Opening a new front in issues about protecting victims’ rights, the ailing mother of a recently released Florida inmate who was convicted of viciously attacking her over a decade ago has asked a federal judge to lift an order forbidding her son from contacting her.
The lawsuit, filed this week by lawyers for Teena Foy, 77, alleged that a state Commission on Offender Review decision to prevent her son from contacting her while he is on supervised release from prison violates her First Amendment rights of “free association” and “free exercise.”
The prohibition also violates a 2018 Florida constitutional amendment, known as “Marsy’s Law,” aimed at protecting victims’ rights, Foy’s attorneys argued in the lawsuit filed in the federal Northern District of Florida.
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The case is “about the right to forgive,” attorneys Marc Randazza, Andrew Greenlee and Carrie Goldberg wrote in the 22-page lawsuit.
“The designation as a crime victim is intended to protect and empower Ms. Foy, not to deprive her of her family and limit her rights. If Ms. Foy must have her rights limited by her status as a crime victim, then she wishes to shed that status and enjoy the same rights that she would have if she had no status at all. Because of her ‘victim’ status, she has fewer rights than anyone else to be with her son. This cannot be how our law functions,” they argued.
Scott Graham-Foy was convicted in 2011 of aggravated battery after attacking his mother with a knife and a frying pan at her Jacksonville home, according to court records. Graham-Foy, now 48, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and was released March 21 on what is known as “conditional release supervision,” with a “no victim contact” condition prohibiting him from contacting his mother. The lawsuit filed Monday said the restriction is set to last at least 27 months.
Foy, “a devout Catholic” who has forgiven her son, “has serious and significant health issues” and needs his assistance, according to the lawsuit. Foy was diagnosed with kidney cancer, has cardiovascular and mobility issues and has “difficulty with everyday activities,” the lawsuit said.
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“How long she has left to live is uncertain, but it is certain that 27 months will be either the rest of her life or a significant portion of it,” her attorneys wrote.
A Jacksonville circuit judge in February granted Graham-Foy’s request to modify the no-contact restriction and ordered him to have “no violent contact” with his mother. But the Commission on Offender Review intervened in the case and asked the judge to vacate the ruling, arguing in part that only the commission — not courts — has the authority to make changes to the terms of prisoners’ releases.
Circuit Judge Mark Borello held a hearing March 15. According to Foy’s lawyers, the judge agreed to the commission’s request, and the no-contact order remains in effect.
The legal challenge, which names the commission and its chairwoman, Melinda Coonrod, as defendants, said Foy “has no adequate remedy at law.”
“Unless enjoined by this court, the Florida Commission on Offender Review will continue to violate plaintiff’s rights,” the lawsuit said.
Randazza told The News Service of Florida that the commission didn’t seek Foy’s input when deciding her son shouldn’t have contact with her.
“Her rights have not really been considered, all she is is a victim, as far as they were concerned, not somebody with her own autonomy,” he said.
The commission would not comment when asked if it typically prohibits contact with victims as part of a conditional release and would not say why the state ignored Foy’s wishes.
“Due to pending litigation, we are unable to provide responses to your inquiry,” a spokesperson for the three-member panel appointed by the governor and state Cabinet wrote in an email.
But Randazza said that, even if such no-contact conditions are routine, “there should be flexibility in the law because I think we should care about what the victim wants.”
He pointed to the Marsy’s Law amendment, which was intended to enshrine victims’ rights in the state Constitution.
“If the victim wants to exercise their rights in that way, what’s the state’s interest in doing anything about that? Why should the state interfere in who Mrs. Foy is allowed to associate with, allowed to speak with, allowed to be cared for, allowed to forgive?” Randazza said.
Foy’s son is her sole living relative, according to the lawsuit.
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“Ms. Foy wants and needs a relationship with her son, but the commission refuses to allow her to have any contact with him, not by Zoom, not by telephone, not even by writing letters to each other,” her lawyers wrote.
The lawsuit alleged that Foy is being victimized by the state.
“Ms. Foy is no longer her son’s victim. She is now the victim of a government acting illogically, unthinkingly, and uncaringly to deprive her of her rights as a citizen and as a crime victim,” the lawsuit said.
The right to forgive “resides in the confluence of the free association and free exercise rights found in the First Amendment,” Foy’s lawyers argued.
Foy “derives her feelings of compassion and forgiveness from her relationship with God and should be free to express them by associating with whomever she pleases — including her assailant,” her lawyers wrote.
“Under the current state of affairs, if Ms. Foy is on her deathbed and wishes to call her son to say goodbye, and her son knows that it is her calling, he cannot even accept that call without violating the law and being sent back to prison. Ms. Foy has done nothing to warrant this punishment,” they added.
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