Tag: woodnick law

The Safety Net Has a Hole: What Arizona’s New Mandatory Reporting Overhaul Means for Educators

By Brad TenBrook As a criminal defense attorney who handles child abuse and failure-to-report cases in Arizona, I have spent years watching the intersection of good intentions and bad legislation. A recent law passed in 2025, Senate Bill 1437, fundamentally changed the stakes for Arizona educators by amending the mandatory reporting (A.R.S. § 13-3620) and […]

A DCS Investigation Can Happen to Anyone (Even a Former Cabinet Secretary)

When most people picture a family on the receiving end of a child welfare investigation, they don’t picture someone like Pete Buttigieg. Someone with the nickname “Mayor Pete” has created a public image of a happy, healthy family life. But this past week, the former U.S. Transportation Secretary revealed that his home was visited by […]

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In re Gault (1967): Due Process for Juvenile Defendants

This piece was originally published in Maricopa Lawyer. [1] By Ryan T. McGuire and Markus Risinger On the 6th floor of the Maricopa County Old Courthouse, a museum display panel bears a striking inscription: “The Magna Carta for Juveniles.” Those were Justice Earl Warren’s words upon the release of Justice Abe Fortas’s majority opinion in […]

Rough Diaper Changes and Classic Metaphyseal Lesions

By Ryan T. McGuire In August 2024, an Indiana father, Tristan Dean Gerhardt, was charged after his six-month-old was found with fractures in all four limbs [1]. A skeletal survey revealed multiple fractures in both arms and legs. Oral injuries suggested something had been forced into the infant’s mouth. Treating physicians told investigators that most […]

The Triad of Abusive Head Trauma

By Ryan T. McGuire In October 2025, a Virginia man, La’Shaun Quintae Holloway, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his two-month-old baby [1]. The facts of the case were horrific. While the baby was in Holloway’s sole care, family members heard him over an Xbox headset yelling obscenities at the infant. Shortly […]

Will I Keep My House in My Divorce?

A house is often the most significant piece of property involved a divorce case. Commonly, people ask whether they can keep the house in the divorce. The answer is, “it depends.” Community Property Laws in Arizona: Arizona is a community property state, which means that married couples share in the assets acquired during the marriage. […]

A Court-Focused Perspective: The Benefits of a Second Opinion

By Gregg Woodnick and Isabel Ranney  A term often thrown around when discussing family court matters is “high conflict litigation.” In general, family court can be traumatic and disputes involving the care of children all are emotionally draining.  But the term “high conflict” really should be reserved for cases that are (sadly) explosive. Frequently, these […]

Alternative Explanations for Purported Child Abuse

A common joke among law students, especially for those like me with an undergrad degree in political science, is that we attended law school to avoid math and other topics like it. We certainly did not attend law school expecting to research medical conditions. But in my time working on cases involving allegations of child […]

To Catch A Predator: TikTok Edition

Everyone knows Chris Hansen’s show, To Catch A Predator. He was praised for exposing pedophiles to the world by posing online as underage girls that the pedophiles attempted to meet in-person, collecting evidence against the perpetrators just like law enforcement. But now, teenagers inspired by Hansen are exacting their own form of retribution against purported pedophiles. […]