"Baby John" CALLAWAY - Newborn (2007) - Blairsville (nr TN border) GA

A Fulton County judge on Monday ordered a man accused of smothering his baby to be committed to the state mental hospital, after the judge reviewed records suggesting the defendant could be a danger to himself or others.
The order by Superior Court Judge Craig Schwall capped an unusual hearing in which the judge sought to make sure Michael Callaway's now 3-year-old son was safe. Callaway faces a first-degree child cruelty charge on allegations he tried to suffocate his baby at Scottish Rite Children's Hospital in March 2007. Last week, Schwall banned Callaway from Union County, where his son lives with Callaways' parents in Blairsville, and ordered him to have no contact with the child. That came after he learned that a judge in Blairsville had awarded Callaway visitation rights to see the child, provided his parents supervised the visits.After being indicted in Fulton County, Callaway was found mentally incompetent to stand trial and allowed to remain free on bond provided he have no contact with his son and receive outpatient treatment. Last week, Schwall said that Callaway being allowed to visit his son under the supervision of his parents was unacceptable.Callaway did not attend Monday's hearing because he was admitted Friday into the Atlanta Medical Center. An emergency doctor who initially treated Callaway found him mentally ill and in an "imminently life-endangering crisis," Schwall noted.Schwall ordered Callaway to be sent to Georgia Regional Hospital where he can be treated and, at the request of prosecutors, reevaluated to see if he is competent to stand trial or can be treated to become so.During Monday's hearing, Schwall accused Callaway's lawyer of trying to obstruct the case from moving forward. The lawyer, Douglas McDonald Sr., last week told Schwall he was unfit to represent his client because he was ill and on medication for recent shoulder surgery. Schwall instructed Callaway to get another lawyer for Monday's hearing if McDonald could not represent him.No new lawyer was retained, and McDonald showed up again Monday, his arm in a sling. Once again, he told Schwall he could not effectively represent Callaway and asked for the case to be continued until mid-October. Schwall said he would not wait that long because he was concerned about the child's safety."He's charged with trying to kill his son," the judge said. "I think we can all agree he shouldn't be around his son.""The child is safe," McDonald replied. As for Callaway, "he's innocent until proven guilty," he said.Schwall expressed frustration he had not been told that after he released Callaway on bond the defendant pleaded guilty, without being found incompetent, to theft charges in Gilmer County. A month later, he filed his competency motion in Fulton for the child-cruelty case. "How is he suddenly incompetent a month later?" Schwall asked.

Hi,
Thank you for bringing attention to this case! "Baby John" is my second cousin. His mom (my first cousin) had "Baby John" taken from her by Michael Callaway's parents and Mr. McDonald through the SAME judge that gave Michael visitation rights. We need your help to get "Baby John" back!!! Many that know the Callaways believe that they are paying the judge under the table. "Baby John" is going to an older half-brother soon and he needs to be with his mom! If you can help in any way possible, please send me a message. I ask that you please bring all of the attention that you can to this case!!!!
Thank you!

Welcome concernedcousin. It sure sounds like a hot mess! Can you explain further what the Grandparents told the judge which led him to give them custody? I recently saw a Dr Phil show about this very thing where a judge awarded visitation to a father who had threatened to kill his son and himself and despite the child's mother providing emails as proof of this the judge never read the file properly and decided the mother was lying. Tragically the father murdered his child and then killed himself. The show highlighted the many failings of the family courts in the USA to protect the children.

It is a hot mess! The judge even stated that he recused himself because he said that he could not trust Mr. McDonald or Michael's parents. His parents lied to the Blairsville judge and told her that the living conditions were horrible (which I can testify that they were completely clean), that his mom forgot his birthday, that his insurance lapsed (she got a new job so she began making more money than was allowed for medicare and the new job offered insurance so he had less than a month of no insurance), and so many little things like that. The judge went out of her jurisdiction and had "Baby J" taken away from the mom while they were living in a completely different county. The county in which the mom lived in even said that something was not right but they could not overstep a judge. The judge never saw the living conditions and even gave Michael visitation rights as long as his parents watch him. His parents believe he is innocent, regardless of the fact that there is an extremely vivid movie of what happened. Talking to "Baby John", you can tell that he has been coached. He wants to be with his mom and her husband and their soon-to-be new baby. They have spent all of their money on an attorney but the Blairsville judge refuses to hear what they have to say. Georgia is not a grandparent-friendly state legally so there are a ton of fishy things going on here. You can look up on Fox 5 Atlanta and WSBTV in Atlanta and see all of the articles. One of the articles on Fox 5 even has a ton of comments from random people that know the Callaways and know something is up. They are running out of options. "Baby John" deserves to be with his mom and be a big brother. Anything that anyone can do to help would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome to J4C concernedcuz!
The best recommendation I could make would be for you to post e-mail or snail mail addresses to the parties involved, as in the judges, and prosecutors, even the Child and Family Services agency that is probably involved.
Keep posting to this topic to keep it on top in this section and you'll get some help from some wonderful people!