In re R.V.
| Decision Date | 07 June 2022 |
| Docket Number | 55303-1-II |
| Parties | In the MATTER OF the Parentage of: R.V. |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
Andrew K Helland, Helland Law Group, PLLC, 960 Market St., Tacoma, WA, 98402-3605, for Appellant.
Anna Kate Russo, Attorney at Law, 1310 Main St., Vancouver, WA, 98660-2919, for Respondent.
PUBLISHED OPINION
¶ 1 C.V. filed a petition to determine the parentage of a child, R.V., asserting that he was the child's father. In response, H.S., R.V.’s mother, filed an allegation of sexual assault claiming that R.V. was born as a result of sexual assault by C.V. and requesting that he be denied parental rights under RCW 26.26A.465, which precludes establishment of parentage by a perpetrator of sexual assault. After a fact-finding hearing, the trial court found that R.V. was born as a result of C.V.’s sexual assault of H.S. and, therefore, C.V. did not have parental rights with regard to R.V. ¶ 2 C.V. appeals the trial court's order. First, C.V. argues that there was insufficient evidence to support the trial court's determination that R.V. was born as a result of a sexual assault. Second, C.V. argues that RCW 26.26A.465 violates his due process and equal protection rights—rights he asserts are rooted in his fundamental right to parent. We disagree with both of his arguments. We determine that there was sufficient evidence for the trial court's finding of sexual assault, and we hold that perpetrators of sexual assault have no fundamental due process rights to parent children born as a result and are not similarly situated to established parents for the purposes of the equal protection analysis. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court.
¶ 3 C.V. and H.S. met when H.S. was homeless in 2012. At the time, C.V. was living with Susana Godinez and their four children. Shortly thereafter, H.S. moved in with C.V., Godinez, and the children.
¶ 4 In 2015, C.V. was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and ultimately sentenced to 112 months in prison. Just after C.V. was sentenced, H.S. discovered she was pregnant with C.V.’s child. She gave birth to R.V. in August 2016, approximately nine months after C.V. was incarcerated.
¶ 5 In 2019, C.V. filed a petition to decide parentage of R.V. In response, H.S. filed a sexual assault allegation stating that C.V. had repeatedly sexually assaulted her from 2013 to 2015 and R.V.’s birth was a result of a sexual assault. H.S. requested, pursuant to RCW 26.26A.465, that the court deny C.V. any rights as a parent of R.V. because his conception was the result of sexual assault.
¶ 6 C.V. denied the allegation, maintaining that he and H.S. had been in a loving and peaceful relationship and requested a fact-finding hearing.
¶ 7 H.S. testified at the fact-finding hearing that C.V. had been abusive toward her in the five years prior to his incarceration. H.S. also testified that from the time she had first started living in C.V.’s home, he threatened her and told her not to leave without his permission. For example, she went out for a walk the first night she was at the home while C.V. was spending a couple nights in jail. When C.V. found out, he said, Verbatim Report of Proceeding (VRP) at 117. Later, she attempted to leave in a car, but C.V. chased her down with a gun and shot at her. H.S. also tried to leave on other occasions, but she said similar threats from C.V. against her and her family prevented her from doing so.
¶ 8 H.S. also testified that C.V. did not allow her to have a phone, and although at times she would obtain a prepaid phone, C.V. would take it from her when he found out. And, she did not have access to a vehicle.
¶ 9 H.S. said that, at some point, C.V. rented a building and locked her in it. C.V. chained the doors so that H.S. could not leave and then would come back and sexually assault her. H.S. said that when she told C.V. that she did not want to have sex, he pistol whipped her. On a subsequent occasion, C.V. came into H.S.’s room, and she told C.V. that she did not want him to touch her. In response, C.V. slashed H.S.’s mattress with a knife until she let him penetrate her. On other occasions, C.V. behaved in a similarly threatening manner wielding a gun or a knife when he wanted to have sex with H.S.
¶ 10 In the months prior to C.V.’s incarceration, and during the time period in which R.V. was conceived, H.S. was living in C.V.’s garage in a makeshift bedroom. C.V. would make markings on the door where H.S. was staying to ensure she did not leave without his permission. H.S. testified:
I was only allowed to leave when [C.V.] gave me permission to leave. I didn't go into the kitchen unless I had permission to go into the kitchen. I didn't go outside unless I had permission from him to go outside. And he was not home a lot of the time, so I would just sit there and wait, and wait, and wait for somebody.
VRP at 124. At times, H.S. was not allowed to leave the garage for more than 48 hours.
¶ 11 During the time period when R.V. was conceived, C.V. repeatedly threatened H.S., saying that he was going to get her pregnant so that she could never leave him, and he would force her to have intercourse with him by using violence. H.S. said that when she would tell C.V. that she did not want to have sex with him, he would brandish his gun or another weapon to threaten her and then get on top of her. On multiple occasions, C.V. held a pillow over H.S.’s face so that she could not breathe. She testified that she would try to resist:
I was kicking my legs and swinging my arms and he would use his arms and like his elbows and hold my arms down, and he would use all of his body weight to hold the rest of my body down, and he would just leave the pillow on my face, and I would be screaming under my breath, I have never experienced that close to near death before. I mean, I can't even explain the feeling of being suffocated.
VRP at 126-27. Afterwards, C.V. would bring gifts to H.S. like clothes and jewelry as an apology for his actions.
¶ 12 Immediately after C.V. went to prison, H.S. moved in with her mother. Two days later, she found out she was pregnant with R.V. There was no evidence that H.S. had intercourse with anyone other than C.V. during the time period of R.V.’s conception.
¶ 13 H.S. testified that C.V. sent her letters while he was in prison. In one letter, C.V. wrote that he had been waiting for her to send him pictures and he was going to beat someone up if she did not. Frightened for herself and others, H.S. sent C.V. pictures.
¶ 14 In another letter, C.V. said, VRP at 133. H.S. interpreted the letter to mean that she could not have another person in her life or be in a relationship with another man. H.S. believed that if she was not with C.V., he might kill her.
¶ 15 H.S. testified that she felt threatened by the contents of the letters and was fearful for herself and others. Moreover, C.V.’s repeated statements that he was going to get out of prison and come home soon made her feel like, unless she did what he asked, he would hurt her and her family when he got out.
¶ 16 H.S. admitted to having sent several letters and pictures to C.V. while he was in prison saying that she loved him and she was glad they were having a baby, but H.S. maintained that she wrote the letters out of fear. H.S. also admitted to having visited C.V. in prison on multiple occasions and asking him to sign an acknowledgement of paternity. She had not sought a protection order against C.V. until after he brought the paternity action but said that was also out of fear. Additionally, H.S. admitted that around the time she stopped contacting C.V., she became romantically involved with someone else.
¶ 17 Other witnesses corroborated aspects of H.S.’s testimony. Pat Meyers, a retired police officer and friend of H.S.’s mother, testified that in August 2015, H.S.’s mother called and informed him that H.S. had told her she had been abused and asked for his help to pick her up. When they got to where H.S. was, she ran to the vehicle, got in, and said, VRP at 165. H.S. appeared scared and hysterical. While they drove, H.S. received multiple phone calls from C.V. as she sat crying.
¶ 18 Regarding H.S.’s testimony that C.V. owned and used guns, Meyers was shown pictures of C.V. and his children holding guns and pointing the weapons at the camera. Meyers testified that in his opinion as a former law enforcement officer, the guns appeared real.
¶ 19 H.S.’s mother testified consistent with Meyers’ testimony about the evening that they had picked up H.S. She also said that the next day, C.V. showed up and took H.S. back to his home. She said that while H.S. was living with C.V., she was rarely able to talk with H.S. During the phone conversations they did have, she could hear violence in the background. She would hear screaming and H.S. saying things like "Don't hit me," or "Leave me alone." VRP at 175. When she saw H.S. in person, her arms were bruised
and one time there was bruising around her eyes.
¶ 20 The mother said that after C.V. went to prison, H.S. called and asked her to come get her. C.V.’s home was located in a very remote, difficult to reach area. When she arrived, H.S. was thin, dirty, and bruised, and she told her mother that C.V. had been beating her and forcing her to have sex with him. Later, C.V. called the mother's home multiple times and threatened that when he got out of jail he was...
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