Father in Day-Care Custody Battle Charged With Assault

A father who won custody of his 3-year-old daughter because the mother puts the girl in day care while attending college pleaded innocent Wednesday to assaulting the woman in 1992.

A misdemeanor arrest warrant for Steven Smith, 20, was issued in October but was never acted on by the sheriff’s office until this week, after the discrepancy was reported in the Detroit News.

Joe Boedecker, a Macomb County counsel, said the sheriff’s department either never received the warrant “or if they did, one way or another, it fell through the cracks.”

On Monday, Judge Raymond Cashen took sole custody of the girl away from Jennifer Ireland, 19, because the child’s paternal grandmother could care for her full time.

The decision brought expressions of outrage from working parents across the country.

Regarding the alleged assault, Cashen said in his ruling that “the issue of domestic violence is not pertinent here.”

“The parties in their youthful way apparently crashed or mauled one another,” his ruling said. “It is all superfluous and can have no bearing on this issue of custody.”

Ireland, who would share legal custody and get visitation on alternate weekends, holidays and other times, planned to appeal the custody case. For now, Maranda Ireland-Smith lives with her mother and spends about 35 hours a week in day care near the University of Michigan.

According to court records, Ireland claims that Smith assaulted her in December, 1992, during a visit to see their daughter, saying he grabbed her, shook her and pushed her into a wall. A friend of Ireland’s said she witnessed the incident, court records show.

Smith’s attorney, Sharon-Lee Edwards, told the Macomb Daily of Mt. Clemens that the allegations were false. “Anyone can file charges,” Edwards said. “She has filed many complaints. She has filed stalking complaints and all kinds of complaints. It’s outrageous.”