The \u201cfatal flaw\u201d in the grandparents\u2019 case, Gill said, came from their own evidence played at trial: A secret audio recording<\/a> that a friend of theirs made of Naso two months after his wife died.<\/span><\/p>\n Get Rhode Map<\/span><\/p>\n A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Two sisters who said they were family friends of Ghoreishi and Khorsand visited Naso and Laila in June 2024. One of them, Lili Bahrami, recorded their nearly three-hour visit on her iPhone. They told Naso they just wanted to know what happened to Sherry Naso, their childhood friend.<\/span><\/p>\n And Naso was \u201cunvarnished,\u201d the judge said.<\/span><\/p>\n Naso told the sisters that he believed his in-laws\u2019 medical care cost Sherry Naso her life. He told them about his toxic relationship with his in-laws<\/a>. He told them about masses of prescriptions that Ghoreishi wrote for Sherry<\/a> Naso and Laila. He told them he believed that they\u2019d misdiagnosed signs that Sherry Naso\u2019s cancer<\/a> had returned and discouraged her from getting care.<\/span><\/p>\n He said that he believed his in-laws controlled his wife and interfered with their marriage, and he didn\u2019t believe it was in Laila\u2019s best interests to be around them. <\/span><\/p>\n Naso said he feared that they wanted to make him appear to be an unfit parent and use their money to take away Laila. He said that he knew it sounded crazy, but Khorsand had \u201csent people to spy\u201d on him.<\/span><\/p>\n Bahrami sent the secret recording to Ghoreishi and Khorsand, who submitted it as evidence while the trial was ongoing.<\/span><\/p>\n Naso had told the sisters that he had his guard up, because of the trouble between him and his in-laws, the judge said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd this piece of evidence corroborates that,\u201d Gill said. \u201cIt reinforces the reasonableness of Scott\u2019s apprehensions and his decision to restrict visitation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The judge called the recording \u201can invasion of privacy\u201d and an \u201coverstep\u201d \u2014 and its existence guided his decision not to grant visits.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe know at that time that he believed the grandparents were overbearing, that they\u2019re interfering in his parental decision making, that [the] grandmother believes that she needs to protect Laila from him,\u201d Gill said. \u201cWe know that he believes they\u2019re spying on him. As he sits here today, he believes it to be true, because he was, in fact, recorded by somebody who then proceeded to hand the recording to [Ghoreishi and Khorsand]. He believes they\u2019re moving against him for either custody or to show he\u2019s unfit.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n By law, the court must defer to a fit parent\u2019s decision not to allow visits, unless the grandparents can \u201cclearly and convincingly establish\u201d that the decision was unreasonable, Gill said.<\/span><\/p>\n The judge approved the motion filed by Naso\u2019s lawyer<\/a> to dismiss the trial, saying there was no way the trial could continue. <\/span><\/p>\n At the same time, the judge criticized Naso, accusing him of putting his own interests ahead of his daughter\u2019s by cutting off visits. He said he didn\u2019t find Naso\u2019s testimony credible about Ghoreishi allegedly fabricating Laila\u2019s medical records or that Laila\u2019s visits with her grandparents were connected to her getting sick at daycare.<\/span><\/p>\n Gill said he saw no evidence that Laila\u2019s dysregulation was caused by the court-ordered visits with the grandparents. He said the reason for her reluctance to see them \u201cwas the notion that her grandparents were bad people, and the danger was put in her head or allowed to be put in her head by her father.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The judge said he didn\u2019t find that the grandparents \u201cwere engaged in a cycle of chronic illness,\u201d as Naso described. \u201cI can find that the father was upset to learn about the amount of prescriptions that [the] grandfather prescribed Laila … and he believed this to be excessive,\u201d Gill said.<\/span><\/p>\n Gill lamented that they hadn\u2019t been able to forge a relationship after Sherry Naso\u2019s death.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis was a tragic case. Sherry Naso was by all accounts a loving, caring mother,\u201d Gill said. \u201cRather than celebrating Sherry\u2019s life, they spend time arguing, fighting in this court. Trials are not wars. Litigation is not a war. Trials are about a search for the truth. Efforts to try to aspire to ruin another party at any cost, is unnecessary and unjust.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Gill found Naso in willful contempt of a visitation order set by then-Judge Debra DiSegna in the fall of 2024. He said Naso didn\u2019t show that he was coerced into agreeing to the temporary visits, that he\u2019d been represented by a lawyer, and that the two sides had made an agreement. Gill ordered Naso to pay $2,500 in attorney\u2019s fees.<\/span><\/p>\n Ghoreishi and Khorsand, and their lawyers, Michael Ahn and Peter Sangiovanni, hurriedly left the courtroom without speaking to reporters. They have 30 days to decide whether to appeal Gill\u2019s decision to the Rhode Island Supreme Court.<\/span><\/p>\n Naso was teary and hugged his lawyer, Veronica Assalone, and friends who\u2019d come to support him.<\/span><\/p>\n Gill \u201cfollowed the law,\u201d Naso said. \u201cUltimately, I am extremely grateful that he respected my fundamental parental rights and protecting my daughter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Naso said he didn\u2019t agree with Gill\u2019s assessment that visits would be in Laila\u2019s best interest, or that he hadn\u2019t put her best interests first.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI put my daughter\u2019s best interest before my own,\u201d Naso said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019ve essentially bankrupted myself and ourselves to fight for her.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n On Friday, he said, he would take Laila to the park and spend the last day of April school vacation together.<\/span><\/p>\n But he would go alone to Sherry Naso\u2019s grave. Friday is the second anniversary of her death. She would have been 39 years old.<\/span><\/p>\n Naso thought about what he\u2019d say to her. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThank you for giving me the strength to get through these last two years. And I\u2019m praying for the strength to continue on this fight,\u201d Naso said. \u201cI miss her and I love her so much, so much, but she\u2019s giving me the strength. I know she was here with me today. She\u2019s with me every day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com<\/a>. Follow her @AmandaMilkovits<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/365BTNUWMDF7GXUWE5UBMGJ32E.jpg?auth=f517a30445935169929939d183e084f629f4ed2d05d4d8a1249f3dad3745123c&width=1440\")
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