Man jailed for not supporting someone else's child
 

ADEL, Ga. – A Georgia man spent more than a year behind bars for failing to pay child support for a child that wasn't his, but he was released after DNA tests showed he wasn't the father.

Frank Hatley, 50, had been jailed since June 2008 for not making payments, but two separate DNA tests in the last nine years showed he was not the father of the boy, who is now 21.

Southern Center for Human Rights attorney Sarah Geraghty won Hatley's release at a hearing Wednesday in Superior Court. A court order has also relieved him of his financial obligation to the Georgia Department of Human Resources.

"State child support officials have shown extraordinarily poor judgment in Mr. Hatley's case," Geraghty said.

Although Hatley was freed from making future payments after a 2001 hearing, Superior Court Judge Dan Perkins had ordered him to continue making $16,000 in back payments. He paid $6,000 of that before being laid off from his job.

Perkins ordered Hatley's immediate release Wednesday after determining that he was indigent. Although he was released, Hatley's paternity case is still unresolved. No future hearings are scheduled.

"Out of it all, I just feel like justice should be served for me in this case," Hatley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shortly after his release. "I shouldn't have to keep being punished for a child that is not mine."

Hatley had a relationship with Essie Lee Morrison, who had a baby in 1987 and told Hatley the child was his, according to court records. The couple never married and split up shortly afterward.

In 1989, Morrison applied for public assistance through the state Department of Human Resources. Hatley agreed to reimburse the state because he believed the boy was his.

Documents show Hatley paid at least $9,500.

But in 2000, DNA samples showed the two were not related, according to court records. A test earlier this month confirmed that.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090716/...ngfully_jailed

I don't know why but I chuckled at this. Poor guy.

Shit like this infuriates me. He's still gotta pay back $16000 for a child that is not his. BS!

****in WHORE!!

Now he should sue for the money that he already paid in. Too bad he won't get it.

The real father needs to stand up, again.

Where is the justice? Its cases like this that make me have no faith in the court system.

We have some stupid laws on the books but not a damn one to protect an innocent guy like this.

I think in most states even if you end up not being the father, if you acted as a parent for some length of time, you're on the hook for the payments.

And that is total BS, make the actually biological parent foot the bill.. If the dumb bitch slept with too many guys then too ****ing bad..

This. I have a friend going through this right now. Some chick alleged a child was his. He wasn't served properly and thus missed the court date and is now paying child support for a child that isn't his and he can't afford to get it challenged right now (his lawyer for his other custody related paternity issues told him it would be at least $5000 and probably closer to $10k)

Then paternal test should be given at birth. If the bitch can't proove who the father is then she cannot ever receive child support for that child.

Just one of the many reasons Bob Dole never gives a woman his real name.

So, he gets jailed for not paying child support for a child that's not his, is released after it's proved the kid is NOT his....but WAIT!......he still has to pay the $16,000 for past child support?

Superior Court Judge Dan Perkins is an asshole.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's right. I, like KC Native, know someone going through this. He was dumb not to get tested at the beginning and now his whole life is upside down.