Judge again orders Topekan in sperm donor case to undergo genetic testing
Ruling says William Marotta is 'not a mere donor of sperm'
Posted: April 24, 2015
By Tim Hrenchir
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Shawnee County District Judge Mary Mattivi on Friday for the second time ordered that genetic testing be conducted to determine whether Topekan William Marotta is the father of a 5-year-old girl born after he provided sperm in a plastic cup to a Topeka same-sex couple.
Marotta is “not a mere donor of sperm,” Mattivi wrote in a four-page memorandum decision and order concluding it is in the girl’s best interest to confirm whether Marotta is her biological father.
Mattivi had ordered Marotta in March 2014 to undergo the genetic testing, but Marotta’s attorney, Benoit Swinnen, successfully petitioned the Kansas Supreme Court to require that a “Ross Hearing” first be conducted to determine whether genetic testing to determine biological parenthood was in the child’s best interest.
Mattivi presided over that hearing Nov. 18 before ordering Friday that Marotta, the girl and her mother, Jennifer Schreiner, all “submit to genetic testing as soon as is reasonably practical.”
In describing how she reached that conclusion, Mattivi wrote that:
■ Marotta conducted himself in a manner inconsistent with being a simple donor of genetic material, including corresponding with Schreiner and Angela Bauer — who was then her lesbian partner — during the pregnancy, visiting Schreiner at the hospital and holding the child shortly after her birth.
■ Schreiner and Bauer testified it was important to them that the girl know Marotta “so she could have that information and make decisions regarding a relationship with that person in the future.”
■ Schreiner and Bauer both testified they intended to give the girl a full explanation of the circumstances surrounding her conception and birth when she became old enough to understand.
The Kansas Department for Families and Children since October 2012 has been pursuing the case, in which it is seeking to have Marotta declared the father so he can be forced to pay child support regarding the girl Schreiner bore in 2009.
Marotta said he didn’t intend to be the child’s father and signed a contract waiving his parental rights and responsibilities while agreeing to donate sperm to Schreiner and Bauer. Marotta contacted the women after they placed an ad seeking a sperm donor on Craigslist.
Mattivi ruled in January 2014 the contract was moot because Schreiner and Bauer didn’t follow a Kansas statute enacted in 1994, which Mattivi said requires a licensed physician to perform the artificial insemination in cases involving sperm donors.