(Mugshot of Jonathan Vanderhagen in 2019 at Macomb County Michigan jail.)
Jonathan Vanderhagen is a father from Macomb County, Michigan, who faced a devastating experience that no parent should ever have to go through. In 2017, Vanderhagen sought sole custody of his one-year-old son Killian. He argued that the boy's mother was neglecting the child, who was born with hydrocephalus and required regular therapy and medical attention. Furthermore, Vanderhagen alleged that Killian's mother had a history of drug use.
(Jonathan with his son Killian)
The custody case involving Jonathan Vanderhagen was assigned to Circuit Court Judge Rachel Rancilio, but unfortunately, his son Killian passed away in September 2017, while in the care of his mother in Genesee County. No charges were filed in connection with the death of the child.
On July 8, 2019, Judge Rancilio brought attention to Facebook posts by Vanderhagen to the Macomb County Sheriff's Office. The posts from Vanderhagen expressed his thoughts with the outcome of the case, leading to concerns over his intentions.
(Judge Rachel Rancilio of Macomb County)
According to the police report from the Sheriff's Office, there were several posts on Vanderhagen's Facebook page that referred to Judge Rancilio. These included screenshots of Rancilio's personal Facebook posts and items she had saved on her Pinterest account. Additionally, two videos were posted, along with a statement from Vanderhagen that it was time to share his personal experience of corruption in the Friend of the Court. He also expressed his belief that his ex-partner bore responsibility for their son's untimely demise.
On July 8 2019, one of Vanderhagen's posts read, "Dada back to digging, and you best believe I'm going to dig up all the skeletons in this court's closet." The post also included a photograph of Vanderhagen grasping a shovel with the initials RR on the handle and MD on the shovel. Vanderhagen's shirt bore the words "Families of Corruption," and the picture contained the message "The misuse of public power (by elected politician or appointed civil servant) for private gain." The image also included the Macomb County logo in the background.
(Picture that was used against Jonathan)
Jonathan Vanderhagen was accused of a misdemeanor, but the police report indicates that he did not make any direct threats of violence towards Judge Rancilio or any others mentioned in his posts. Nonetheless, Vanderhagen expressed frustration and blamed them for failing to assist him.
Following authorization of a warrant on July 10 2019, Vanderhagen was arraigned and posted bond in the amount of $10,000. When he returned on July 24 2019 for his pretrial hearing, the prosecution had filed a motion accusing him of violating his bond by posting intimidating content toward those involved in the case. However, Vanderhagen's attorney, Nicholas Somberg, argued that his client has a constitutional right to publicly express his grievances against the government. According to Nicholas Somberg Vanderhagen’s posts are solely meant to uncover the truth about his son and to expose what he perceives as an unjust system.
(Nicholas Somberg and Jonathan Vanderhagen at court)
"There's no threats. There's no reaching out to Judge Rancilio. There's been no contact. There's inadvertent messages. All the messages after the no contact are all very innocuous," he told the court.
However, Judge Sebastian Lucido of the 41-B District Court did not agree with Vanderhagen's argument. He noted that although the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, there are limits to this right. In the case of Vanderhagen, the issue is that his posts allegedly contained threats towards a Circuit Court Judge. Lucido emphasized that there should be no direct or indirect contact with the parties involved, including any communication on social media. He believed that Vanderhagen's posts, while not explicitly threatening, could be interpreted as such given the no-contact order.
Therefore, Lucido decided to raise Vanderhagen's bond to $500,000 cash surety. Unfortunately, Vanderhagen was unable to post the higher bond amount.
(Judge Sebastian Lucido)
Court records indicate that on July 11 2019, Biernat signed a personal protection order request filed by Rancilio against Vanderhagen in the circuit court. The order, which Biernat approved, was to remain in effect until January 20th 2020.
Based on general knowledge, one local legal expert suggested that a $500,000 bond seemed high for a misdemeanor charge. According to Robert Sedler, a constitutional law professor at Wayne State University, there is a First Amendment right to criticize judges, which is the heart of the matter in this case. He added that this high bond amount could be seen as an excessive bail requirement and is therefore in violation of Article 1, Section 16 of the Michigan Constitution, which prohibits valuable fines, inhumane punishment, and excessive bail.
(Robert Sedler of Wayne State University)
According to Somberg, Vanderhagen was vocal about his grief for his late son on Facebook and exercised his First Amendment rights to express his views. He mentioned that as a public figure, Vanderhagen should expect to be under scrutiny and less shielded from criticism.
Jonathan Vanderhagen, who spent two months in Macomb County Jail, was acquitted of the misdemeanor charge against him. Vanderhagen was found not guilty of malicious use of telecommunications services by a six-member District Court jury after a brief three-day trial. As a result, he was released from jail as a free man.
Nicholas Somberg, Vanderhagen's lawyer, believes that the jury saw through the case and acknowledged that the prosecution's treatment of his client was unjust. He emphasized that he asked the jury to send a message by not only ruling Vanderhagen not guilty but doing so quickly. This was intended to signal to the prosecution that their behavior towards Vanderhagen was unacceptable.
It has now been four years since Jonathan was released from jail. Although happy to be a free man, his heart is still filled with grief and questions about the passing of his son Killian. Earlier this year in 2023 Jonathan teamed up with Dad Talk Studios and Eric Carroll to produce a documentary about his experience with the family court, and being thrown in jail for speaking up about his son.
Eric Carroll says “ This is any father’s worst nightmare, and if put in that position just about any father would’ve done what Jonathan did trying to get answers. The court system has failed so many fathers like Jonathan for years and for many cases it ends up like this, the worst case scenario.”
“All we can do now is help to keep Killian’s memory alive and to help Jonathan make sure his son’s story is heard loud and clear.” Carroll says.
The documentary is scheduled to be released later in 2023. For more updates please subscribe to Dad Talk Today on substack.
I am curious to know... Did judge Rancilio ever take any responsibility for her poor decision making? I am pretty sure I know the answer. If she didn't, the mindset that comes with that lack of accountability is staggering.
Lookie here, friends and neighbors, the worst thing you can do is accuse your mate of doing drugs! A member of my extended family had a crisis and lamented his horrid wife and her neglect and abuse due to crack. A while later, in private, I asked “So, how long have you been smoking the shit?”
“Really just off and on since back in the freebase days. What about, oh... wait, I...” was his answer. He asked how I knew and I told him that his story didn’t include how he learned where the crack house was.
Saying you know someone does drugs, doesn’t just incriminate yourself. It reduces you to a status which is less than human; an animal. More over, you are an enemy combatant, America has declared and been engaged in a war on (the people who buy, sell or use) drugs for well over 100 years. Further, you are interacting with a Court of Law wherein everything that you say WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU!
For the record, I do not agree with this, I’m just stating how the court views you and your case. Any moron can figure out that a lot more people use street drugs than just the rappers, burnouts and prostitutes - look at the freaking money! What is presented as the ‘typical’ drug user is the absolute bottom of the barrel, no different from alcoholism. Plenty of people have a glass of wine with dinner, a few cold beer at the game or enjoy a good Single Malt and never end up on Skid Row drinking Sterno. The logical, reasonable person easily recognizes that no doctor could possibly make it through their grueling internships without some form of stimulant. (And no, caffeine won’t cut the mustard - do your own thorough research before challenging that statement!) Professional baseball is another place where it’s just not possible to be so gullible as to believe the playoffs are accomplished on pure grits and brawn. The handful of countries with successful drug prevention and rehabilitation strategies utilize moderation disciplines for people who are not psychologically compatible with AA or NA - plenty of normal, good, decent people do recreational drugs or self-medicate while holding jobs, advancing careers, paying their taxes and many even make it to church on Sundays.
That said, back to a custody battle in a court of law. In a situation where a PERSON has documented abuse or neglect, there is good standing. How is documentation achieved? Best: police or CPS report (because they never lie). Next: school or daycare facility incident report. Next: impartial eyewitness report. (Do not let CPS ANYWHERE NEAR ANY CHILD UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!) The very last is the subjective report of a PERSON. All of those situations merit formal investigation at the very least. Animals on the other hand are meritless and have no right to standing! If you knew your wife / former partner was in possession of illicit drugs and you didn’t report them, that makes you an animal, not them! An animal claiming someone else uses drugs makes that someone else a ‘PERSON of interest’. Get it? Pretty fucked up, yep. Don’t freaking do it.
Finally, if your youngin is legitimately in danger, judgement falls between you and God. Fight, fight dirty as dirty can be but don’t dehumanize yourself in the eyes of the court! A person may lose their grip on reality, become unreasonable, even engage in a crime of passion. Animals are without reason from jump street, they have no standing and no rights🙃.
I am curious to know... Did judge Rancilio ever take any responsibility for her poor decision making? I am pretty sure I know the answer. If she didn't, the mindset that comes with that lack of accountability is staggering.
Lookie here, friends and neighbors, the worst thing you can do is accuse your mate of doing drugs! A member of my extended family had a crisis and lamented his horrid wife and her neglect and abuse due to crack. A while later, in private, I asked “So, how long have you been smoking the shit?”
“Really just off and on since back in the freebase days. What about, oh... wait, I...” was his answer. He asked how I knew and I told him that his story didn’t include how he learned where the crack house was.
Saying you know someone does drugs, doesn’t just incriminate yourself. It reduces you to a status which is less than human; an animal. More over, you are an enemy combatant, America has declared and been engaged in a war on (the people who buy, sell or use) drugs for well over 100 years. Further, you are interacting with a Court of Law wherein everything that you say WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU!
For the record, I do not agree with this, I’m just stating how the court views you and your case. Any moron can figure out that a lot more people use street drugs than just the rappers, burnouts and prostitutes - look at the freaking money! What is presented as the ‘typical’ drug user is the absolute bottom of the barrel, no different from alcoholism. Plenty of people have a glass of wine with dinner, a few cold beer at the game or enjoy a good Single Malt and never end up on Skid Row drinking Sterno. The logical, reasonable person easily recognizes that no doctor could possibly make it through their grueling internships without some form of stimulant. (And no, caffeine won’t cut the mustard - do your own thorough research before challenging that statement!) Professional baseball is another place where it’s just not possible to be so gullible as to believe the playoffs are accomplished on pure grits and brawn. The handful of countries with successful drug prevention and rehabilitation strategies utilize moderation disciplines for people who are not psychologically compatible with AA or NA - plenty of normal, good, decent people do recreational drugs or self-medicate while holding jobs, advancing careers, paying their taxes and many even make it to church on Sundays.
That said, back to a custody battle in a court of law. In a situation where a PERSON has documented abuse or neglect, there is good standing. How is documentation achieved? Best: police or CPS report (because they never lie). Next: school or daycare facility incident report. Next: impartial eyewitness report. (Do not let CPS ANYWHERE NEAR ANY CHILD UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!) The very last is the subjective report of a PERSON. All of those situations merit formal investigation at the very least. Animals on the other hand are meritless and have no right to standing! If you knew your wife / former partner was in possession of illicit drugs and you didn’t report them, that makes you an animal, not them! An animal claiming someone else uses drugs makes that someone else a ‘PERSON of interest’. Get it? Pretty fucked up, yep. Don’t freaking do it.
Finally, if your youngin is legitimately in danger, judgement falls between you and God. Fight, fight dirty as dirty can be but don’t dehumanize yourself in the eyes of the court! A person may lose their grip on reality, become unreasonable, even engage in a crime of passion. Animals are without reason from jump street, they have no standing and no rights🙃.