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The 48-year-old mother of six made headlines last week when she was jailed for contempt after opposing family reunification for her two youngest sons and their father, a former police sergeant who was charged July 29 with sexually assaulting three of their daughters and physically abusing one son.
Christopher Estoll, an attorney for 55-year-old Michael Hawkins, did not immediately respond to request for comment but has previously denied the accusations on his client’s behalf. In an Aug. 1 court filing, Estoll said the accusations were “not supported by evidence” and characterized Pickrel-Hawkins as a “not credible” witness who manipulated the couple’s children.
Hawkins, an Aurora, Colo., officer who in 2012 was hailed among the first responders to the deadly movie theater shooting in Aurora, remains free on bond with ankle monitoring. Pickrel-Hawkins, meanwhile, must report to weekend jail for seven weeks.
During Thursday’s rally outside the state Supreme Court, Pickrel-Hawkins said parents like her who are mired in custody battles following relationships marked by alleged domestic violence are silenced — “by gag orders, by going to jail, silenced to say anything else or they’ll get less time with their children.”
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According to an affidavit for Hawkins’s arrest, allegations of his abuse stretch back nearly two decades and include claims Hawkins repeatedly raped his daughter and sexually abused his adopted daughters from Pickrel-Hawkins’s previous relationship, groping them beneath their underwear. He is also accused of using police restraint tactics on the children and forcing his children to witness or participate in animal cruelty.
Colorado’s legislature has enacted some family court restructuring in recent years, including a bill passed last year that restricts the use of family reunification camps, or situations that isolate a child from their preferred or bonded parent to improve their relationship with an estranged parent.
Still, Froelich said Pickrel-Hawkins’s situation proves more changes are needed. Fighting the custody arrangements have put Pickrel-Hawkins deeply in debt and forced her to live in a domestic violence shelter with her two youngest children.
Pickrel-Hawkins told The Washington Post through a representative that she hoped sustained attention would remain on her case and others like it, and that the news media would “thoroughly investigate, stand up, and speak for those who have been wrongfully silenced and punished for protecting the innocent children that desperately need our protection most.”
Pickrel-Hawkins declined a phone interview Friday afternoon, indicating she would be spending the last hours of the day with her children before returning to jail.
Christopher Estoll, an attorney for 55-year-old Michael Hawkins, did not immediately respond to request for comment but has previously denied the accusations on his client’s behalf. In an Aug. 1 court filing, Estoll said the accusations were “not supported by evidence” and characterized Pickrel-Hawkins as a “not credible” witness who manipulated the couple’s children.
Hawkins, an Aurora, Colo., officer who in 2012 was hailed among the first responders to the deadly movie theater shooting in Aurora, remains free on bond with ankle monitoring. Pickrel-Hawkins, meanwhile, must report to weekend jail for seven weeks.
During Thursday’s rally outside the state Supreme Court, Pickrel-Hawkins said parents like her who are mired in custody battles following relationships marked by alleged domestic violence are silenced — “by gag orders, by going to jail, silenced to say anything else or they’ll get less time with their children.”
...
According to an affidavit for Hawkins’s arrest, allegations of his abuse stretch back nearly two decades and include claims Hawkins repeatedly raped his daughter and sexually abused his adopted daughters from Pickrel-Hawkins’s previous relationship, groping them beneath their underwear. He is also accused of using police restraint tactics on the children and forcing his children to witness or participate in animal cruelty.
Colorado’s legislature has enacted some family court restructuring in recent years, including a bill passed last year that restricts the use of family reunification camps, or situations that isolate a child from their preferred or bonded parent to improve their relationship with an estranged parent.
Still, Froelich said Pickrel-Hawkins’s situation proves more changes are needed. Fighting the custody arrangements have put Pickrel-Hawkins deeply in debt and forced her to live in a domestic violence shelter with her two youngest children.
Pickrel-Hawkins told The Washington Post through a representative that she hoped sustained attention would remain on her case and others like it, and that the news media would “thoroughly investigate, stand up, and speak for those who have been wrongfully silenced and punished for protecting the innocent children that desperately need our protection most.”
Pickrel-Hawkins declined a phone interview Friday afternoon, indicating she would be spending the last hours of the day with her children before returning to jail.