MOORPARK : Arguments Begin in Custody Case

A Ventura County judge began hearing arguments Wednesday on whether a Moorpark woman should lose custody of her 9-year-old son, because her new husband was accused--but not convicted--of throwing a firebomb into the home of the boy’s father.

Lawyers said Municipal Judge Roland Purnell could issue a decision on the matter as early as today.

John Monroe and his former wife, Karen Dunlop McKeever, have shared custody of their son for the past five years.

McKeever’s new husband, James McKeever, was arrested in November, 1992, after a homemade firebomb exploded in the Simi Valley home of Monroe and his wife, Charlene Mayer. Monroe was able to soften the impact of the explosion by covering the device with blankets, but both he and his wife were injured, according to testimony.

McKeever spent nearly six months in jail before a Superior Court jury acquitted him of two counts of premeditated, attempted first-degree murder and other counts.

Still, in a civil case earlier this year, a Superior Court judge ruled that McKeever must pay damages for injuries the Monroes suffered in the bombing attack.

Now, John Monroe is asking for full custody of his son on the basis that McKeever was charged in connection with the bombing. Under the current custody arrangement, the boy spends two weeks of each month with his mother and two weeks with his father. Lawyers for both sides refused to discuss the specifics of their cases Wednesday.

Purnell excluded the public and the press from the proceeding in the interest of protecting the privacy of the child, lawyers said.