Clark v. State (In re GGMC)
Decision Date | 15 April 2020 |
Docket Number | S-19-0181 |
Parties | In the MATTER OF the Termination of Parental Rights to: GGMC and CSC, minor children, Jeremy Michael Clark, Appellant (Respondent), v. State of Wyoming, Department of Family Services, Appellee (Petitioner). |
Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
460 P.3d 1138
In the MATTER OF the Termination of Parental Rights to: GGMC and CSC, minor children,
Jeremy Michael Clark, Appellant (Respondent),
v.
State of Wyoming, Department of Family Services, Appellee (Petitioner).
S-19-0181
Supreme Court of Wyoming.
April 15, 2020
Representing Appellant: Timothy C. Kingston, Law Office of Tim Kingston, LLC, Foley, Alabama. Argument by Mr. Kingston.
Representing Appellee: Bridget L. Hill, Attorney General; Misha Westby, Deputy Attorney General; Jill E. Kucera, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Allison E. Connell, Assistant Attorney General. Argument by Ms. Connell.
Guardians ad Litem: Dan S. Wilde, Deputy State Public Defender, Joseph R. Belcher, Chief Trial and Appellate Counsel, and Hope M. Mead, Guardian ad Litem, Wyoming Guardian ad Litem Program.
Before DAVIS, C.J., and FOX, KAUTZ, BOOMGAARDEN, and GRAY, JJ.
FOX, Justice.
ISSUES
[¶2] We reframe the issues:
1. Was evidence concerning C.C. and G.C.’s half siblings admissible?
2. Was the evidence sufficient for the jury to conclude that Mr. Clark’s parental rights could be terminated under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 14-2-309(a)(iii) or (a)(v) ?
FACTS
[¶3] Jeremy Clark and Kristen Saenz have three children together. Two of their children, C.C. and G.C., are the subjects of this action. On February 11, 2016, Officer Bonnee Bristow took days-old C.C. into protective custody because she tested positive for methamphetamine shortly after her birth. Her test results indicated that Ms. Saenz had been using methamphetamine while pregnant.
[¶4] Later that day, Officer Bristow performed a welfare check on Ms. Saenz’s other children. She determined that three of Ms. Saenz’s children from a previous relationship (the D.M. children) were staying with their father and stepmother. She located G.C. and Mr. Clark at the home Mr. Clark shared with Ms. Saenz. She noticed that G.C. "had a lot of hair" that "was down below his ears."
[¶5] About a week later, hair follicle samples were collected from the D.M. children, who had been living with Ms. Saenz and Mr. Clark shortly before going to visit their father.
[460 P.3d 1142
It was not possible to collect a sample from G.C. because someone had shaved his head. After the D.M. children’s results came back positive for methamphetamine, Officer Bristow took them and G.C. into protective custody. Mr. Clark claimed he had not known that Ms. Saenz was using drugs.
[¶7] Initially, Mr. Clark was "fairly consistent" in complying with the plan. He attended supervised visits with the children, submitted to two drug tests with negative results, and completed substance abuse and mental health evaluations. However, in November 2016 the Department informed Mr. Clark that he would have to provide negative drug tests before every supervised visit because there were "concerns that maybe he was attending the visits while under the influence of something." Shortly afterwards, Mr. Clark stopped attending supervised visits and fell out of contact with the Department. He stopped attending drug tests, and he failed to complete any of the treatment recommended in his substance abuse and mental health evaluations. The Department continued to make visitation and drug testing available and attempted to notify Mr. Clark about scheduled multidisciplinary team meetings and court hearings. Mr. Clark did not attend any of these.
[¶8] The juvenile court held a permanency hearing in April 2017, and the Department recommended that the permanency plan be changed to adoption, "[g]iven the children’s age, their need for permanency, and the lack of progress on the case plan to resolve the initial safety concerns." The court took the Department’s recommendation under advisement, and the Department continued attempting to contact Mr. Clark and to make services available to him. In July 2017, the juvenile court relieved the Department of further reunification efforts with Mr. Clark.
[¶9] In November 2017, Mr. Clark contacted the Department and asked "what he needed to do in order to get the children back." The Department informed him that it had been relieved of reunification efforts, so it could no longer pay for drug testing, but that it "was happy to help him find services and take documentation of anything he wanted to provide[.]" In 2018, Mr. Clark completed a parenting education course and provided the Department documentation of several negative drug test results.
[¶10] In June 2018, the Department filed a petition for termination of Mr. Clark’s parental rights in district court. Before trial, Mr. Clark filed a motion in limine that sought to exclude cumulative and irrelevant evidence. Specifically, Mr. Clark sought to exclude evidence concerning a prior juvenile court action involving the D.M. children and Ms. Saenz, and other evidence related to Ms. Saenz’s substance abuse and her neglect of the D.M. children. Mr. Clark asserted that
[460 P.3d 1143
this evidence was cumulative and irrelevant because Ms. Saenz was not a party to the termination proceeding and because he was not a biological parent to the D.M. children. The district court reserved ruling on the challenged evidence, stating that those matters would have to be addressed as they arose at trial.
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