Photo: Keith Srakocic/AP/Shutterstock
Leading Republican Senate candidate Sean Parnell has suspended his campaign after losing a custody fight in Pennsylvania court amid his estranged wife’s testimony that he was abusive.
Senior Judge James Arner ruled Monday that Laurie Snell, Parnell’s wife, will get primary physical custody and sole legal custody of the couple’s three children, ages 8, 11 and 12.
The ruling comes after Snellgave emotional testimonyin court accusing Parnell of choking her, slapping one of their kids and slamming a door so hard it hit a child’s face and left a bruise — an account he adamantly denied in his own testimony.
Snell also accused Parnell of holding her down and screaming at her in what she called “Sean-a-logues” as well as screaming fits of “rage” directed at their children.
But Snell was a “more credible witness,” the judge said in his ruling, according to multiple news reports.
“She provided factual details of each incident, including when they happened and what happened,” the judge wrote,according toThe Philadelphia Inquirer. “She testified in a convincing manner. Her testimony was not uncertain, confused, self-contradictory or evasive.”
The judge also heard testimony from the children behind closed doors with attorneys present.
The judge said he did not believe Parnell had been abusive in the last three-and-a-half years and said that both parents were “equally capable of providing adequate physical safeguards and supervision of the children,” theInquirerreports.
Still, the judge did believe that Parnell committed acts of abuse in the past and ruled that Parnell’s physical custody will be limited to three weekends a month.
Sean Parnell at a Butler County courthouse.Andrew Rush/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP
After the ruling was announced, Parnell said he was “devastated” and withdrew from his race.
“There is nothing more important to me than my children, and while I plan to ask the court to reconsider, I can’t continue with a Senate campaign,” he said in a statement on Monday,CNN reports.
Parnell was hoping to win the seat of fellow Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, who won’t run for re-election next year.
“My focus right now is 100% on my children, and I want them to know I do not have any other priorities and will never stop fighting for them,” his statement continued,according toThe Washington Post.
The judge cited Parnell’s candidacy as a factor in his decision. “Availability is a major factor in this case,” he wrote, referring to frequent travel required to campaign for office.
Parnell also “expects to win the election and to reside parts of the year in Washington, D.C.,” the judge also wrote, according to thePostreport.
Snell, on the other hand, has a flexible work schedule and intends to remain in the area where the children attend school, the judge noted.
Judge Arner further referred to Parnell’s courtroom demeanor and attire in the ruling. “He was dressed very casually for his appearances in court, in blue jeans and untucked plaid shirts, which did not show respect for the seriousness of the occasion,” he wrote, according to theTribune-Review. “While testifying, [Parnell] looked mainly in the direction of his attorneys and toward members of the news media in the back of the courtroom, rather than at me.”
source: people.com
