District Court Judge Dismisses Stay Motion in Giordano Custody Case

Durham, NC, June 08, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Attorneys for Alaina Giordano will ask the Court of Appeals for a stay after today’s decision by District Court Judge Nancy Gordon to dismiss a motion that would have allowed Giordano’s children to stay in their hometown pending the outcome of the appeal of a custody order. Relying on the case of Rosero v. Blake, 563 S.E.2d 248 (N.C. App. 2002) , Judge Gordon ruled that she did not have authority to grant a stay of the custody order and dismissed Ms. Giordano’s motion.

Giordano – the Durham mom who lost custody of her two children, Bud, 6, and Sofia, 11, in a controversial April 25 ruling that cited her cancer as a primary reason for the decision – has asked the Court of Appeals to revisit Gordon’s original custody ruling. The stay being sought by Giordano would prevent her children from being uprooted from her Durham home on June 17 – just nine days from now -- pending the final disposition of the appeal.

Gordon’s decision – rendered in a brief hearing in open court this morning – paved the way for Giordano to seek a writ of supersedeas from the Court of Appeals. Ms. Giordano’s attorneys are working on the necessary papers to set that process in motion.

Gordon’s original order cited Giordano’s illness -- she currently is battling Stage 4 breast cancer, but the condition is stable -- as the primary reason for the custody decision. Both Gordon and Dr. Helen Brantley, the custody evaluator on the case, acknowledged the difficulty they had in rendering the decision. Brantley wrote in her report that this “was not a clear cut relocation case,” that “she did not know for sure whether it would be better for the children to be with the Defendant” while battling her illness, and that the “decision was not foolproof.”

“We knew that it was a long shot that Judge Gordon would grant a stay on her own ruling, but I have great faith that the appeal will be successful and that my children will remain in Durham,” Giordano said today. “I want to thank the thousands of people worldwide who have sent expressions of support and who have been outraged at the prospect that cancer could cause them to lose custody of their children.

“I am going to continue to fight for what is right for my kids – and I will continue to fight this illness – so that I can continue to raise them and to be a loving and nurturing force in their lives for many years to come,” she said.

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