A 16-year-old Staten Island girl faces up to a year in jail for sending Myspace friend requests to three people. Melissa Fernino is charged with second-degree criminal contempt, a misdemeanor, because she violated a Family Court order of protection that barred her from contacting a 43-year-old woman and her two adolescent daughters. The court order, prompted by Ferino's history of "extremely violent threats," has something to do with a soured relationship between Fernino’s father and......

Cops have a suspect in the shooting of orthodontist dad Daniel Malakov and released a sketch of his playground shooter. Malakov was killed by a gunman who shot him at point blank range with a pistol; the shooting left a handmade silencer fashioned from a bleach bottle wrapped in duct tape. The killing is believed to be related to a bitter custody dispute between Malakov and his ex-wife Mazoltuv Borukhova. Because the murder took place......

The custody battle over Michelle Malakov, a 4-year-old who witnessed her father being shot to death at a Queens playground, continued in Queens Family Court. And the testimony of State Senator Diane Savino underlined how the dispute between the slain man's family and his ex-wife has gone almost full-tilt crazy. Queens dentist Daniel Malakov had been awarded temporary custody of his daughter for about a week. On October 28, he was dropping her off to......

The Newark police arrested a third suspect in the murders of three young residents. The third suspect is 15 years old, and he will be arraigned in Family Court on charges of murder, felony murder, attempted murder and other counts, according to the Star-Ledger. He is the third suspect in custody; another 15-year-old is was arrested on Thursday and as was 28-year-old Jose Lachira Carranza, who pleaded not guilty to the crimes. The police......

This week The Observer plays the role of that guy at the movie theater by pointing out inaccuracies in a film. This time it's a New York location that's off in the new Bourne movie - which was filming here back in February of this year. (Skip the blockquote if you don't want to know any details about the movie.) However, nothing is as it seems in the third installment of the Bourne saga, and......

Yesterday, former NJ governor James McGreevey and his ex-wife Dina Matos McGreevey met in family court to hash out details of their bitter divorce. The McGreeveys accused each other of being unfit guardians for their 5-year-old daughter Jacqueline, and Family Court judge Karen Cassidy basically shamed them in court yesterday. She told them to use "common sense" and not expose the child to "non-age-appropriate activities." I know this is a little bit vague. But......

The 13-year-old boy that inflicted the fatal injuries on another 13-year-old, Guarionex Montas, during a playground fight will not be charged with manslaughter. Instead, city officials will charge him with third-degree assault with intent, a misdemeanor assault charge. Montas died from skull fractures, bleeding, and brain trauma after he was hit in the head during an altercation on a playground earlier this week. The accused has since been released from jail and is in the......

Yesterday, Victor Han, a 35-year-old Staten Island man, pleaded guilty to child endangerment at a Rockland County court. He also admitted that he knew his wife was thinking about suicide when he got out of the car and that she might put their children at danger. Last summer, Han, his wife, and two young children went to Bear Mountain to sight see. While parked near a 300-foot drop, Han got out of the car with......

It was one year ago yesterday that 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown, previously starved and beaten, was murdered in Bed-Stuy - her stepfather and mother are currently charged with her death. On this grim anniversary, city officials and child advocates implored the government to increase resources in keeping with an increase in child abuse reports over the past year. Specifically, officials are requesting an increase in the number of Family Court judges and maintaining a healthy budget......

The Administration for Children's Services was involved with the family of now brain-damaged 4 month old Preston Hertzog. Authorities suspect Preston is the victim of shaken baby syndrome; the baby remains in a hospital, being kept alive by a respirator. In 2000, Antonio Patterson and Tamirra Hertzog's 2 month old baby Mia died; the ACS put their other children into temporary foster care during the investigation which found that Mia died of blunt force trauma.......

A school safety agent died of a heart attack after escorting an unruly girl from a school dance in Brooklyn on Friday night. Reports say that Vivian Samuels had to deal with the 12 year old girl's flailing/ pummeling/ striking arms, and that she collapsed afterwards. Safety agents are civilian employees of the NYPD, and Samuels was affectionately known at IS 390 in Crown Heights. The girl has been charged with striking Samuels twice, and......

The city is reeling over the death of 11 year old Queen Washington, at the hands of her 9 year old friend, in East New York. The two godsisters had been arguing over a ball, and when Washington would not stop hitting her friend, the 9 year old took a steak knife from the kitchen and stabbed Washington in the chest. Washington was staying with the 9 year old's family, but the mother had stepped......

A Family Court lawyer in the Bronx was suspended for six months because of his crude remarks. The Daily News says that 67 year-old Robert Kahn had a "peppermint potty mouth":The lawyer, Robert Kahn, admitted that "he frequently consumed peppermint-ball candies in the courthouse and, when offering candies to adversarial female staff attorneys, consistently made sexually offensive comments," a state Appellate Division ruling released yesterday says. One of Kahn's crude candy comments: "Do you want......

This is a good warning for not just city workers but also anyone who has jury duty or is visiting a city building: A city court clerk was injured while sitting on a toilet at the Brooklyn Family Court. NY1 reports that Frank D'Alessandro is suing the city:D’Alessandro says he was "performing a physical function" when the toilet collapsed, leaving him on the floor with his pants around his ankles. When he went to the......