. Indeed, Judge Jewell ordered a third evaluation in November of 2003 that I fought.

            And look at the letter Judge Jewell wrote Patricia in November of 2005, almost two years after Patricia’s arrest and almost two years with no contact with the children.

            “Upon your release from incarceration, you should file a Motion or have counsel file a Motion, to have a hearing scheduled to address time-sharing/visitation. Certainly, therapeutic intervention will be mandatory, due to the circumstances of the case, and also the lack of contact for a long period of time”

            Not only is Patricia allowed another shot at the apple, but let us look ahead to how we will reunite her and the children.

            Again, I argue it is this very lack of resolution, individualized by the Family Court system in the ‘no winners/no losers’ philosophy that adds to the stress. Neither parent is secure, and the children are left with chaos.

            I agree with the Reno judge about the no winner/no loser problem, but this is a symptom of the very system he is part of. As long as it is Mack v. Mack or Avery v. Avery  the Beast Machine makes it only worse by not declaring a winner.

            Of course, no winners, no losers translates into the family loss.