Jul 31, 2007 5:37 pm US/Eastern
Divorce Court Once Again In Session for McGreeveys
TRENTON (AP) ―
The nation's first openly gay governor and his estranged wife were back in court Tuesday for the continuation
of their contentious divorce.
Former Gov. James E. McGreevey and his wife, Dina Matos McGreevey, were ordered by Union County Superior Court Judge Karen M. Cassidy to attend the proceeding, known as a case management conference. In it, the judge was to look at how the case is proceeding, review any problems, and perhaps set a trial date, said McGreevey's lawyer, Matthew D. Piermatti III.
The McGreeveys last squared off in court in late April, when the judge urged the pair to use "common sense" in raising their daughter and cautioned against turning the case into a further public spectacle. Parenting concerns dominated that hearing.
Cassidy warned the McGreeveys not to introduce their 5-year-old to non-age-appropriate activities, but said she did not want to micromanage the child's life.
She did, however, rule that Jacqueline McGreevey would not be permitted to sleep in the same bed with any adult except her mother or father. That decision came in response to a claim by the Dina McGreevey that the child was permitted to climb into bed with her father and his male partner during overnight visits to their Plainfield home.
McGreevey stunned the nation when he announced in August 2004 that he was "a gay American." He said then that he was resigning as governor because of a blackmail threat by a former lover, an aide whom McGreevey had put on the state payroll. The man, Golan Cipel, has denied being gay and said McGreevey sexually harassed
him.
The McGreeveys officially split up when they moved out of the governor's mansion in November 2004. Both have since written books about their lives together and appeared separately on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." McGreevey filed for divorce in February. He has since announced his intention to study for the Episcopal priesthood. Matos McGreevey, an executive at Columbus Hospital in Newark, has primary custody of the couple's only child. McGreevey has an older daughter from a previous marriage, which ended in divorce.
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