15 November 1995

Dear Mr. Lupia:

I got your letter regarding your concerns this Monday. I also wanted you to know that I will be submitting some more background material you may find useful in your evaluation. I had meant to do this sooner; but my time has been consumed dealing with the issue of testing. I hope that we can meet one more time after you have had a chance to review what I send you -- I hope to be able to get it ready this weekend. I would have called you on this, but I know you get busy, and I wanted to make sure you got a complete message.

Honestly, I was surprised when I read your letter. Especially the concerns about the disruption for Domenic in meeting another psychologist. I did want to let you know that he has not met Dr. Black yet; the process has just started -- Adrianne and I had our initial interviews with her. The next step is meeting Domenic.

I want stability for Domenic. I have been about as involved as a parent could be with him -- I have been at home since August of ‘94. I have cared for him while Adrianne has been out or at work. Every other evening I have given him a bath, shared some quiet time together, read to him, and put him to bed -- alternating with Adrianne. He used to hear English as often as Japanese (Adrianne uses almost all Japanese with him now). All this has changed for him now, he’s away from the home he has known, and I’m trying to get a little balance back while the other legal matters are decided. You have had a chance to see me and him (you are welcome to come back again, perhaps watch breakfast time), I hope you will read some of the letters from friends and professionals I submitted earlier -- I feel I am a very good father to our Son!!! I wish you could feel comfortable enough to take a stronger stance on at least some more visitation time, as a benefit for him.

Mr. Lupia, within 60 minutes of talking to Dr. Black I felt something was wrong -- conclusions were being drawn without more probing questions (you have seen my material). I know and accept I have no control over the outcome of the legal process (a lot of things in life are that way), but I want to ensure I did everything I could to get a fair outcome. That is why I am objecting strongly to continuing in a flawed manner -- especially when I heard another Dr. would be very willing to have their sessions recorded.

Although it did not appear on the papers, I am going to try to get the Judge to appoint counsel to represent me -- I was turned down on an earlier request. Right now we are not balanced, Adrianne has money and I do not. I have always felt I have a lot of strong evidence to present at trial, but I am beginning to realize that of lot of things get decided before any real evidence is even presented! I want you to know that if my request for Counsel is denied I will probably try to Appeal the decision -- the adversarial system of justice doesn’t work well if both sides aren’t evenly matched.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME -- I’LL HAVE THE ‘ESSAYS’ TO YOU BY EARLY NEXT WEEK.

John Murtari