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They’re still fighting. Jenelle Evans and David Eason of Teen Mom fame went back to Columbus County Court on Tuesday, June 25, to attend another custody hearing, Radar Online reported. The parents are trying to regain custody of their kids, who were removed from their care after David, 31, shot and killed the family dog, Nugget, on April 30. Scroll through the gallery below to learn more.
The former Teen Mom 2 couple has been in and out of court since May trying to get their kids back. On Tuesday, they arrived at the courthouse for their first hearing this week.
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Tense
Jenelle, 27, carried a bunch of paperwork with her as she strode into the courthouse with her husband.
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Failed
After five previous court hearings, a judge previously told Jenelle that she “failed to protect the children while they were in her care.” The duo currently does not have custody of any of their children. But why?
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RIP Nugget
If you follow the Teen Mom 2 folks, you probably know the story by now. David shot Jenelle’s dog in late April and later justified the killing by claiming the pooch “snapped” at his daughter, Ensley, an insider told Us Weekly at the time.
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Mission
“I don’t give a damn what animal bites my baby on the face,” he wrote in a since-deleted Instagram caption on May 1. “Whether it be your dog or mine, a dog is a dog, and I don’t put up with that s–t at all … I’m all about protecting my family, it is my life’s mission. Some people are worth killing or dying for, and my family means that much to me.”
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Judgment
“You can hate me all you want, but this isn’t the first time the dog bit Ensley aggressively,” he added. “The only person that can judge whether or not an animal is a danger to MY CHILD IS ME.”
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Custody
Following the incident, David and Jenelle lost temporary custody of their kids. Together, the couple has five children. Jenelle has two from previous relationships — Jace and Kaiser —and David has two from previous relationships, Kaden and Maryssa. They share Ensley, the youngest.
Jenelle didn’t have custody of Jace, 9, at the time of the incident with Nugget and David didn’t have custody of Kaden, but Kaiser, 4, Ensley, 2, and Maryssa, 11, were removed by CPS. Jenelle’s son Jace, as well as Ensley, are currently with Jenelle’s mom, Barbara Evans. (She already had custody of Jace before this entire situation began).
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Quiet
Jenelle’s son Kaiser is with his father Nathan Griffith. Finally, David’s daughter Maryssa is with her maternal grandmother. That means the couple didn’t have any of their kids with them for Father’s Day 2019. That led Jenelle to share an image of their empty, childless backyard and pool that day with the caption, “It’s too quiet here.”
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Cutting Ties
In the aftermath of David’s dog killing incident, Jenelle was also fired from her MTV reality TV series, Teen Mom 2. In a statement shared with Us Weeklyon May 7, a spokesperson for the network said, “MTV ended its relationship with David Eason over a year ago in February 2018 and has not filmed any new episodes of Teen Mom 2 with him since.”
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No Plans
The statement continued, “Additionally, we have stopped filming with Jenelle Eason as of April 6, 2019, and have no plans to cover her story in the upcoming season.” The announcement came after fans called for MTV to fire the star after the news about Nugget first broke.
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Defense
After the kids were taken from their care, Jenelle and David haven’t stopped trying to get them back. Plus, Jenelle has strongly defended her husband’s actions. After Investigation Discovery included him in a list of bad dads for a video titled, “5 Dads Who Won’t Be Getting Father of the Year Awards,” she wrote on Facebook, “This channel is false and [a] bunch of BS. You put my husband on the most frightening list when he was PROTECTING HIS CHILD FROM BEING BITTEN BY A DOG IN THE FACE.”
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Absurd
“This is absolutely absurd,” she added. “I’ve been physically beaten by ex’s, slapped in my face, almost died, ran over by a truck from my ex … and NONE OF THIS was while I was in a relationship with David Eason. You have him on a list for SERIAL KILLERS and KIDNAPPERS AND IT’S ALL UNTRUE.”
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Helping Their Case?
Meanwhile, a source previously told Radar that Jenelle and David have been working hard to get custody. “She signed up for parenting classes and marriage counseling,” the insider said. “They’re looking to get David a psych evaluation for court.”
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Doing OK
In the meantime, Jace and Ensley seem to be doing OK in the care of Jenelle’s mom, Barb. On June 1, she took them for a day at the beach and shared a photo of the little ones climbing on a boat to Instagram with the caption, “Having fun at Coast Guard Day, eating hot dogs, frozen ice, and learning about rescue equipment.”
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Visitation
Jenelle and David are allowed to visit the children they previously had custody of once a week for an hour at child protective services, Radar reported on June 25. There’s always a chance that agreement could change if they keep going back to court to fight for custody of the kids, as they did on Tuesday.
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Changes?
Do you think Jenelle and David will get custody of their kids this week at court? Or at least see the terms of their temporary loss of custody changed? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
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