Law v. Page, 91-CA-970

• Decision Date: 22 April 1993
• Docket Number: No. 91-CA-970,91-CA-970
• Citation: Law v. Page, 618 So.2d 96 (Miss. 1993)
• Parties: Tylena Vonne LAW v. Perry Jack PAGE.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 96

618 So.2d 96

Tylena Vonne LAW v. Perry Jack PAGE.

No. 91-CA-970.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

April 22, 1993.

John H. Ott, McComb, for appellant.

William B. Kirksey, Kirksey & Associates, Jackson, for appellee.

Before HAWKINS, C.J., and PITTMAN and BANKS, JJ.

PITTMAN, Justice, for the Court:

This is an appeal from the Chancery Court of Madison County, wherein Perry Jack Page was granted custody of Jason John Page, the minor child of Page and Tylena Vonne Law. This case began in June of 1989, when Page petitioned the lower court to adjudicate paternity and to change custody of Jason from Law to himself. A trial was conducted on November 6, 1989, wherein custody of Jason was granted to Page. On December 19, 1990, this Court reversed the chancellor's decision and remanded the case for further inquiry. See Law v. Page, 572 So.2d 880 (Miss.1990). On remand, the case was heard June 4, 1991, in Madison County Chancery Court where Page was again granted custody of Jason. From that decision, Law has appealed to this Court for relief. Finding no abuse of discretion on the chancellor's part, we hereby affirm.

I.

Tylena Law (hereafter referred to as "Tena") and Perry Jack Page ("Jack") were never married, but sexual relations between them produced a son, Jason John Page ("Jason"), on September 10, 1988. A blood test indicated that Jack Page was 99.67% certain to be Jason's father. Jack then petitioned the court to establish paternity, and his name was then added to Jason's birth certificate as his legal father. Although Tena had custody of Jason, Jack voluntarily gave Tena $100 a month child support and included Jason on his employment medical insurance policy. Jack often paid Jason's medical expenses not covered by insurance. Upon establishing paternity, Jack petitioned the chancery court for custody of Jason, which was granted. On appeal to this Court, the decision was reversed and remanded for additional inquiry based upon the chancellor's consideration of Tena Law's behavior both three years prior to Jason's birth as well as her conduct following Jason's birth.

On remand, the chancellor heard evidence from sixteen witnesses. Five witnesses testified on Tena's behalf and eleven testified on behalf of Jack. Tena Law was called by Jack's counsel as an adverse witness. She was employed at Burns International Security as a security guard in the AT & T building, where she worked the graveyard shift. At that time, Tena rented a room in the household of Charles David Swanner, his wife and their two children. Unbeknownst to Tena, Mr. Swanner had been convicted of child sexual abuse in the state of New Jersey, and had recently ended a parole sentence in Mississippi. On visitation weekends, Tena and Jason would usually spend Friday night at Tena's mother's house and Saturday night at the Swanner's house, where Tena and Jason shared a full-sized bed. Since the initial trial, Tena had lived in a minimum of five different places. Prior to renting a room from the Swanners, Tena lived with Belinda Cox for a few months. Before that, she leased an apartment for a period of nine months, and at one time allowed a friend, Cheryl Wall, to live with her for the summer. Prior to the apartment, Tena lived with her parents, Dani and Ray Cox.

Following the chancellor's 1989 custody determination, Tena suffered a severe bout of depression and was checked into Charter Hospital where she was diagnosed as having a manic depressive disorder. Tena was prescribed, and still takes, the drug Vistaril which helps curb chemical imbalances.

As part of Jack's award of custody, Tena was required to pay $100 child support to Jack for the care of Jason, and to pay half of Jason's medical bills. Since that time, Tena became in arrears approximately $250 in child support and $89 in medical bills. Tena's child support payments were often sent in United States House of Representatives official letterhead as well as other governmental agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service. Tena claims that she obtained these "extra" envelopes from the mail room where she worked, and used them because they were going to be discarded anyway. Tena attributes her loss of several jobs to all of the various charges that Jack has filed against her. Charges have been filed against Tena seven times for offenses such as trespassing, malicious mischief, and the use of violence against both Jack and his mother.

Cheryl Wall, Tena's friend and part-time roommate, testified that she had known Tena since they were teenagers. She and Tena began running around together again in late 1989, after Tena had lost custody of Jason. They would often go to nightclubs together. There were instances on weekends when Tena had visitation of Jason and she would drop Jason off at her mother's house so Tena could go out on the town. While Cheryl shared an apartment with Tena, she stated that Tena would spend half of the nights at her boyfriend Kent Durden's house. Cheryl stated that on one occasion Kent came over at 3:00 a.m. when Jason was there and stayed until six that morning before leaving. Apparently, there were instances where Jason and Tena spent the night at Kent's. Cheryl testified that Tena had smoked marijuana at their apartment in front of Jason, and took Valium while he was also there. She described Tena as having a violent streak, and on one occasion witnessed her beating her own head on the hood of the car, while Jason was in the front getting upset. Cheryl testified that she feared for Jason's safety, claiming that Tena is very unstable. Cheryl told of one instance in which she and Tena had been out drinking and stopped at Jack's then-girlfriend and now present wife Danya Lee Page's apartment at three in the morning with an intent to harass her. Tena instructed Cheryl to throw something at Danya's window in order to get her attention. A neighbor awoke and called the police. Cheryl and Tena were soon stopped and given breathalyzer tests for intoxication. Tena was taken to jail while Cheryl was allowed to go home.

Tena and Jack seemed to always have some sort of run-in when they came into contact with one another, usually when they met to drop off or pick up Jason. There was a violent Christmas Eve incident at Jack's house, there was an incident at the Jitney Jungle parking lot in Jackson. The parties agreed to meet in public places rather than at each other's home to try to avoid any more incidents. Because Jack expected trouble from Tena, he asked a friend of his and his friend's wife to observe the exchange of Jason. Kathleen Ingram testified that she and her husband were seated in their car and saw Jack pull up and park his Jeep in front of the store. A few minutes later they saw Tena drive up and park about fifty feet away. Tena walked Jason over to the truck, and after seeing who was in the passenger seat, gave Jason to Jack. Jack had asked his brother to ride in his Jeep so that he could witness the exchange. When Jack picked up Jason in his arms, Tena threw a tube of lotion at Jack's head, which he blocked. Tena then began swinging her arms at Jack, while Jason was still in his arms. Upon seeing this, Kathleen and her husband ran to break it up so that Jason would not be hurt, but a police car driven by another one of Jack's brothers arrived and sent the parties on their separate ways. Throughout this incident, Jason became scared and started crying.

JoAnn Parker, Danya Lee Page's mother, witnessed another incident on Mother's Day, 1991, where Tena dropped Jason off at Jack's home. Apparently when Jack picked up Jason and started walking inside, Tena grabbed him to prevent him from leaving. Jack, in turn, pushed himself free of Tena and closed the door to the sounds of Tena screaming "You saw him shove me ..."

Melissa Gardner testified to knowing the entire relationship between Tena and Jack. Melissa worked for Jack's previous attorney, Mark Fowler, and at the time of the hearing worked for Jack's current attorney, William Kirksey. Melissa has cared for Jason on several occasions and has acted as a neutral party in the exchange of Jason on visitation weekends. On one baby-sitting occasion, Melissa picked up Jason from Tena and found him to be exhausted, smelling of urine and body odor, and in an overall filthy condition. While bathing him, she noticed a rash on Jason's bottom, which was so raw that Jason screamed when she put him in warm water. Melissa attributed this rash to Jason's sitting in wet "pull ups" [potty training pants] the entire day. While in the bathtub, Jason pointed to his forehead and said "Lisa can't hurt my bo-bo." He then said "fire truck" while still pointing to his head. Melissa explained that Jason called her Lisa, and that he was pointing to the area where he recently had thirty stitches. After Jason's bath he allegedly beat on the door and told Melissa and her husband Curtis to "Not let Kenny in" and to "Spank him [Kenny]."

While visiting Tena on another occasion, Jason had an accident that necessitated his being rushed to St. Dominic's Hospital where thirty stitches were used to sew up a gash above his left eye. The exact circumstances of the accident are not certain, but Jason indicated to several people that Tena's boyfriend, Kent Durden, hit Jason with one of his toys, namely a fire truck. According to Tena and Kent, Jason was running through the house and fell on a wooden step. Sunday night following the accident when Jason was given back to Jack, neither Kent nor Tena would say much about the accident. It was at that time that Kent claims to have been threatened by Jack. Jack is very skilled in the martial arts, achieving a fourth degree black belt in both Taekwondo and Hupkido.

Susan Schneeflock testified that she and her husband employ Jack as a draftsman in their business, Paramount Petroleum Company. She stated that Jack had worked for them off and on for about six years, but had worked for them full time the last...