Doe v. State

Decision Date13 August 2002
Docket NumberNo. 26757.,26757.
Citation137 Idaho 758,53 P.3d 341
PartiesIn the Matter of the Termination of the Parental Rights of John Doe. John DOE, Appellant, v. STATE of Idaho, Department of Health and Welfare, Respondent.
CourtIdaho Supreme Court

Robert L. Crowley Jr., Rigby, for appellant.

Hon. Alan G. Lance, Attorney General, Boise, for respondent. Eric D. Pfost argued.

SCHROEDER, Justice.

NATURE OF THE CASE

John Doe appeals the district court's decision that affirmed the magistrate court's decree terminating his parental rights. The magistrate court found that Doe had abandoned and neglected the child and that it was in the child's best interests to have his parental rights terminated. This decision was affirmed by the district court on appeal.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

At the time the appeal was filed, Doe was serving a prison term in the Idaho State Penitentiary that expired in December, 2000. His sentence included a provision for retained jurisdiction while in prison, but he failed the program because he had an "attitude." Doe is the father of a son who was born on August 5, 1997. Doe was in prison at the time of his son's birth and has never seen his son. The natural mother's parental rights have been terminated. She did not contest termination.

After learning of the child's birth, Doe sent the child several Christmas gifts, and tried to speak with the mother and the maternal grandmother of the child. Doe wrote to the grandmother, but she did not respond to him. Several of Doe's aunts expressed interest in the child to a caseworker for the Department of Health and Welfare, but they did not complete background checks or take any steps toward adopting the child. Doe has stated that if his rights are terminated he wants his family to take care of the child. Doe signed documents authorizing medical treatment for the child and contacted the caseworker a number of times. He also wrote a letter to the magistrate court indicating that he did not want his parental rights terminated.

The Department of Health and Welfare filed a petition to terminate Doe's parental rights based on abandonment, neglect, and the best interests of the child. The magistrate court found that the Department had established these grounds with clear and convincing evidence and terminated Doe's parental rights. This decision was affirmed by the district court on appeal. The district court did not hear oral argument. Doe now appeals to this Court, arguing that the district court should have heard oral argument, that there is not substantial competent evidence to support the magistrate court's decision, that the magistrate should not have considered a report prepared by the Department of Health and Welfare, should have ordered additional investigation, and that the petition to terminate his rights did not comply with statutory requirements.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The standard of review when this Court is reviewing an order of the district court acting in its appellate capacity was set forth in Nicholls v. Blaser, 102 Idaho 559, 633 P.2d 1137 (1981). In Nicholls, the Court stated that:

We deem the appropriate standard of review at the Supreme Court level to be: The Supreme Court reviews the trial court (magistrate) record to determine whether there is substantial and competent evidence to support the magistrate's findings of fact and whether the magistrate's conclusions of law follow from those findings. If those findings are so supported and the conclusions follow therefore and if the district court affirmed the magistrate's decision, we affirm the district court's decision as a matter of procedure.

Id. at 561, 633 P.2d at 1139.

"Our standard of review, when we are reviewing a district court decision, acting in its appellate capacity, is to review the record and the magistrate's decision independently of, but with due regard for, the district court's decision." Walborn v. Walborn, 120 Idaho 494, 498, 817 P.2d 160, 164 (1991).

III. THE DISTRICT COURT DID NOT ERR BY ENTERING ITS DECISION ON APPEAL WITHOUT HEARING ORAL ARGUMENT

The appeal from the magistrate court to the district court was filed on May 22, 2000. The respondent's brief was to be filed within twenty-eight days after the service of the appellant's brief. The appellant's reply brief was filed on June 30, 2000, and the appellant filed a notice of hearing for oral argument. The hearing was noticed for July 13, 2000. However, the decision on appeal was entered on July 5, 2000, before there was a chance for oral argument to take place.

Doe argues that the district court's failure to hear oral argument is reversible error. Idaho Rule of Civil Procedure 83 governs the procedure of an appeal from the magistrate court to the district court. IRCP 83(u) provides:

(1) Upon an appeal from the magistrate's division of the district court, not involving a trial de novo, the district court shall review the case on the record and determine the appeal as an appellate court in the same manner and upon the same standards of review as an appeal from the district court to the Supreme Court under the statutes and law of this state, and the appellate rules of the Supreme Court.

Rule 83(w) governs the appellate argument in the district court. It states: "Appellate argument may be heard by the district court after notice to the parties in the same manner as notice of hearing of a motion before a trial court under these rules." IRCP 83(w). It is clear that under this rule that the district court is not required to hear oral argument. This Court has previously held that "[w]hen used in a statute, the word `may' is permissive rather than the inoperative or mandatory meaning of `must' or `shall.'" Rife v. Long, 127 Idaho 841, 848, 908 P.2d 143, 150 (1995).

IV. THE MAGISTRATE COURT'S DECISION TO TERMINATE DOE'S PARENTAL RIGHTS IS NOT SUPPORTED BY SUBSTANTIAL COMPETENT EVIDENCE

The United States Supreme Court has held that a parent has a fundamental liberty interest in maintaining a relationship with his or her child. Quilloin v. Walcott, 434 U.S. 246, 98 S.Ct. 549, 54 L.Ed.2d 511 (1978). The State of Idaho has also recognized the importance of the family relationship. The parental termination act states that "[i]mplicit in this act is the philosophy that wherever possible family life should be strengthened and preserved and that the issue of severing the parent and child relationship is of such vital importance as to require a judicial determination in place of attempts at severance by contractual arrangements, express or implied, for the surrender and relinquishment of children." I.C. § 16-2001.

A trial court's decision to terminate parental rights must be based on clear and convincing evidence. I.C. § 16-2009. This Court will not disturb the trial court's findings so long as it they are based on substantial competent evidence. Dayley v. State Dep't. of Health and Welfare, 112 Idaho 522, 525, 733 P.2d 743, 746 (1987).

The magistrate court made the following findings of fact: That the Department of Health and Welfare was the custodian and guardian of the child and that the Department or the child's grandmother had had custody of the child since his birth; that neither of the child's natural parents had any significant contact with the child nor had they maintained a relationship with the child; that neither parent had provided financial support for the child; that Doe was currently in prison for possession of cocaine and was initially sentenced to a "rider" program but did...

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