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In re Diana L.

Case Date: 08/29/2003
Court: 3rd District Appellate
Docket No: 3-02-0814 Rel

No. 3--02--0814

IN THE

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

THIRD DISTRICT

A.D., 2003

 
In re DIANA L., ) Appeal from the Circuit Court
n/k/a Diane E., ) of the 14th Judicial Circuit,
) Mercer County, Illinois,
          a Minor )
)
(The People of the State )
of Illinois, )
)
           Petitioner-Appellee, ) No. 99--JA--3
)
           v. )
) Honorable
James L.,  ) Alan G. Blackwood &
) John L. Bell,
          Respondent-Appellant). ) Judges Presiding.

PRESIDING JUSTICE McDADE delivered the opinion of the court:

The circuit court granted a juvenile petition for wardship,finding that the minor, Diana E., was sexually abused byrespondent James L., her adoptive father. The State subsequentlyfiled a petition to terminate parental rights. The court grantedthe State's petition, and respondent appeals. We are asked todetermine whether: (1) the State's petition to terminateparental rights was defective on its face; (2) the finding ofunfitness was contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence;and (3) the trial court abused its discretion in terminating hisparental rights. We affirm.

FACTS

On April 19, 1999, the State filed a one-count juvenilepetition for wardship, alleging that the minor, born July 6,1986, had been sexually abused by respondent and taken intoprotective custody. Following an adjudicatory hearing, the courtfound the minor abused. The court subsequently entered adispositional order granting the State's petition for wardshipand awarding the Illinois Department of Children and FamilyServices (DCFS) temporary custody. Meanwhile, the State chargedrespondent with aggravated criminal sexual abuse in connectionwith his conduct toward Diana between March 1998 and April 1999(Mercer County court case No. 99--CF--28). On November 24, 1999,respondent was found guilty but mentally ill and sentenced to afive-year term of imprisonment.

On February 1, 2000, the State filed a supplemental petitionto terminate respondent's parental rights. The petition allegedthat respondent was unfit to have a child in that he (1) actedwith extreme cruelty to the minor (750 ILCS 50/1(D)(e) (West2000)); (2) committed other misconduct--i.e., aggravated criminalabuse--upon the minor (750 ILCS 50/1(D)(h) (West 2000)); and (3)was incarcerated and would be unable to discharge his parentalresponsibilities for more than two years while the minor was inDCFS guardianship (750 ILCS 50/1(D)(r) (West 2000)). In itsprayer for relief, the State asked the court to: (a) findrespondent unfit; (b) forever terminate all of respondent'sparental rights and any residual rights to the minor; and (c)appoint DCFS as the minor's guardian with power to consent to heradoption.

At the hearing on the supplemental petition, Diana E.testified that respondent and his wife, Sandra, were her fosterparents for a year or more before Sandra died in the spring of1998. A few days after Sandra's death, respondent startedtouching Diana's genitalia. At first, the touching was donethrough Diana's clothing. However, over time, respondent removedher clothes and touched her genitalia directly. Diana said theconduct took place in the basement, in the living room and inrespondent's bedroom. It occurred six or eight times, the lasttime being the night before she was interviewed by the police. Respondent told her he loved her and not to tell anyone what hewas doing. He told her that he and his sister did "intimatethings" when he was a boy. Diana told no one about the conductuntil the police interviewed her in the spring of 1999.

Respondent was the only other witness called by the State inits case-in-chief. Respondent testified that Diana was placed inhis home for foster care in August 1997. He admitted that he hadbeen convicted following a stipulated bench trial in case No. 99--CF--28 and that he served 2