Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times

Mom, AWOL over child custody, turns herself in

CONCORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire soldier charged with deserting while trying to ensure her 7-year-old daughter’s safety at home surrendered to the Army in New Jersey on Tuesday, her lawyer said.

New Hampshire National Guard Spc. Lisa Hayes, 32, of Rindge, took emergency leave from Iraq in February after learning of possible domestic violence in her ex-husband’s home, lawyer Linda Theroux said.

The Army extended her leave briefly three times, but finally refused further extensions and charged her with being absent without leave March 25, then with desertion a month later.

“I feel like I’m torn between doing what’s right, which is being here for my daughter, and doing what I have to do, and that’s being in the military,” Hayes told Fox News.

Hayes faces up to two years in military prison if convicted.

Hayes and daughter Brystal drove from New Hampshire to Fort Dix in southern New Jersey on Tuesday.

Officials at Fort Dix accepted her return, canceled the arrest warrant and will help her refile her application for a hardship discharge — something she could not do while AWOL, Theroux said. They have also provided housing for her and her daughter, she said.

“She’s there, she’s not incarcerated, and they’re giving her accommodations,” Theroux said. “Everyone stateside has been very helpful.”

Hayes was serving her second tour in Iraq when police in Dublin, near Rindge in southwestern New Hampshire, told her they had twice gone to the home of her ex-husband, Tim Knight, on domestic violence calls. Knight had primary custody of Brystal.

In November, Knight’s mother and his girlfriend, Brenda Brown, got into a fight, Hayes told the Concord Monitor.

In December, Brown was charged with assault, false imprisonment and criminal trespassing after Knight reported she had hit him in the head with a telephone, knocked him down, duct-taped his wrists together and slammed his head on the floor, according to a police affidavit.

Hayes got leave from Iraq to attend a family court hearing at the end of February, and a marital master gave her temporary custody. The master ruled that Knight’s “use and abuse of alcohol” and stormy relationship with Brown made his home unsuitable for Brystal.

A court-ordered investigation is still incomplete, Theroux said.

Meanwhile, Hayes’ plans to leave her daughter with a family friend fell through after the friend had back surgery.

Hayes tried, but failed, to get another extension of her leave, a hardship discharge or a transfer to New Hampshire, Theroux said. She was declared AWOL when she did not report for duty in Iraq with the 3643rd Security Forces.

“It’s not fair to every other soldier if we give her special treatment,” said Guard spokesman Sgt. Michael Daigle. “There are so many other soldiers at war that are single parents who came up with a responsible family care plan to take care of their children.”

Hayes said she did not file a plan because she didn’t have custody of Brystal.

“I’ve tried to do this the right way, I’ve tried to do it the military way, and obviously it’s failing — miserably,” she told Fox.

Theroux said Hayes plans to file a formal complaint against her commander in Iraq, Capt. Tony Gagnon, for putting her in an untenable situation. In an official letter she sent him May 5, she accused him of being unreasonable for refusing to endorse her request for a discharge and pass it up the chain of command.

In his response, Gagnon said he extended Hayes’ leave for 30 days to give her time either to gain sole custody of Brystal or apply for a discharge, but she did neither. He also said he did not have the authority to extend her leave more than 30 days.

“You willingly and knowingly created the situation in which you find yourself” by not following the advice of military lawyers and others, he wrote. “We had you on a plane the very night your E-leave request was authorized. I never stopped trying to support you: I went to bat for you to have your E-leave extended. ... I tried to prevent you from making mistakes you might regret.”

Discuss:

Mom turns herself in