Toure v. Oxley CA2/5

California Court of Appeal·Decided December 7, 2023·No. B317378M·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed 12/7/23 Toure v. Oxley CA2/5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FIVE

JAMIL TOURE,

Petitioner and Appellant, B317378

v. (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. JAMICE AMBER OXLEY, 21STFL11506)

Respondent. ORDER MODIFYING OPINION AND DENYING PETITION FOR REHEARING

[NO CHANGE IN JUDGMENT]

THE COURT: It is ordered that the opinion filed herein on November 7, 2023, is modified as follows: On page 4, the first sentence in the first full paragraph is modified to insert the word “heard” between the words “visitation” and “on”. On page 8, the second sentence of the first paragraph, the word “associated” is deleted. The petition for rehearing filed by Jamil Toure on November 21, 2023, is denied. There is no change in judgment.

___________________________________________________________ MOOR, J. KIM, J.

I would grant rehearing.

_____________________________ BAKER, Acting, P. J.

2 Filed 11/7/23 Toure v. Oxley CA2/5 (unmodified opinion) NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FIVE

JAMIL TOURE, B317378

Petitioner and Appellant, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 21STFL11506) v.

JAMICE AMBER OXLEY,

Respondent.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Lawrence Riff, Judge. Affirmed. Nadine Lewis, Esq., Nadine Lewis for Petitioner and Appellant. Zarmi Law and David Zarmi for Respondent. Appellant Jamil Toure (Father) appeals from an order denying his request for a restraining order under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (DVPA; Fam. Code, § 6200 et seq.) against respondent Jamice Amber Oxley (Mother).1 On appeal, Toure contends: (1) the trial court did not understand that accessing and deleting electronic data can constitute abuse under the DVPA; (2) the trial court abused its discretion by failing to consider the totality of the circumstances; and (3) the trial court erred by denying the restraining order on the ground that other remedies were available. We find no abuse of discretion has been shown, and therefore, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY2

Conduct During Marriage

Mother and Father married on March 23, 2019. The parties have a minor child, who was born in May 2019. Discussions between Mother and Father repeatedly escalated into loud verbal fights, which disturbed their child. In one incident, Father found the child had not been strapped into her car seat after a drive with Mother. Mother takes antidepressant medications, and in August 2020, the child had one of Mother’s pills in her mouth. Father believed the substance was

1 All further statutory references are to the Family Code unless otherwise indicated.

2 In accordance with the standard of review, the facts are stated in the light most favorable to the judgment. (Curcio v. Pels (2020) 47 Cal.App.5th 1, 11 (Curcio).)

2 Wellbutrin, while Mother believed it was the supplement L- Methylfolate. The parties attempted therapy. Father took photos of open bottles of antidepressant medications and of pills left in areas accessible to the child, including several pills on the coffee table. He stored the photos on an application that was included in a family sharing plan for media. Mother and Father allowed the daughter to watch cartoons on an iPad issued by Father’s employer. The iPad was signed into the shared family account. On about October 5, 2021, while Mother was sitting next to her daughter, she noticed photos of her medication bottles and pills popping up on the iPad that her daughter was using. There were also photos of Mother with her face contorted. Mother did not understand why these photos were in the photo album on the shared family plan. She did not need to enter a password to view the photos on the iPad. She deleted the photos because they were embarrassing; she wanted to protect her reputation and did not want the photos to be seen. Mother also read Father’s personal notes in an application, but did not delete them, and she took screenshots of communications between Father and his attorney that she found.

Petition for Dissolution

On October 6, 2021, without notifying Mother of his intentions, Father filed for dissolution. When he picked up his daughter from preschool that day, he took a video of the child

3 saying, “I don’t want to go home. I don’t want to see mommy.” He stored the video on the shared family account.3 Father filed an ex parte request for custody and visitation on October 7, 2021. Although Father did not provide notice to Mother, she appeared at the hearing. The trial court granted Father’s request and ordered temporary legal and physical custody of the child to Father with supervised visitation for Mother. While Mother was at the hearing, the child’s maternal grandmother (Grandmother) removed the child from her preschool. Later that day, Father went to the family home along with a police officer to pick up his daughter pursuant to the court order. Father tried to enter the home, but the locks had been changed. Grandmother told Father to go away, the child would not be going with him, and the court order was not legal. Grandmother yelled at father, “We know what you did making [the child] say those things.” This comment alerted Father that Mother had accessed his photo account. Mother was holding the child, but she wriggled away when she saw Father. Father picked her up. A friend of Father’s joined them. Mother, who was visibly upset, continually asked Father to talk to her lawyer while trying to hand him the phone

3 Father’s evidence about the video of the child was inconsistent. In his declaration, he stated that he took the video on October 6, 2021, after picking up the child from preschool. In the same declaration, he stated that he noticed on October 15, 2021, that Mother deleted videos from his account on October 5, 2021, including the video of the child saying that she did not want to go home and see her mother. The inconsistency with respect to the timing is immaterial to the issues on appeal.

4 and waving it in his face, however, he declined to speak with the lawyer. Eventually, Mother forcefully grabbed the child from Father’s arms, stating “I don’t care what the judge said.” She stormed off with the child. Mother withheld the child, despite the court order, because she believed the order was obtained through lies and she did not know what would happen if she relinquished the child. Father had a New York apartment and access to financial resources. Rather than escalate a situation that might traumatize the child, Father left that day. Father returned to the family home several times over multiple days with the police and a witness in order to retrieve the child, but received no response. On October 13, 2021, the trial court issued another order directing Mother to immediately deliver the child to Father. Father attempted to see his daughter that same day, and again was met with no response. Father noticed photos and videos that he had taken were missing from his account, which he suspected Mother had deleted.

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