Libertarian Party of Michigan
PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE ISSUE, February 6, 2017
Lansing MI – Maryanne Godboldo, the Detroit mother who endured a ten hour standoff with police to prevent the forced drugging of her daughter, was honored at by the Libertarian Party of Michigan last Friday night. Awards were announced at their annual Liberty Festival Banquet (AKA Libby Fest) which was held at the Ramada Lansing Hotel and Conference Center in Lansing Michigan at 5:30 PM. Godboldo was honored with one of three Defender of Liberty Awards presented that evening: The Spokesperson for Liberty Award. According to their website this award is for, “A member of the community whose patriotism and conviction have inspired contributions to the cause of liberty.”
Maryanne’s sister, Penny Godboldo Brooks accepted the award on her behalf due to an aneurysm from which she hasn’t recovered. In presenting the award, Boman commented, “Maryanne Godboldo is a common citizen who did something extraordinary when faced with extraordinary aggression. If all citizens stuck to their guns and courageously stood up to aggression the way she has, we would have a truly free country. She is an inspiration to anyone who treasures liberty above all else, and has more than earned this award.”
Godboldo made headlines in 2011 after the Detroit mother withstood a ten hour armed standoff with police, an armed assault by a SWAT team and a tank for refusing to give her daughter a potentially lethal antipsychotic drug. The police initially insisted they had a court order to remove her daughter, but were unable to produce it when Godboldo asked to see it. Eventually she surrendered when the police and Child Protective Services falsely assured her that they would not take her daughter to a psychiatric ward, or drug her.
In the absence of a valid court order to seize her child, a judge dismissed the charges against Maryanne Godboldo, while ordering that her daughter Ariana be released from the Hawthorn Center, a state-run juvenile psychiatric facility where she was forcibly medicated. On September 29, 2011, a Wayne County Family Court Judge ordered Ariana be returned to her mother.
In the years that followed Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, repeatedly appealed every ruling in Maryanne’s favor until the Michigan Court of appeals reinstated charges against her late last year. On January 27th, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the charges because it was determined that Godboldo was not expected to gain competency to stand trial after suffering an aneurysm in 2016.
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Contacts:
Bill Gelineau, Chair
Libertarian Party of Michigan
616-723-2776
Chair@MichiganLP.org
Scotty Boman, Political Director
Libertarian Party of Michigan
313.247.2052
PoliticalDirector@MichiganLP.org
