In Re Antoine J.

CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedApril 26, 2019
DocketW2017-02456-COA-R3-JV
StatusPublished

This text of In Re Antoine J. (In Re Antoine J.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Antoine J., (Tenn. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

04/26/2019 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON Assigned on Briefs February 1, 2019

IN RE ANTOINE J. ET AL.

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Shelby County No. CT-003884-16 Gina C. Higgins, Judge ___________________________________

No. W2017-02456-COA-R3-JV ___________________________________

The mother of a three-year-old child appeals the trial court’s ruling that she committed severe child abuse under Tennessee Code Annotated § 37-1-102(b)(27). The Department of Children’s Services (the “Department”) received a referral from a Memphis hospital after determining that the child had suffered a fractured femur along with other injuries that were not usually caused by normal childhood play. Following its initial investigation, the Department determined that the injuries were the result of abuse by the mother’s boyfriend. Subsequently, the Department filed a petition against the mother and her boyfriend to declare her children dependent and neglected and the victims of severe child abuse. A juvenile court magistrate and the juvenile court judge each found the children dependent and neglected and that the mother committed severe child abuse by failing to protect the child from her boyfriend’s abuse and failing to timely seek medical attention for the child. Following an appeal, the circuit court made the same findings. The mother appeals the determination that she committed severe child abuse. We affirm.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed

FRANK G. CLEMENT JR., P.J., M.S., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which THOMAS R. FRIERSON II and KENNY W. ARMSTRONG, JJ., joined.

Anna Leslie Phillips, Germantown, Tennessee, for the appellant, Katrina J.1

1 This court has a policy of protecting the identity of children in parental termination cases by initializing the last names of the parties. Herbert H. Slatery, III, Attorney General and Reporter, Jordan Keith Crews, Assistant Attorney General, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.

Autumn Blaise Chastain, Memphis, Tennessee, Guardian ad Litem.

OPINION

PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL HISTORY

When the incident giving rise to this appeal occurred, Katrina J. (“Mother”) was living in the home of her boyfriend, Anthony G., with their three-month-old daughter, Ameryiah,2 and Mother’s three-year-old son, Antoine3 (collectively, “the Children”).

On the morning of January 10, 2015, Cidney Edwards, Mother’s cousin, went to Mother’s home between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. When Ms. Edwards arrived, she observed Antoine lying on the bedroom floor, crying. After observing multiple bruises on Antoine and realizing that Antoine was in pain, Ms. Edwards insisted that she and Mother take Antoine to Germantown Methodist Hospital. Following an initial assessment, Antoine was transported to the LeBonheur Children’s Hospital Emergency Room.

While Antoine was being examined and treated at the LeBonheur Emergency Room, the Department received a referral that Antoine’s injuries may be the result of physical abuse. Based on the referral, Alisha Fondren, a child-abuse investigator with the Department, immediately traveled to LeBonheur and interviewed Ms. Edwards, Mother, and Antoine.

During their discussions, Mother told Ms. Fondren that when her boyfriend Anthony G. came home the night before, he became very irate when he learned that Antoine had eaten the only piece of cheesecake and proceeded “to beat” Antoine. Mother stated she was in another room, but she heard Anthony G. beating Antione and Antoine screaming. Mother also said she attempted to enter the room where Antoine was being beaten, but she was threatened with physical harm if she intervened. As a result, Mother waited in the bedroom and did not see Antoine until later that evening when Anthony G. put him on a pallet in their bedroom. Mother also told Ms. Fondren that she did not notice

2 Ameryiah has also been identified as A’meryiah and Ameriah. 3 The whereabouts of Antoine’s father, Bernard J., are unknown. Bernard. J. did not participate in the proceedings below and is not a party to this appeal.

-2- bruising or swelling on Antoine’s leg until the next morning. As noted above, Ms. Edwards was so alarmed by Antoine’s condition when she arrived at Mother’s home that she insisted they take Antoine to the hospital.

One of the physicians to examine Antoine was Dr. Karen Lakin, a pediatrician specializing in child-abuse pediatrics. She testified by deposition at trial that Antoine’s physical examination revealed “a significant amount of bruising to his forehead,” “some tenderness and swelling to the right side of his neck,” and “multiple areas of bruising on the right thigh as well and some abrasions.”4 Additionally, an X-ray revealed an acute transverse fracture of the left femur, the largest bone in the leg, which required that the doctors set the broken femur and place the leg in a cast.5 The medical records also revealed that Antoine had “some mildly elevated liver functions,” which, according to Dr. Lakin, “can be associated with blunt trauma to the liver.”

Dr. Lakin testified that a transverse fracture of the femur is not usually caused by normal childhood play; instead, a transverse femur fracture is usually caused by a direct blow. As she explained: “the femur is the largest bone in the body, so in a three-year-old, it would take considerable force to break the femur.” In her expert opinion, Antoine’s injuries were caused by non-accidental trauma. Dr. Lakin also testified that a femur fracture would have caused “[s]evere pain” for Antoine, and she opined that Antoine would not have gone to sleep easily after the fracture occurred.

Based on the foregoing and other information, the Department filed a petition in the Juvenile Court of Shelby County against Mother and Anthony G. to adjudicate the Children dependent and neglected.6 The petition also alleged that Antoine was the victim of severe child abuse due to Anthony G.’s physical assault and Mother’s failure to protect Antoine or seek medical treatment for him.

4 Dr. Lakin is an assistant professor of pediatrics at University of Tennessee and medical director of the LeBonheur CARES team for LeBonheur Children’s Hospital. Her deposition was admitted as evidence at trial. 5 Ms. Fondren described the cast as going “from about . . . [the] middle of [Antoine’s] stomach all the way down.” 6 The referral occurred on January 10, 2015, and the petition was filed four months later on May 12, 2015. In the interim, it was not necessary for the Department to remove the Children from Mother’s custody because the Department and the family immediately placed the Children with Mother’s cousins, Cidney and Monique Edwards, where the Children remain and are doing well. To facilitate the agreed upon placement, Mother executed a power of attorney.

-3- A Juvenile Court Magistrate was the first to try the case, and the Magistrate found that the Children were dependent and neglected, that Anthony G. had committed severe child abuse by beating Antoine, and that Mother committed severe child abuse by failing to provide medical care for Antoine until the next day.

Mother and Anthony G. filed a petition for rehearing by the juvenile court judge. Following an evidentiary hearing on August 8, 2016, the juvenile court judge entered an order finding the Children were dependent and neglected and victims of severe child abuse by Mother and Anthony G. In addition to finding that Mother committed severe child abuse by failing to provide medical care, the juvenile court found that Mother committed severe child abuse by failing to protect Antoine from Anthony G.’s abuse.

Both Mother and Anthony G. appealed that decision to the Shelby County Circuit Court.

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In Re Antoine J., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-antoine-j-tennctapp-2019.