Mitchell v. Mitchell

This is an interstate child custody case, the issues of which being largely governed by the provisions of the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act of 1980 (the federal act) as is now codified in 28 U.S.C. § 1738A.

Mrs. Juanita Mitchell, the defendant mother, sought a writ of habeas corpus in an Alabama circuit court in an attempt to obtain custody of the child of the parties by the enforcement of a prior judgment of a Texas court which had granted the daughter's custody to her. After an ore tenus hearing before the Alabama court on July 7, 1981, that court rendered its September 3, 1981…