Opinion ID: 1251515
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Nyari's Failure To Appear at the Social Services Hearing

Text: Although the district court acknowledged that the record does not reflect the underlying facts and circumstances on which the DSS's determination was based, it found that this deficiency in the record was largely due to Nyari's failure to appear at the DSS hearing in 1989. The court construed Nyari's failure to pursue his appeal to be the equivalent of a `no contest.' But a nolo contendere plea is a `plea by which a defendant does not expressly admit his guilt, but nonetheless waives his right to a trial and authorizes the court for purposes of the case to treat him as if he were guilty.' Rawls v. Mabry, 630 F.2d 654, 659-60 (8th Cir.1980) (quoting North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 35, 91 S.Ct. 160, 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970)). Because all of the DSS proceedings were of a civil nature, the court's no contest analogy is inapposite. [3]