{"id":1045483,"date":"2021-11-22T19:29:10","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T00:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1045483"},"modified":"2021-11-22T19:29:12","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T00:29:12","slug":"pennsylvania-senate-candidate-sean-parnell-suspends-campaign-after-custody-loss-im-devastated-by-court-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pennsylvania-senate-candidate-sean-parnell-suspends-campaign-after-custody-loss-im-devastated-by-court-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Senate Candidate Sean Parnell Suspends Campaign After Custody Loss: \u2018I&#039;m Devastated by\u2019 Court Decision"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpennsylvania-senate-candidate-sean-parnell-suspends-campaign-after-custody-loss-im-devastated-by-court-decision%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1045483&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Sean-Parnell-for-Congress-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Pennsylvania Republican Sean Parnell announced he is suspending his Senate campaign after his estranged wife was granted legal custody of their children in a court ruling on Monday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Parnell said in a statement that he is \u201cdevastated\u201d by the court decision, which&nbsp;<a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/11\/22\/pennsylvania-senate-candidate-sean-parnell-loses-custody-of-children-amid-ongoing-divorce-proceedings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">gives<\/a>&nbsp;Laurie Snell sole legal custody and primary physical custody of their three children, ages 8, 11, and 12, and leaves Parnell with partial physical custody, according to public court records.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI strongly disagree with the ruling today and I\u2019m devastated by the&nbsp;decision. I plan on asking the court to reconsider this decision,\u201d Parnell wrote, suggesting he intends to file an appeal.<\/p>\n<p>Judge James Arner oversaw the custody hearings, which took place earlier this month in Butler County, Pennsylvania, as part of bitter divorce proceedings that have been ongoing for years but became highly public amid Parnell\u2019s bid for office. In her quest for full custody, Snell charged that Parnell demonstrated abusive behavior toward her and their children and that his work schedule was not conducive to fulfilling his current custody duties, which were, at the time, shared between the two parents.<\/p>\n<p>Parnell stated:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote readability=\"12\">\n<p>In the order, two of the leading factors that weighed heavily in the judge\u2019s decision revolved around me being a leading senate candidate. There is nothing more important to me than my children, and while I plan to ask the court to reconsider, I can\u2019t continue with a Senate campaign. My focus right now is 100% on my children, and I want them to know I do not have any other priorities and will never stop fighting for them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The judge\u2019s ruling comes after Snell specifically accused Parnell of striking one of their children on the back in 2018 and punching a door that hit another of their children on the head, also in 2018. Snell also accused Parnell of choking her until she had to bite him for him to stop.<\/p>\n<p>Parnell denied all accusations of physical abuse during the hearings, and his current partner and their children\u2019s longtime nanny both reinforced his denial in their own testimonies, in which they&nbsp;<a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/11\/10\/nanny-testifies-as-witness-in-sean-parnell-case-backs-pennsylvania-republicans-denial-of-abuse-allegations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">praised<\/a>&nbsp;Parnell\u2019s parenting abilities and rejected any notion that he had or would physically harm his children.<\/p>\n<p>Arner stated in his ruling that he found the two incidents with the children \u201cdid happen\u201d but that he is \u201cnot placing weight on that evidence\u201d because more than three years have gone by \u201cwithout further incident.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arner said that because \u201cincidents\u201d \u2014 which he did not specify \u2014 involving Snell \u201coccurred so many years ago and did not involve the children,\u201d they were not \u201crelevant\u201d to the custody arrangements. Arner noted that he was \u201cnot making a finding on specifically what did or did not happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The judge pointed to schedule concerns, stating, \u201cAvailability is a major factor in this case,\u201d and referenced Snell\u2019s \u201cflexible work schedule\u201d versus Parnell being a \u201cleading candidate for United States Senate\u201d who would need to travel \u201cfrequently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The judge also noted that \u201cboth parties are equally at fault for refusing to communicate effectively,\u201d adding that giving one parent primary responsibility is necessary until a willingness to communicate is restored.<\/p>\n<p>The judge deemed Snell the \u201cmore credible witness\u201d and said that she would therefore \u201ctruthfully\u201d be able to communicate status reports to Parnell and the court as needed.<\/p>\n<p>Parnell\u2019s campaign suspension leaves a wide opening in the Republican Senate primary field. Parnell, an Army veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star for time he served in Afghanistan, was a frontrunning candidate backed by former President Donald Trump and had demonstrated political momentum after just barely losing to Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA) in his first bid for office in 2020.<\/p>\n<p><em>Write to Ashley Oliver at <a href=\"mailto:aoliver@breitbart.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">aoliver@breitbart.com<\/a>.&nbsp;Follow her on Twitter at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/asholiver\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@asholiver<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pennsylvania Republican Sean Parnell announced he is suspending his Senate campaign after his estranged wife was granted legal custody of their children in a court ruling on Monday morning. Parnell &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1045483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1045483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1045483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1045483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1045483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}