J.P. v. P.W.

772 S.W.2d 786, 1989 Mo. App. LEXIS 619
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 5, 1989
DocketNos. 15937, 15981
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 772 S.W.2d 786 (J.P. v. P.W.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
J.P. v. P.W., 772 S.W.2d 786, 1989 Mo. App. LEXIS 619 (Mo. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinions

MAUS, Judge.

The genesis of this proceeding is a Texas decree placing a two-year-old girl in the primary custody of her mother, but granting the father “possessory custody” for ten days every other month. The mother filed in the Circuit Court of Butler County, Missouri, a motion to modify by restricting visitation by the father to visitation in her presence. Upon hearing that motion, the circuit court entered a decree which included a provision that during the father’s visitation or temporary custody “neither the Respondent’s present lover nor any other male with whom the Respondent may be [787]*787residing shall be in the child’s presence or in the Respondent’s home during such visits.” The mother appeals contending that restriction is not adequate. The father appeals contending the restriction was improperly imposed. The appeals have been consolidated for submission and disposition.

This court must at the outset consider the father’s contention that only evidence of events occurring and circumstances existing since the entry of the Texas decree are admissible. As a general proposition, the father’s contention is correct. Vandegriff v. Vandegriff, 695 S.W.2d 941 (Mo.App.1985). However, evidence of certain categories of prior and contemporaneous events and circumstances is admissible for a variety of purposes. For example, evidence of the testimony at the prior hearing is admissible to establish what facts were unknown to or concealed from the court. Jones v. Jones, 724 S.W.2d 615 (Mo.App.1986). Further, evidence of prior conduct is admissible if relevant for the purpose of evaluating the fitness of a parent to have custody of children. Pulliam v. Sutton, 728 S.W.2d 252 (Mo.App.1987). The admissibility of evidence for the latter purpose has been sagaciously expressed in a statement particularly applicable to this case.

In this connection appellant’s Point IV complains of the court’s receipt into evidence the testimony of S.L. which related to prior homosexual activities of appellant with that young boy. Appellant says that this could not be considered under § 452.410 because the facts elicited were known to the court at the original trial, and thus could not be a changed circumstance. The trial court here was not that which heard the original trial. It was certainly competent for the court to consider this evidence of appellant’s prior conduct as it might bear upon his emotional stability and which in turn would bear upon the well-being of the child under § 452.400.

L.L.T. v. P.A.T., 585 S.W.2d 157, 159 (Mo.App.1979).

Within the limitations above observed, the following is a summary of the evidence of the background of the parties relevant to the mother’s motion. The mother and father were natives of Iowa. They were married in Iowa. They later moved to Austin, Texas. There each attained the requisite degree at the University of Texas and became a registered nurse. The mother was employed in that capacity. The father worked as a research assistant and pursued graduate studies. The female child in question was bom on May 13, 1986.

Under unexplained circumstances, the father met Harry Reed in May, 1985. Reed had been an active homosexual for six years. At that time the father and Reed had a sexual relationship. By October, 1986, their relationship had grown more serious and they were engaging in oral sex on a regular basis. After his homosexual encounter with Reed, the father continued to have normal sexual intercourse with the mother.

The father first told the mother of his homosexuality in December, 1986. The mother left Austin and established her home and that of the baby with her parents in Iowa. The petitioner and her mother and father and brother returned to Austin to obtain the wife’s belongings. After the father and brother had left with a truck containing those belongings, the respondent arrived at the parties’ home. He encountered his mother-in-law and the petitioner. The respondent, who was 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed approximately 230 pounds, first grabbed the mother-in-law. Then he engaged in a fight with the petitioner concerning whether or not the mother would take an automobile.

At the time of the initial hearing in Texas on May 4, 1987, the wife and child were living in Puxico, Missouri. She was working as an assistant in her brother’s veterinary clinic. The father was living in an apartment in Austin with his homosexual lover, Harry Reed. At the hearings in Texas, there was presented to the court the issue of whether or not Harry Reed should remain in the father’s home during visitation by the child. Transcripts of some of the hearings in Texas were filed with the trial court and are now before this court. [788]*788The four transcripts filed disclose that the last hearing was on August 5, 1987. However, the final decree recites that the case came on for hearing on September 4, 1987. The decree itself is dated November 13, 1987.

The mother filed the motion to modify in question on January 5, 1988. A hearing was held on that petition on April 15,1988. The following is an outline of the testimony at that hearing. The mother, with the child, was living in Poplar Bluff. She was employed as director of patient education at Lucy Lee Hospital in Poplar Bluff. The father was still living in Austin, Texas. He worked part-time as a research assistant and pursued graduate studies. He and his homosexual lover, Harry Reed, lived in an apartment. They kiss and hold hands. They sleep in the same bed. He and Reed perform oral sex on each other approximately once or twice each week. He states their relationship is “monogamous”. He regards it as permanent. He probably would marry Reed if he were permitted to do so.

The father thinks that it is “best that she [the child] know who her father is and to know what her father is.” He thinks that it is in the best interests of the child for the child to be in his home when he is living there with Reed. He believes it would be a healthy and broadening influence upon the child’s upbringing and development to be exposed to the alternate lifestyle of he and Reed. He added, “It would allow her to see a broad spectrum, perhaps, of human interaction not just between heterosexual people, but also homosexual people.” He would be adverse to having Reed leave the apartment when his daughter is visiting for the ten-day period, but he would agree to that if it is a condition. At the initial hearing in Texas, the father was asked the following questions:

Q. And that homosexual partner is important to you, undoubtedly.
A. Very much so.
Q. And in fact if Kay Marie visits you in Austin, this homosexual partner will be an important part in that visitation, I’m sure.
A. That’s very true, yes. I want my lover to be able to share some time with Kay Marie also. I think he’s got some important things that he can offer to her. We can demonstrate that we can love each other.

The only reason that he would prefer for his daughter to be heterosexual is because of the attitude of society toward homosexuality.

The father testified that pursuant to an interim order the child did visit in his home in Austin for ten days in October, 1987. During that time Reed continued to live in the apartment.

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Bluebook (online)
772 S.W.2d 786, 1989 Mo. App. LEXIS 619, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jp-v-pw-moctapp-1989.