LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (CN) - A mother who had an affair during her pregnancy was not treated unfairly by a judge who called her a "slut" in open court, the Arkansas Court of Appeals ruled.
Robert Lipps served in the Arkansas National Guard. While he was training in Mississippi, his wife Kathy called him with the news that she was pregnant.
Six months later, Robert was serving in Iraq when he discovered that Kathy was having an affair with another man, Troy Whittington. Kathy's MySpace page contained photos of her lying in bed while kissing Whittington.
Robert filed for divorce on the day after his tour of duty ended. He also asked for custody.
The judge granted temporary joint custody but ruled that Kathy's custody must take place at her parents' home. The judge then unloaded the following on Kathy:
"I don't know where your mom and dad went wrong, and I don't think they did, and I guess this is a nightmare every parent faces is when you have got a child who acts like a slut, quite frankly, a slut."
The court ultimately granted custody to Robert, ruling that Kathy could not behave appropriately unless she were living with her parents.
Kathy appealed, arguing that the judge was biased and awarded custody to Robert in order to punish her. Appeals Judge Rita Gruber denied her appeal.
"Although we are deeply troubled by the trial court's disparaging and intemperate remarks from the bench at the temporary hearing, we cannot address this point on appeal," Gruber wrote. "Kathy made none of these arguments to the trial court. Nor did she move for the judge's recusal. We do not address arguments raised for the first time on appeal."
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