AUGUSTA (AP) – A probate court judge has signed an order prohibiting a Pittston man charged with murdering his estranged wife and mother from having contact with his children.
Judge James E. Mitchell’s order prevents Jon Dilley, 51, from contacting his daughter, 10-year-old Emma, or his son, 6-year-old Miles. The order also appoints permanent guardians for the children, who are living in San Jose, Calif.
Dilley’s attorney, Jonathan Hull, has filed a motion objecting to Mitchell’s order. A hearing is scheduled Wednesday in Kennebec County Probate Court.
Dilley is charged with two counts of murder in the Aug. 21, 2004, shooting deaths of Chevelle “Chellie” Calloway, 41, and Sarah Murray, 71, at Murray’s vacation home in Boothbay Harbor. Dilley’s children were present at the time.
Dilley is in jail but has attempted to contact his children, the judge wrote.
“This court and the counselors believe such communication can only harm the children while they are recuperating,” Mitchell wrote. “No one knows how long the recuperation will last.”
In objecting to Mitchell’s order, Hull wrote that the court has violated Dilley’s “due process rights in determining a fundamental interest, a father’s right to have contact with his children.”
At a previous hearing, Dilley told the judge he wanted his brother and his brother’s wife to care for his children.
The childrens’ new guardians are an aunt and uncle, James and Jean Dilley, who were appointed temporary guardians last fall.
Mitchell described the couple as patient, insightful, committed, supportive and loving.
Mitchell’s order, which offers a look at the grieving children, decribes Miles as having admitted being sad about his mother and said “I need a hundred hugs.”
Mitchell also wrote that Emma is excelling in school.
“She is able to talk about coming back to Maine without shuddering,” the judge wrote. “She is a remarkable child. Handed life’s worst at an age when that would crush many, she has not only survived; she has shown the seeds of thriving.”
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Information from: Kennebec Journal, http://www.kjonline.com/
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