The parents of a murdered Jacksonville man are seeking a court ruling to allow them to see their grandchildren more often.
Andrew Maul was shot to death in the parking lot of the Jacksonville Police Department on September 11th. His ex-father-in-law, Robert Gill, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
In a recently-filed grandparent visitation petition in Morgan County Court, the paternal grandparents of Maul’s two children, listed as Russell Lee Maul, Beth Ann Maul, and Debora Kay Bartz, say they’ve gotten a total of six hours of visitation time with their grandkids since the murder.
They say the visits are public at the insistence of Andy Maul’s ex-wife, Jewell Maul, who supervises them.
The petition claims immediately following Andy Maul’s death, Jewell Maul “unreasonably refused to allow the children” to attend his funeral, and has “continued to unreasonably refuse to allow” the grandparents to visit with the children.
While Jewell Maul didn’t address the funeral claim in her response, she did argue that the grandparents didn’t play a “regular” role in the two children’s lives prior to Andy Maul’s death, and denies not allowing them to spend time with the children.
Jewell Maul said in documents her oldest child says she’s “uncomfortable” with visits that Jewell doesn’t supervise.
The parties have agreed to let a mediator make a ruling on the visitation petition. The process is expected to be complete within 30 days.
Note: the petition doesn’t list the age of the children, but says they were born in 2003 and 2009.