SPRINGFIELD, La. – Daniel Hoover is learning to speak again by spelling words on a board, with sign language and with a computerized voice box.
“I had an aneurysm in June 2004. I understand everything, but I have trouble speaking. I use this device to communicate,” Daniel said through a voice box.
And each day, his family says, Daniel gets a little better.
“Daniel is non-verbal but he understands. He understands everything,” said Daniel’s nurse.
And now, Daniel is at the center of a nasty family fight.
Daniel and Kelly Hoover married back in 1999, a beautiful couple who had a child. Then Daniel had his aneurysm and struggles began, first for survival, and then for money.
At the center of the fight is the home next door to Daniel's father's house in Springfield.
“All the churches donated money, and unions donated money, and people we didn't even know donated money,” said Glenn Hoover, Daniel’s father.
Glenn said he turned all that money over to Daniel's wife, Kelly Wolfe, who had power of attorney at the time.
According to a memorandum filed in federal court, "Kelly transferred ownership of the handicapped accessible house that was built for Daniel and Kelly primarily through donated labor and materials from the community to her parents. Kelly's parents subsequently sold the house for $265,000."
“For her to take the house, Daniel's mobile home, his tools, his shed, even all his personal possessions… She took everything he had, 100 percent of everything he had. She left him nothing,” Glenn said.
Kelly said that's simply not true, and that it’s an “absolute untruth” that all of the money was donated.
Kelly showed us the mortgage, roughly $184,000, which her parents co-signed. When she couldn't pay the bills anymore, she said, her parents took over the debt.
Kelly said she and Daniel had zero income for a year and mounting medical bills.
“It was horrible,” Kelly said. “We had a $500,000 annual maximum, and we had capped that out within three months because of his ICU bills and things like that, so it was devastating.”
Daniel and Kelly divorced in January 2007.
And the fight wasn't just financial. In March 2007 Daniel’s sister was arrested.
“It really hurt me. It really hurt me to know that this had got this ugly,” said Daniel’s sister, Lisa Cothern.
Lisa and Kelly allegedly argued on the phone. At the time Kelly was dating the stepson of Tangipahoa Judge Elizabeth Wolfe. They're now married.
According to Montgomery's memorandum, "the next day, a warrant was issued in Tangipahoa Parish for Lisa's arrest on a charge of telephone harassment of Kelly."
“I called the detective and I asked him and he said, they have an arrest warrant for you. Arrest warrant? Real confused. And he said, 'yeah, apparently you and your sister-in-law had an altercation on the phone.' And I was floored,” Lisa said.
The memorandum goes on to say, "although the duty judge at that time was Judge Ernest Drake, the warrant was signed by Judge Wolfe."
“Under Louisiana Code of Criminal Proceedure, a judge should be recused from a matter if the judge is related closely to the victim of the crime. And as long as the judge is related with the fourth degree to the victim of the crime, that is a ground for recusation of the judge,” said Dane Ciolino, a Loyola University law professor.
Because Kelly wasn't married to Judge Wolfe's stepson at the time, Ciolino said, she wasn't bound to step down. But he said to avoid the appearance of impropriety, she should have.
Tuesday afternoon Judge Wolfe's secretary told Eyewitness News the judge is legally not allowed to comment.
“I was floored,” Lisa said. “I've never really been involved with the judiciary system, and I guess I had a naive concept of thinking it was really a just system.”
Those telephone harassment charges were later dropped, but that's certainly not the only legal battle. The battle over visitation, Daniel’s rights to see his son, has been long and ugly.
“There's no reason that he can't see his son like any father out there,” Lisa said.
Daniel is allowed to see his son for just four hours a month. From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the second and fourth Sundays of each month, Kelly Wolfe says, she believes that's all her son can handle now.
“There's a lot of uncomfortableness that surrounds this right now,” Kelly said. “But I feel like, he's a very sensitive child and as he gets older, he's very soft-hearted when it comes to his dad and I think that that will change as he gets older. And I certainly hope that it will.”
“(He) wants to put on his 'Disabled Dads Rights' shirt. They had these made whenever they were going to court,” said Daniel’s nurse.
“Daniel's the same to me. I mean, he's no different. He's still got the same mischief he has, he likes to play tricks on you, mess with you and stuff,” said Daniel’s father, Glenn Hoover.
Glenn sees Daniel's progress each day. Because it's a brain injury, how far he can eventually progress is simply unknown.
Daniel's father wants one thing fixed.
“Daniel should have a normal relationship with his son,” he said.
“I love Daniel. I always will. He's the father of my child. And I know that my son loves him and that he loves my son. And I know that if he could truly speak, that he would want the best for our son, just like I do,” Kelly said.
There is more to the story. A friend of Daniel Hoover's was arrested for posting what investigators call harassing and potentially threatening messages on Facebook. It's a misdemeanor charge called "cyberstalking.”
And more than eight months after being arrested, Scott Lemoine remains incarcerated on those charges.
(We'll talk to Lemoine's mother and the arresting detective about what happened, Wednesday at 10 p.m.)
