A Missouri judge put two kids in jail. Now, the law is after him

A judge in southwest Missouri crossed the line when he jailed two teens in a child custody dispute. That’s according to an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling earlier this month that said Taney County Associate Circuit Judge Eric Eighmy acted improperly.

The ruling marks a rare instance in which a judge can be sued and doesn’t qualify for judicial immunity, a doctrine that broadly shields judges from civil liability when they’re acting in their official capacity.

The case involves contentious child custody proceedings. Upon divorcing in Missouri, Bart Rockett and Kami Ballard agreed to share custody of their two children. Eight years later, in 2018, Ballard sought a change to the arrangement that would give her sole custody.

At a 2019 hearing, the children — then ages 12 and 14 — were in the lobby of the Taney County courthouse. Inside the courtroom, their parents had agreed to a custody arrangement that required the children to live with their mother for about a month before returning to live with their father.

The children, who have been publicly identified as star entertainers who were semi-finalists on the 2016 season of America’s Got Talent, didn’t want to live with their mother and they voiced their disapproval in the courthouse lobby.