A Hendricks County Superior Court judge has signed an order demanding that the Indiana Department of Child Services director, Eric Miller, appear for an in-person hearing next week to explain why his department should not be held in contempt for failing to obey court motions, which ordered Indiana DCS to produce documents for the case relating to the torture death of 4-year-old Judah Morgan.
Indiana DCS was named as a non-party to a civil lawsuit filed earlier this year in January, seeking damages and further accountability against Judah's biological father, 29-year-old Alan Morgan. Morgan was sentenced to 70 years last November, after pleading guilty to the murder and beating of Judah on October 11, 2021.
Judah's second cousin and kinship placement "mother", Jenna Hullett, is a plaintiff in the lawsuit against her cousin Morgan. Hullett had raised Judah for the first three years of his life. She would last see the boy April 7, 2021, when Judah was placed with his biological parents under what was supposed to be a six-month home trial with Indiana DCS. Hullett said that prior to his murder, she had tried multiple times to alert DCS of the ongoing abuse and violations of the six-month home trial. Each time Hullett said she was ignored or told to mind her own business.
The lawsuit also takes aim at the Indiana Department of Child Services, accusing the organization of dropping Judah's case file, even though Judah was considered to be 'ward of the state' and an 'endangered child' since birth. The suit reads that from his birth on June 17, 2017, until the year of his death, Judah was a 'child in need of services' or CHINS, a ward of non-party Indiana Department of Child Services, the state agency responsible for the safety and well-being of Hoosier children who come into contact with the state's child welfare system.
The suit also highlighted that under Indiana law, DCS's responsibilities included providing child protection services and providing child abuse and neglect prevention services for children like Judah. At the time of his birth on June 17, 2017, Judah had tested positive for drugs. Only six weeks prior to his birth, the suit said, allegations of physical abuse and neglect of Judah's older sibling were substantiated by Judah's parents. It pointed out that clearly Judah was an endangered and neglected child "from the moment that Judah was placed by DCS in his parents' home".
Lawyers for Judah Morgan's estate filed an order requesting multiple documents from Indiana DCS on April 26, 2023. According to court documents, DCS has since moved several times to block that request, and requested a protective order be granted prior to giving up the documents on July 14. The request was then granted five days later.
On August 11, 2023, a court order shows DCS finally produced "a few documents" to the plaintiffs. DCS then asked the Court for an extension of time, seeking to push out the deadline for production of documents to a date after the statute of limitations. Now the third request for an extension, the court order claims, DCS' production of documents to date was not in good faith, being "woefully inadequate."
The lawyer representing Jenna Hullett in the suit against Alan Morgan said DCS has still yet to produce the necessary documents as of Aug. 30.
Miller, the director who was promoted to the role of DCS director in May, must now appear in person on September 6 at 10 a.m. to prove his department should not be held in contempt for failing to obey court orders. The order to appear was filed in the same month a seperate class action suit was filed, accused DCS and Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb of failing to protect Indiana children. The suit has similar accusations against the Indiana Department of Child Services director Eric Miller and Indiana DCS for failing their constitutional duty to protect children in the care of the state. The Indiana Department of Child Services still declines to respond to the request for media comment.
