Category Archives: Crime

Child Custody, Crime, Divorce, General Legal, Opinion, Visitation

Texas-Style Parental Interference – When refusing to return your child crosses the line.

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Texas law makes it a crime to wrongfully interfere with a parent’s court-ordered time.

Texas Penal Code – PENAL § 25.03. Interference with Child Custody

(a) A person commits an offense if the person takes or retains a child younger than 18 years of age:

(1) when the person knows that the person’s taking or retention violates the express terms of a judgment or order, including a temporary order, of a court disposing of the child’s custody;

(2) when the person has not been awarded custody of the child by a court of competent jurisdiction, knows that a suit for divorce or a civil suit or application for habeas corpus to dispose of the child’s custody has been filed, and takes the child out of the geographic area…without the permission of the court and with the intent to deprive the court of authority over the child; or

(3) outside of the United States with the intent to deprive a person entitled to possession of or access to the child of that possession or access and without the permission of that person.

(b) A noncustodial parent commits an offense if, with the intent to interfere with the lawful custody of a child younger than 18 years, the noncustodial parent knowingly entices or persuades the child to leave the custody of the custodial parent, guardian, or person standing in the stead of the custodial parent or guardian of the child.

(c) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(2) that the actor returned the child to the geographic area…within three days after the date of the commission of the offense.

(c-1) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(3) that:

(1) the taking or retention of the child was pursuant to a valid order providing for possession of or access to the child; or

(2) notwithstanding any violation of a valid order providing for possession of or access to the child, the actor’s retention of the child was due only to circumstances beyond the actor’s control and the actor promptly provided notice or made reasonable attempts to provide notice of those circumstances to the other person entitled to possession of or access to the child.

(c-2) Subsection (a)(3) does not apply if, at the time of the offense, the person taking or retaining the child:

(1) was entitled to possession of or access to the child; and

(2) was fleeing the commission or attempted commission of family violence, as defined by Section 71.004, Family Code, against the child or the person.

(d) An offense under this section is a state jail felony…

What are the penalties for interference with child custody? Up to two years in jail, A fine of up to $10,000, and Loss of custody. 

There’s scuttlebutt that MS may consider a parental interference law as a crime in future sessions.

Right now the only real recourse is a contempt action in Chancery court in Mississippi. contempt doesn’t have the same “teeth” that a criminal offense would.

Matthew Thompson is a child custody lawyer in Mississippi and supports custody law changes that protect parents rights and common sense.

Bow Tie, Crime, Divorce, General Legal, humor, Irreconcilable differences, Marriage, Modifications, Opinion

An Open Invitation to Colab…

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Believe it or not, there are not many Mississippi Legislators that are lawyers!

Saturday Night Live compared the Mississippi Legislature to a hissing possum. It was funny…

“Whew!” you say? Not so fast. Our legislators make the laws. This may be the one instance more lawyers could help!!

There is proposed legislation with terminology, words, that do not mean what you (and our legislators) think they mean. Words matter. Legal words matter.

There’s a marked difference between May and Shall in the eyes of the law.

So, legislators, Please contact me at any time about any questions regarding proposed legislation. If i have an opinion I will share it. If I am unqualified to comment I will admit it, and if you ask that our discussion remain confidential I will honor that.

Let’s get this right the first time. Its too important to not to.

Matthew Thompson is a 20-year practicing lawyer, law school professor, author of the family law text book in Mississippi and not afraid to speak out and speak up. Contact him via email or phone. Matthew@ThompsonLaw.ms or (601)850-8000

Crime, General Legal, Opinion

Mississippi Senate Bill 2319: It’s a Crime to Discharge Genetic Material Without Intent to Fertilize!

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Mississippi Legislators are in the news again!

Senator Bradford Blackmon introduced a bill, known as the “Contraception Begins at Erection Act.”

This proposal makes it a crime “for a person to discharge genetic materials without the intent to fertilize an embryo”

Penalties escalate from a first offense warranting a $1,000.00 fine to the third and subsequent offenses warranting a $10,000.00 fine, per (dis)charge.

The law excepts donations/sales to facilities for future fertilization and for discharges with the use of contraceptive measures…

Blackmon provided WLBT News a statement, “All across the country, especially here in Mississippi, the vast majority of bills relating to contraception and/or abortion focus on the woman’s role when men are fifty percent of the equation. This bill highlights that fact and brings the man’s role into the conversation. People can get up in arms and call it absurd but I can’t say that bothers me.”

Senate Bill 2319

AN ACT TO ENACT THE CONTRACEPTION BEGINS AT ERECTION ACT; TO DEFINE TERMS; TO PROVIDE THAT IT SHALL BE UNLAWFUL FOR A PERSON TO DISCHARGE GENETIC MATERIAL WITHOUT THE INTENT TO FERTILIZE AN EMBRYO; TO PROVIDE FOR CRIMINAL PENALTIES; TO PROVIDE CERTAIN EXCEPTIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

     BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

     SECTION 1.  (1)  This section shall be known and may be cited as the “Contraception Begins at Erection Act.”

     (2)  It shall be unlawful for a person to discharge genetic material without the intent to fertilize an embryo.

     (3)  Upon conviction of a violation of this section, a person shall be fined:

          (a)  One Thousand Dollars ($1000.00) for a first offense;
          (b)  Five Thousand Dollars ($5000.00) for a second offense; and

          (c)  Ten Thousand Dollars (10,000.00) for a third or subsequent offense.

     (4)  This section shall not apply to the discharge of genetic material:

          (a)  Donated or sold to a facility for the purpose of future procedures to fertilize an embryo; and

          (b)  Discharged with the use of a contraceptive or contraceptive method intended to prevent fertilization of an embryo.

     SECTION 2.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2025.

Clearly, this is not a serious bill and was done to generate discussion.

Matthew Thompson is a family law and civil litigation attorney in Mississippi and keeping an eye on the 2025 Legislative session.

Crime, General Legal, Opinion

Hacked, Cloned, Spoofed and Phished…

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The internet is truly the wild west of modern day society. Social media, electronic communications and instant access have made daily life easier and more painful!

Hacked= use a computer to gain unauthorized access to data in a system.

Cloned=cloning  the process of copying the contents of one computer hard drive to another disk or to an “image” file. 

Spoofed= Spoofing is a type of scam in which a criminal disguises an email address, display name, phone number, text message, or website URL to convince a target that they are interacting with a known, trusted source. Spoofing often involves changing just one letter, number, or symbol of the communication so that it looks valid at a quick glance. For example, you could receive an email that appears to be from Netflix using the fake domain name “netffix.com.”

Phishing= the fraudulent practice of sending emails or other messages purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.

I have been a victim twice in the last 6-months!

6 months ago my Facebook was hacked. The hacker, from exotic Thailand, began attempting to login multiple times and then managed to change the recovery email to their own. Facebook, clearly confused that I may be in Thailand, allowed my new friend access and allowed them to be me! They immediately sent 100s of friend requests and did mainly other mildly annoying things, but no real damage. Or so I thought…

It turns out what the hacker was doing was buying ads for some dumb game/virus scam. Even after I was able to recover my account I was unaware that my Thai-buddy purchased Facebook ads with my credit!

Facebook sent me a notice of how my ad campaign was going. I advised Facebook that I had no such campaign. Turns out I had 3! One active and 2 in the hopper. I was able to end the current ad and delete the future ads, with minimal actual out of pocket expense to me. When I reported this to Facebook, they stated they reviewed the campaign and it all looked legit so I could not get my money back. Whomp-whomp.

However, I was able to regain control, detach a payment source and ultimately minimize the harm. It wasn’t super easy or straight forward and I felt as if Facebook thought I was up to something as opposed to the Thai-user.

Well, this week, my email account was hacked. This time my friend traveled to Lagos, Nigeria. They began login attempts at 6 in the morning and gained access at 2 in the afternoon. Now why Outlook doesn’t think every attempt to login to my email from Nigeria isn’t suspect is beyond me. A review of “My Activity” shows numerous logins from good ‘ol Madison, Mississippi for years and then a few hours later Nigeria!

Outlook’s assumption? I must be in Nigeria and need access. And I forgot my long-in and password… The Nigerian interloper gained access for a few minutes, sent out 180 emails with an attachment that looked like a Word download of a Bed Bath and Beyond Coupon and I immediately started getting calls, texts, and emails asking “Is this legit?“

As I responded as fast I could “No!” The hacker was responding “Yes. Please download.” !!! The hacker then started deleting my sent mail so I could not warn all persons it was sent to. I was finally able to wrestle back my email and changed the credentials to a password no human can ever remember…

This hack made less sense to me, but it turns out they targeted a law firm in the hopes of getting access to the lawyer’s trust/escrow account. They failed. This time.

Just for fun, the Hacker also implemented a “Rule” within my Email that rerouted all incoming messages to a subfolder that was previously never used. It took an expert diagnosis to solve that conundrum and the explanation of why incoming messages were rerouted was so that I would quit responding to persons that it was a scam.

This was also during the Snowapocolpyse of 2024. Perfect timing.

So what are the takeaways? Have some good antivirus software on your computer. Have some good passwords that are hard to guess. Have a recovery email go somewhere that you will have access to it. Get a credit card that is exclusively for online purchases. Get a bank account, again, solely for online activity. This will not prevent any hacking, but it will minimize the damage.

Matthew Thompson is a family law attorney in Mississippi and cautions you to be careful with downloads, uploads and computer users from Thailand and Nigeria.

Appeal, Child Custody, Child Support, Crime, Divorce, General Legal, Opinion

What Can You Do When the Judge Violates the Law?

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Judges swear an oath to uphold the Constitution, to follow the law, and apply it without prejudice or bias. Most do this very difficult task with tact and professionalism. Some do not. The Code of Judicial Conduct is intended to establish standards for ethical conduct
of judges.

So what do you do when your Judge violates the law? Sometimes it’s a judgment call and not a violation of the law. In these circumstances you can file a Motion for New Trial and/or an Appeal.

But what about when the judge clearly violates the law? Can you sue the Judge? Usually, no. Judges enjoy what is known as Judicial Immunity that protects them from civil liability for violating the law. If the actions are criminal there could be penalties, but typically not for civil violations.

What else can be done? Contact Mississippi Judicial Performance. Judicial performance is an entity created by the Mississippi Constitution that seeks;

To enforce the standards of judicial conduct,
To inquire into judicial liability and conduct,
To protect the public from judicial misconduct and disabled judges, and
To protect the judiciary from unfounded allegations.


All proceedings before the Commission are of a civil nature, not criminal, as the​ purpose of the Commission is to be rehabilitative and educational as well as disciplinary.

Judicial Complaint Form

Any citizen, litigant, attorney, law enforcement official, judge, public official, or other individual who has knowledge of possible judicial misconduct may file a complaint with the Commission. Complaints may also be filed anonymously. Additionally, the Commission may file a complaint on its own motion based upon matters it learns of in other ways, such as from mass media and information obtained during the course of an investigation.

All complaints must be submitted to the Commission in writing. The Commission does not accept oral complaints. You may use a complaint form or write a letter to the Commission. A complaint form filed with the Commission should be typewritten or printed so that it is easily readable.

Matthew Thompson is an attorney in Mississippi and knows most Judges try to do it right…

Child Custody, Child Support, Crime, General Legal

TN Law Makes DUI Driver of Fatal Wreck Pay Child Support

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“Ethan’s, Hailey’s, and Bentley’s Law“1 requires a sentencing court to order a defendant who has been convicted of vehicular homicide due to intoxication, and in which the victim of the offense was the parent of a minor child, to pay restitution in the form of child maintenance to each of the victim’s children until each child reaches 18 years of age and has graduated from high school.

Cecilia Williams , grandmother of, Bentley Williams, 5, and Mason Williams, 3, is raising her grandchildren after their parents were killed April 13, 2021, in a drunk-driving accident in Missouri.

Since her family members’ deaths, Williams has worked to get legislation called Bentley’s Law passed in Tennessee and several other states, including attempts in Missouri, that requires those convicted of driving while intoxicated to pay compensation to families affected by a drunk-driving death.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed the bill on May 25, 2022.

Along with Tennessee, Bentley’s Law has also been introduced in Missouri, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, Alabama, South Carolina and Oklahoma. Vermont, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Kansas, Arkansas, Delaware, Wisconsin, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Texas and Utah have stated plans to introduce similar laws during 2023 sessions.

David G. Thurby, 26, of Fenton, TN was charged and convicted of three counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal accident in Byrnes Mill, Missouri.

After the fatal accident on April 13, 2021, Thurby was arrested and told a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper that before the crash, he had seven shots of Crown and water, and a preliminary breath test showed Thurby’s blood-alcohol content was .192 percent, more than twice the legal limit, according to the probable-cause statement in the case.

A jury found Thurby guilty following a trial in front of Jefferson County Circuit Judge Victor Melenbrink.

In March, Judge Melenbrink sentenced Thurby to four years in prison on each of the three counts. Two of the counts are to be served consecutively with the other to be served concurrently, meaning Thurby is to serve eight years in prison.

Williams has set up a Facebook group called “Bentley’s Law” to share updates about the law’s progress in each state.

Matthew Thompson is Child Support lawyer in Mississippi and supports a law such as this in Mississippi.

  1. The law is named after children whose parents were killed in crashes caused by drunk drivers.
Crime, General Legal, humor

Legal Citation of the Decade: Madison the City, an Old Scandal and FOUL language…

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A recent decision ended the litigation between the Estate of Mark Mayfield vs. The City of Madison. It was a sordid affair involving the Cochran nursing home scandal, a hotly contested U.S. Senate race, a tragic death and multiple twists that prove time and again that truth is stranger than fiction.

You can read the full Order here and see a myriad of comments from legal scholars that post to the Blog; Jackson Jambalaya…

Today’s post just focuses on one quote from Federal Judge, Carlton Reeves’s Opinion.

“At the third and final step, the Mayfields must come forward with evidence that a jury could use to conclude that the City’s probable cause was, for lack of a better term, bullshit. See generally HARRYG. FRANKFURT, ON BULLSHIT (2005) (attempting to define the term). The questions at step three are supposed to be tailored to the particular circumstances of the case…”

“…In this case, the framework suggests that we should ask a series of questions. Did the investigation follow the evidence to its targets, or did the police “round up the usual suspects? ”Was there anything unusual about the timing or the manner of the City’s investigation? Is there any other case where the City Attorney met with the District Attorney and the investigators everyday to discuss charges and be involved in how those charges would proceed? Were persons who engaged in similar conduct also arrested, or were they let off the hook because of more agreeable political beliefs? See Nieves, 139 S. Ct. at 1727.An examination of the evidence adduced in this case satisfactorily answers these questions. Instead of rounding up the most vocal McDaniel supporters, City investigators followed the evidence from Kelly to Mary to Mayfield. The police were given free rein to conduct their investigation as they saw fit, without direction from the Mayor, a Cochran supporter. There is no evidence that before the Rose Cochran incident, the City of Madison was itching for an excuse to go after McDaniel supporters. And there is no evidence of differential treatment of McDaniel and Cochran supporters. As an example, there is no evidence that Cochran supporters entered a McDaniel relative’s home in Madison, after which the City refused to prosecute them.”

It’s not often you see Bullsh*t attempt to be defined in a judicial opinion.

Matthew Thompson is a civil litigation/family law attorney and “LOL-ed” when reading this Opinion.

A Picture is Worth a Decillion Words…Mississippi Politics; Cochran vs. McDaniel
A Picture is Worth a Decillion Words…Mississippi Politics; Cochran vs. McDaniel
Crime, Divorce, General Legal

Divorce Court vs. Criminal Court

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Sometimes divorcing parties act like criminals, but Divorce Court is NOT Criminal Court (typically).

Divorce court, a.k.a. Chancery Court, is a civil court. The Court’s function is to legally divorce parties that are entitled to be divorced and divide property. The Court has the authority to deal with and punish conduct that is violative of its Orders or disruptive conduct that occurs directly in its presence. Other than those instances it is not a punitive Court. You typically are not punished for marital fault…

Criminal court, which can be Circuit, County, Municipal, or Justice, among others, can punish. These Courts have prosecutors whose job is to prove the accused committed a crime/violated a law. The Judge or a jury determines if the matter was proven and a punishment, including; incarceration, fines, and other remedies.

However, sometimes these can relate or overlap. Conduct that could serve as grounds for divorce, such as domestic violence, is also a crime. The Court’s are independent of one another and you can be punished in Criminal Court and divorced in Chancery Court over the same facts.

Interestingly, your right to plead the fifth, invoking the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution can be done in both Courts. While it cannot be used against you in Criminal Court, it can be used to make an adverse inference in Chancery Court. So, if you are accused of adultery/habitual fornication in Criminal Court, which IS a crime in Mississippi, you may invoke the fifth and the prosecutor must prove a violation of the law by beyond a reasonable doubt, however in Divorce Court, while you may invoke the fifth, the Court can treat that as an adverse inference/admission and could find such to be enough to rise to clear and convincing evidence of adultery. Confused yet?

Divorce Court and Criminal Court are different animals, with different standards and different outcomes. However, all are serious and your rights may be infringed if the Court determines they should be.

Matthew Thompson is a Divorce Court lawyer and encourages those charged with a crime to confer with an experienced Criminal Defense attorney.