DANVILLE, Ind. — A Hendricks County judge will wait to make a decision on if Indiana's Department of Child Services will be held in contempt of court for failing to produce documents relating to the case of a child tortured and killed by his parents in 2021.
Judah Morgan, 4, was killed by his parents in 2021 amid claims from his foster family and blood relatives that he was being abused in their home following a court-ordered return there.
Attorneys for his foster family claim records that would be essential to the case, which DCS has in their possession, were not handed over. Those records include internal text messages and emails regarding Judah's case, as well as records of mandated drug tests that should have been conducted for Judah's biological parents, attorneys representing the family claim they do not have.
DCS director Eric Miller was called to prove the department was not in contempt of court for failing to provide those documents after the department was named as a non-party in a suit filed by the family of Judah Morgan against his biological father, Alan Morgan.
Miller reiterated on the stand that he was not involved enough with the day-to-day machinations of the department to understand particulars of how court-ordered documents might have been provided, and that he had been advised by DCS counsel that all necessary documents required for the case had been handed over to the court.
“I was advised by my counsel that the entire production and discovery was provided and complete,” Miller said.
But Miller also claimed his email, nor those of past DCS directors, were never searched.
Attorney Charles Rice represents the family of Judah Morgan, and questioned if records haven’t been produced to the court, that means they don’t exist. Miller said he believed that to be correct.
Representatives for DCS argued the documents they provided to the court were what they had, and that they should not be required to produce more documents just because the “plaintiff thinks they should."
DCS attorneys William Young and E. Ryan Chouse said the department had gone through 130,000 records with a team of 20 attorneys to gather up documents the court ordered them to provide.
Internal affairs officer Christine MacDonald took the stand after Miller, and said some of the information the court requested, like text messages, would have had to be provided by third-party providers like Verizon or the Indiana Office of Technology, because DCS systems do not allow them to access that information.
MacDonald did not look for text messages specifically as part of the court order, she said, because she believed she could not get access to them.
"I've never been able to produce text messages. So, I've never looked anywhere for text messages. I've always been advised that is not something they maintain. That's not something I can get," MacDonald said.
In putting the issue of whether DCS was in contempt or not on advisement, Hendricks County Superior Court Judge Robert Freese signaled he agreed there were some issues with the the lack of documentation provided by DCS, but that he also wanted to give them time to get documents as to not overburden an agency.
“Everything that the department has with regards to Judah Morgan has been produced. That's set in stone. Thus, Mr. Rice, if you come up with another record that is in their possession that they didn't produce prior to today, then there's a problem with the department. Because that's when they should be found to act in bad faith. Not saying I'm not going to find that now, I'm just saying they hips etched in stone today," Freese said.
Freese said he believed more subpoenas to third parties were warranted following DCS claims they had produced all documents they have. He also said he was concerned that the emails of the current DCS director and former DCS director, Terry Stigdon, were never searched for the name "Judah Morgan."
"I am extremely concerned that the director - current director - and the prior director, that their emails were not searched. Their documents were not searched. This is the death of a child. Don't care if there's 10 million CHINS (Child in Need of Services) cases out there. There's not 10 million child deaths in a year. If the department is such that the director doesn't have one email regarding the death of a child, that's suspect to me. But I'm taking [Miller's] testimony for what it's worth. He didn't get one email, nothing, with regards to the death of this child," Freese said.
Freese said that the director testified the department had not destroyed or disposed of any documents since Judah's death, and that they have produced anything, then there would not be anything else for DCS to give attorneys representing Judah's family, in relation to this trial or any other regarding the death of Judah.
Freese said he wanted orders by both parties by next Monday.
"I think that the best course of action, is to get a third party subpoena from Verizon. Because then some might be deleted, some might have been deleted both Verizon to get them all," Freese said.
Jenna Hullett, Judah’s foster mother and second cousin who has advocated for changes at DCS since his death said she is moving forward with this lawsuit in the hopes of making systemic changes within DCS.
“I believe part of it is to help better protect other children. And I don't want Judah to have to have died in vain either. And so, if we can get answers to what went wrong in his case, then maybe that will help correct some things within the system to help better save other kids and maybe do things a little bit better,” Hullett said after the hearing.