Franklin v. State

1993 OK CIV APP 127, 858 P.2d 1296, 64 O.B.A.J. 2710, 1993 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 109
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 20, 1993
DocketNo. 80917
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 1993 OK CIV APP 127 (Franklin v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Franklin v. State, 1993 OK CIV APP 127, 858 P.2d 1296, 64 O.B.A.J. 2710, 1993 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 109 (Okla. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

HANSEN, Chief Judge:

Appellants (Parents) seek review of the trial court’s judgment, rendered on jury verdicts, finding the child D.C.H. was deprived as to Parents, and terminating Parents’ rights as to both children. We affirm.

This action was initiated in November 1990, with Appellee’s (State) filing of a petition alleging the child K.L.H. was deprived. The petition further alleged K.L.H. had been physically abused while in the custody of Parents, having suffered bruising to the face, collar bone and back, and that Parents’ explanation of the bruising was inconsistent with medical findings. The petition asked that K.L.H. be made a ward of the court and be placed in foster care.

Parents, with representation of counsel, stipulated to the petition. K.L.H. was adjudicated deprived and was made a ward of the court. At a disposition hearing in January 1991, the trial court adopted a “service plan” outlining seven goals Parents had to accomplish to have K.L.H. returned to their custody.1

At a review hearing in August 1991, the court determined Parents had made progress with the service plan and placed physical custody with Parents, while legal custody remained with State. Parents returned K.L.H. to State’s physical custody because State would not allow Appellant Franklin to take K.L.H. with her to join Appellant Harris in Arkansas, where he had moved.

In December 1991, after Parents’ return to Oklahoma, the court returned physical custody to Parents. Also in December 1991, Appellant Franklin gave birth to the child D.C.H. The children remained in Parents’ physical custody until March 1992. At that time State received a referral reporting D.C.H. had bruising on her face.

At a show cause hearing, the court found Parents’ explanation for the bruising inconsistent with the medical evidence. Both children were recommitted to the custody [1298]*1298of State for placement due to new allegations of abuse.

State then filed an amended petition asking the court to terminate Parents’ parental rights. This petition alleged, among other things, abuse to D.C.H. while in the care and custody of Parents, after prior abuse to K.L.H., and that Parents had failed to correct the conditions which led to K.L.H. being adjudicated deprived.

After several continuances at the request of Parents, the matter was tried to a jury in December 1992. The jury verdicts found D.C.H. deprived as to both Parents and found Parents’ parental rights should be terminated in regard to both K.L.H. and D.C.H. The trial court entered its judgment pursuant to the jury’s verdicts and Parents appeal from that judgment.

Parents first allege the trial court erred in allowing evidence to be introduced relating to A.D.M.F., an older sibling of the children involved here. Parents entered a continuing objection to any evidence relating to A.D.M.F. at the time the child was mentioned in State’s opening statement.

Appellant Franklin testified A.D.M.F. is her child from her marriage to Bryan Scales. Franklin further testified A.D.M.F. became the subject of deprived child proceedings in Colorado after an investigation of facial bruising. At the time Franklin was living with Appellant Harris and A.D.M.F. was six months old.

Franklin stipulated to portions of the Colorado petition, including a statement that conditions in the home were injurious to the child, and then voluntarily relinquished her parental rights. The petition, with certain portions redacted, and a document entitled Advisement and Admission in Dependency and Neglect, which contained Franklin’s stipulation, were admitted into evidence over her objection.

Parents argue the evidence as to A.D.M.F. should have been excluded because State did not plead any facts regarding the child in its petition. Parents rely on 10 O.S.Supp.1990 § 1103, which requires a petition in a juvenile proceeding to be verified and, inter alia, to set forth “with particularity facts which bring the child within the purview of” the juvenile code.

We find the facts set forth in the amended petition sufficient to advise Parents as to the nature of the proceedings and what action State was seeking. See, Matter of A.D.B., 818 P.2d 483 (Okla.1991). Parents provide no legal authority that State was. required to plead all facts upon which it would rely at trial.

Parents object to the introduction of “form court records from Colorado”. Parents concede the documents were self-authenticating, but assert the documents do not prove their own relevance. Parents do not otherwise identify which documents they find objectionable, nor specifically what in the documents is prejudicial.

Presuming Parents refer to the Colorado petition and Franklin’s stipulation, we find them relevant and sufficiently explained by Franklin in her testimony. We find no contention by State in the record the Colorado documents were offered to prove Parents inflicted the injuries to A.D.M.F. Parents had full opportunity to explain the circumstances of the Colorado case.

The evidence relating to A.D.M.F. provided relevant background information on Parents’ past propensities, care, handling of and attitude toward their children. Matter of Stacy W, 623 P.2d 1057 (Okla.App. 1980). Evidence that Franklin had previously stipulated to allowing injurious conditions to exist, when considered with Parents’ second similar stipulation, certainly go to Parents’ ability to provide proper parental care or a fit home. See, 10 O.S.Supp.1990 § 1101(4)(b). We find no error in the trial court’s admission of the evidence relating to A.D.M.F.

Parents’ second contention is that there was no competent evidence that termi[1299]*1299nation of Parents’ rights was in the best interest of the children. Parents note State’s amended petition does not expressly state the statutory authority under which State relies in requesting termination. Parents assume, as we do, that State bases its petition on 10 O.S.Supp.1987 §§ 1130(A)(3) and (5). Respectively, those subsections authorize termination of parental rights for failure to correct the conditions upon which a finding of a deprived child is made, and for physical or sexual abuse, or failing to protect a child from physical or sexual abuse.

Section 1130(A)(3)(c) requires a finding that termination of parental rights is in the best interests of the child. Parents specifically contend, again without citation of legal authority, that this element must be supported by evidence from an expert qualified to form a clinical opinion. Parents argue the only evidence State introduced on this element was the lay testimony of social workers, and that this was an attempt to invade the province of the jury.

We find Parents’ argument unpersuasive. The jury heard extensive testimony and received considerable other evidence which would have allowed them to make an informed determination on the question of whether termination was in the best interest of the children. The one social worker witness who was allowed to express his opinion on this question went to some lengths to explain why he thought the children should not be returned to Parents’ custody.

We find no requirement for expert testimony to prove the best interests of the children and see little danger under the circumstances that the jury was left to make their determination solely from the opinion of the social worker.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1993 OK CIV APP 127, 858 P.2d 1296, 64 O.B.A.J. 2710, 1993 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/franklin-v-state-oklacivapp-1993.