TULSA, Okla., Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Oklahoman Dusten Brown, biological father of "Baby Veronica" who sought her return in a four-year custody battle, announced Thursday he will end all litigation.
"I cannot bear to continue it any longer. I love her too much to continue to have her in the spotlight," Brown said at a press conference called by the Cherokee Nation, of which he is a member, to explain why he and the Nation would dismiss their appeals with the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Brown won custody of Veronica in 2011, and her return from adoptive parents Matt and Melanie Capobianco of Charleston, S.C., after South Carolina courts ruled Brown had not given "voluntary consent" to the adoption, required under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act.
The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled the act does not apply in this case because Brown did not have custody of the child at her birth.
Courts in South Carolina demanded Brown return Veronica to the Capobiancos, which he refused to do for several weeks while appealing the decision in Oklahoma, the Tulsa World reported.
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