William Marotta, defendant in Shawnee County sperm donor case, submits to DNA testing
But results will remain sealed while Supreme Court considers motion
Posted: June 26, 2015
By Tim Hrenchir
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
A prolonged legal battle to try to avoid DNA testing ended Friday morning in a Shawnee County courtroom when William Marotta put a Q-Tip in his mouth, rubbed it along the inside of his left cheek and returned it to the woman giving the test.
But District Judge Mary Mattivi ordered the test results to remain sealed so long as the Kansas Supreme Court hasn’t resolved a motion Marotta’s attorney filed asking it to take steps that include removing Mattivi from the case.
The Topeka Capital-Journal was the only media outlet present at Friday’s status conference in a case in which the state of Kansas contends Marotta is legally the father of a 5-year-old girl born after he donated sperm in a plastic cup to a Topeka same-sex couple.
Mattivi ordered for the third time Friday — with the previous orders having been issued last April and in March 2014 — that Marotta undergo genetic testing to determine whether he is the biological father of the daughter born in 2009 to Topekan Jennifer Schreiner.
Attorney Tim Keck, representing the Kansas Department for Children and Families, told Mattivi Friday that Marotta had yet to submit a DNA sample. Keck said a professional capable of taking that sample was present in the courtroom.
Attorney Charles Baylor, representing Marotta, suggested that Marotta not be required to undergo genetic testing so long as the Kansas Supreme Court hasn’t yet decided a motion Baylor filed June 10 with that court. The motion asked it to:
■ Reverse Mattivi’s order requiring genetic testing issued in April.
■ Reassign the case to a different judge.
■ Force Mattivi to show cause as to why she shouldn’t be found in contempt for what Baylor described as her disobedience of some instructions the Supreme Court gave. The high court ordered in June 2014 that a “Ross hearing” be conducted to determine whether genetic testing to determine biological parenthood was in the child’s best interest. Mattivi presided over the hearing and reached that conclusion but Baylor says she didn’t comply with some instructions the high court gave.
Mattivi noted Friday that the Supreme Court hadn’t issued any stays in the case since Baylor filed his motion and said she didn’t plan to, either. She ordered Marotta to undergo genetic testing.
But Mattivi ordered that the results of the genetic testing remain under seal so long as the motion Baylor submitted to the Supreme Court remains unresolved. She also scheduled a status hearing in the case to take place in her court at 11 a.m. Aug. 18.
Marotta underwent DNA testing in the courtroom after Mattivi left.
The Kansas DCF since October 2012 has been seeking to have Marotta declared the father so he can be forced to pay child support regarding Schreiner’s daugher.
Marotta said he didn’t intend to be the child’s father while agreeing to donate sperm to Schreiner and her same-sex partner at the time, Angela Bauer. Marotta contacted the women after they placed an ad seeking a sperm donor on Craigslist.
Mattivi concluded in January 2014 that 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.
Mattivi ordered Marotta in March 2014 to undergo genetic testing to determine whether he was the girl’s biological father.
Marotta’s attorney at the time, 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 last November and concluded genetic testing was in the child’s best interest.
She then ordered for the second time last April that Marotta submit to genetic testing, and required the same for Schreiner and her daughter. Schreiner and the girl underwent genetic testing last May, Keck said.