Ellis v. Wyoming Dep't of Family Servs. (In re Termination of Parental Rights to LDB)
Decision Date | 18 December 2019 |
Docket Number | S-19-0050 |
Parties | IN THE MATTER OF THE TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS TO: LDB, TJB, and JCB, minor children, SHERYL LYNN ELLIS, Appellant (Respondent), v. STATE OF WYOMING, DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY SERVICES, Appellee (Petitioner). |
Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Appeal from the District Court of Laramie County
The Honorable Thomas T.C. Campbell, Judge
Representing Appellant:
Donna D. Domonkos, Domonkos Law Office, LLC, Cheyenne, Wyoming
Representing Appellee:
Bridget Hill, Wyoming Attorney General; Misha Westby, Deputy Attorney General; Jill E. Kucera, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Rashell Read, Assistant Attorney General. Argument by Ms. Read.
Guardians ad Litem:
Dan S. Wilde, Deputy State Public Defender; Hope Mead, Guardian ad Litem, Wyoming Guardian ad Litem Program. Argument by Ms. Mead.
Before DAVIS, C.J., and FOX, KAUTZ, BOOMGAARDEN, and GRAY, JJ.
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in Pacific Reporter Third. Readers are requested to notify the Clerk of the Supreme Court, Supreme Court Building, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002, of any typographical or other formal errors so that correction may be made before final publication in the permanent volume.
[¶1] Following a jury trial, the district court entered an order terminating the parental rights of Sheryl Ellis (Mother) to her three minor daughters. Mother contends the court erred in allocating peremptory challenges and in admitting evidence of the children's sexual abuse allegations. We find no reversible error and affirm.
[¶2] Mother presents two issues on appeal, which we restate as:
[¶3] In January 2016, Mother was sole custodian of her three minor daughters, LDB, TJB, and JCB.1 LDB was born in 2002, and TJB and JCB were twins born in 2004. On January 4, 2016, law enforcement received a call from one of the daughters seeking help because Mother was intoxicated. Deputies Mark Yocum and Aaron Scott of the Laramie County Sheriff's Office responded to the Ellis home and found Mother extremely intoxicated. Because Mother had done nothing criminal by being intoxicated in her home, the officers did not arrest her. They informed her that they would take the girls to school and would arrange for them to ride the bus home after school.
[¶4] At around 3:30 to 3:45 that afternoon, Deputy Yocum received a report that Mother had driven to the girls' schools to look for them. He then set out for the Ellis home to ensure that the girls had arrived home safely, and on the way he found Mother in her vehicle parked in the middle of the road. He pulled over and approached her and found that she still appeared intoxicated, with slurred speech, glassy and bloodshot eyes, and a strong odor of alcohol. Mother denied having consumed alcohol that afternoon, but she admitted to having taken Percocet. Deputy Yocum then conducted field sobriety tests, and afterMother failed those, he arrested her on a charge of felony driving under the influence (DUI).2
[¶5] During Deputy Yocum's interaction with Mother, Deputy Scott arrived to provide backup. Deputy Scott then went to the Ellis home and confirmed that the children had made it home safely by bus. The deputies then arranged to have Mother's mother take custody of the girls.
[¶6] The next day, Officer Daniel Zabriskie of the Cheyenne Police Department, the school resource officer at LDB's junior high, spoke with LDB concerning her mother's arrest. He thereafter decided to take LDB and her sisters into protective custody.
[¶7] On January 6, 2016, the Laramie County district attorney filed a petition in juvenile court alleging neglect by Mother, and on January 7, 2016, the juvenile court entered an order continuing shelter care and placing Mother's daughters in the care and custody of the Department of Family Services (the Department) for placement in foster care. The girls were then placed in foster care with their former stepmother.
[¶8] In September 2016, Mother was convicted of felony DUI for the January 4, 2016 incident, and she was sentenced to a prison term of six to seven years. On February 7,2018, the Department filed a petition to terminate Mother's parental rights to LDB, TJB, and JCB. As grounds for termination, the petition alleged:
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