Officials call handover ‘peaceful’
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Despite losing custody of his daughter Sept. 23, a heartbroken Dusten Brown is not giving up hope.
“Veronica is my child, my flesh and blood, and I love her more than life itself,” Dusten Brown said Sept. 26 in a statement. “And to our daughter, Veronica – Mommy and Daddy love you and miss you so much, and we cannot wait until we see you again. We will see you again.”
Matt and Melanie Capobianco, the James Island, S.C., couple who had been attempting to adopt the child since birth, assumed custody of four-year-old Veronica last Monday at the Cherokee Nation complex after the Oklahoma Supreme Court dissolved an emergency stay that allowed the girl to stay with her biological family while the adoption appeals process played out.
Just hours after issuing a statement refusing to honor the dissolved stay until heard by a Cherokee Nation court, Todd Hembree, the tribe’s attorney general, made the handover announcement to the dozens of supporters who had flocked to the tribe’s property in a show of solidarity for Brown. Cherokee Nation spokeswoman Amanda Clinton confirmed the announcement via social media about an hour after the custody transfer. Despite eyewitness reports that Veronica loudly protested the move, Cherokee Nation representatives described the handover as uneventful.
“It is with a heavy heart that I can confirm Veronica Brown was peacefully handed over to Matt and Melanie Capobianco (this) evening,” Clinton tweeted. “Updates will be forthcoming, but the transition was handled peacefully and with dignity by all parties. Please keep Veronica in your prayers.”
Attorneys for Brown and the Cherokee Nation have not said whether they will continue appealing the adoption. The Capobiancos have publicly said they want Brown to remain in his daughter’s life but have not elaborated on just how often the he will get to see the girl.
Brown and the Cherokee Nation are also facing potential fines in South Carolina through contempt of court proceedings. Sealed family court proceedings began Wednesday in Charleston, S.C., to potentially extract the Capobiancos’ legal fees and living expenses associated with their seven-week stay in Oklahoma in their effort to regain custody of Veronica.
As the news of the custody transfer and additional potential legal actions circulated across Indian Country, Friday morning rallies in support of the Brown family popped up around the country. More than 30 protestors, many clad in Veronica’s favorite color pink, waved signs in front of the State of Oklahoma’s government offices in Tulsa where the attempted negotiations took place a week before.
“We all need to stand up,” event organizer JoKay Dowell said. “This is all of our fight. A biological father who fought for his country is now being made to give up his daughter by that same country. I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around that.
“While Dusten’s father went to the emergency room Monday night with a heart attack, the Capobiancos took Veronica and went on CNN. They’ve been nothing but media hogs since they arrived in Oklahoma, telling one lie after another. When does it end?”
In Tahlequah, supporter Christy Sequichie handed out flyers at the Cherokee Nation Courthouse and expressed her disappointment in the Supreme Court ruling that the Indian Child Welfare Act didn’t apply to Brown’s case.
“He should have the right to raise his child. If you have someone to raise your child, why would you go and sell your child? Indian Child Welfare should apply here. It doesn’t matter how much ‘Indian’ you are. He (Brown) is a Cherokee Nation citizen. He is proven to be her father, so ICW should apply,” she said.
Sequichie was at the Jack Brown house where the Browns were staying the night Dusten had to turn his daughter over to the federal marshals.
According to Sequichie, Chrissi Nimmo, the Assistant Attorney General for the tribe who had been handling the case, took Veronica’s hand and led her to the SUV that was waiting to whisk her away.
“‘I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go’,” is the last thing Sequichie says she heard.
“Veronica deserves a hearing of her best interest and she never received that,” Sequichie states in the flyer she is circulating to inform the pubic of Dusten Brown’s side of the story. “He told her he loved her and always would.”
Brown’s father and Veronica’s paternal grandfather, Tommy Brown, left the Cherokee Nation complex Monday night in an ambulance due to chest pains. No public updates have been made about his condition.