The Missouri Supreme Court admonished a local lawyer after she posted on a website created to support legislation that would hold family court insiders liable in child custody and visitation disputes.
Attorney Evita Tolu wrote the legislation, Mikaela’s Law, which would remove immunity from all court professionals, including Guardians Ad Litem (GAL), in the name of 14-year-old Mikaela Haynes who allegedly committed suicide in 2018.
Tolu is representing the late teenager's mother, Cynthia Haynes, in federal litigation against Mikaela’s former GAL Jennifer Williams.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, Haynes sued Williams alleging that Williams failed to inform the Department of Family Services, law enforcement, and the court about allegations that Haynes’ soon-to-be ex-husband, Charles Haynes, was sexually abusing Mikaela.
Allyson Brown of the Osburn, Hynes, and Yates law firm, who worked on the case, filed a complaint against Tolu on April 27 with Missouri's Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel (OCDC).
"I'm not doing anything wrong," Tolu told the St. Louis Record. "I'm protecting a mother who already lost one child, and I was not going to let her lose another child to a convicted felon."
Charles Haynes, Mikaela's father, is currently incarcerated at the Farmington Correctional Facility in St. Francois County.
In a Dec. 18 letter obtained by the St. Louis Record, the OCDC admonished Tolu.
“On December 31st, 2021, during your legal representation of Cynthia Haynes, you posted a link to a website, www.mikaelaslaw.com, which has your name and contact information at the bottom,” wrote Attorney Marc A. Lapp, special representative for the disciplinary committee. “Based on your other social media posts, your promotion of this website is in support of a law you are sponsoring regarding GAL liability in child custody and visitation disputes. Within that website, however, are posts that impugn the integrity of opposing counsel and the judge in a grotesque fashion. There is a picture of a young woman who allegedly hanged herself and typed on the picture is text calling out your opposing counsel as 'rapists' and 'slimy'.”
The letter of admonition was issued under Rule 5.11 but does not prevent Tolu from continuing to work as a lawyer.
“This committee found that the violations were not of such a nature that further proceedings are warranted and is offering you a letter of admonition,” the committee concluded.
Cynthia K. Haynes v. Jennifer Williams is currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri where Tolu is asking Magistrate Abbie Crites-Leoni to compel Williams to disclose the GAL file pertaining to Mikaela Haynes.
"Plaintiff has made good faith attempts to resolve the dispute over Plaintiff’s discovery," Tolu wrote. "On September 22, 2022, Plaintiff’s and Williams’ counsel had a meet and confer discussion which was not successful. Williams’ counsel refused to produce Williams’ GAL files."
Williams is represented by Richard C. Wuestling, Susan M. Dimond, and Dustin L. Goldberger from the Roberts Perryman Law Firm in St. Louis.
When asked why Williams is not releasing the deceased child's GAL file to her mother, Cynthia Haynes, they did not respond but Dimond argued in a Nov. 23 brief that her client cannot share the GAL files with anyone without the consent of the juvenile and family court.