Turner v. Wright, A95A0516
| Decision Date | 19 April 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. A95A0516,A95A0516 |
| Citation | 457 S.E.2d 575,217 Ga.App. 368 |
| Parties | TURNER v. WRIGHT et al. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Jeffrey S. Turner, Lagrange, pro se.
Tarey B. Schell, Peachtree City, Murphy & Sams, W. Fletcher Sams, Fayetteville, for appellees.
Jeffrey Scott Turner, an unwed father, appeals the trial court's determination that he abandoned his opportunity interest in his child and was unfit to be a parent. Turner filed the underlying petition for legitimation within one month after the child was born. The child's mother, Melanie Wright, and the prospective adoptive parents filed objections to such petition. We granted Turner's application for discretionary appeal to determine the impact of his incarceration for the entire life of the child on his petition for legitimation.
1. In In re Baby Girl Eason, 257 Ga. 292, 297, 358 S.E.2d 459 (1987), the Georgia Supreme Court held that unwed fathers possessed an opportunity interest to develop a relationship with their children which was protected by due process of law. Id. at 296, 358 S.E.2d 459.
The abandonment of an unwed father's opportunity interest discussed by the Supreme Court in Eason, is not governed by the abandonment of the child contemplated in OCGA § 19-8-6(a). " Eason, supra at 296, 358 S.E.2d 459.
The Supreme Court, in Eason, found that the opportunity interest began at conception. In the present case, after Turner was aware he was to be a father, he voluntarily committed criminal acts for which he is presently incarcerated. Turner's disregard of his opportunity interest during Wright's pregnancy is as significant as such a disregard after the child is born. See In re Adoption of Baby E.A.W., 647 So.2d 918 (Fla.App.1994) ().
Turner maintains that due to his incarceration shortly after the child was conceived he has been unable to pursue his commitment to becoming a father in any other way than filing his petition for legitimation. He readily admits that he provided no support for the child or for Wright while she was pregnant, but he claims that due to his incarceration, he had no money. He has had no personal or written contact with the child. Although Turner "has a constitutionally protected interest which cannot be denied him through state action," (Eason, supra at 297, 358 S.E.2d 459) his inability to pursue his commitment to establish a familial relationship with the child is not the result of state action, but the result of his own criminal actions.
Significantly, after Turner learned he was to become a father, he committed at least one violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act. Turner learned that Wright was pregnant with his child in November 1991. An indictment brought thereafter charged that on or about December 17, 1991, Turner committed two felony violations of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act, including the sale of marijuana and felony possession of marijuana, and the offense of fleeing and attempting to elude an officer. With respect to that indictment, Turner later pled guilty to felony possession of marijuana and the other charges were not prosecuted. His present incarceration began in December 1991. While incarcerated for possession of marijuana, on September 29, 1992, Turner pled guilty to felony theft by receiving stolen property, a crime which occurred on or about October 23, 1991. Turner was sentenced thereon to three years to serve in prison.
Georgia law is well settled that Turner cannot object to the natural consequences brought about by his own voluntary commission of criminal acts. Chandler v. Cochran, 247 Ga. 184, 187, 275 S.E.2d 23 (1981). Under the present facts, the trial court did not err in finding that Turner had abandoned his opportunity...
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