Court Opinion

ID: 9853258
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:45:14.33617+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:43.638970
License: Public Domain

Deen, Presiding Judge,
concurring specially.
While associating with and concurring fully with all that is said and the outcome reached by the majority in this case, I am compelled to make additional comments on the evidentiary burden and the standard of appellate review in termination-of-parental-rights cases where one parent has killed the other parent.
Generally, where a third party seeks termination of a parent’s rights with respect to a child, he must show by clear and convincing evidence that the child is deprived and that the parent is presently unfit. OCGA § 15-11-51 (a) (2) (Code Ann. § 24A-3201); In the Interest of H. L. T., 164 Ga. App. 517 (298 SE2d 33) (1982); Chancey v. D. H. R., 156 Ga. App. 338 (274 SE2d 728) (1980). The standard of appellate review now appears to be in challenges by a third party versus a parent whether, after reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the appellee, a rational trier of fact could find by clear and convincing evidence present and continuing deprivation of the child and parental unfitness. Cf. Blackburn v. Blackburn, 249 Ga. *494689 (292 SE2d 821) (1982). In the instant case, the trial court properly considered all the facts and circumstances, rather than basing its decision to terminate the parental rights of the father solely on the fact that he had murdered the child’s mother. Those facts provided sufficient clear and convincing evidence with which a rational trier of fact could find deprivation and parental unfitness.
Certainly, there is no evidence as to parental fitness issues more predominant or negative than an intentional killing of one parent by the other. Nevertheless, the killing, either intentional or unintentional, of one parent by the other does not result in the automatic forfeiture of the latter’s parental rights. See Painter v. Barkley, 157 Ga. App. 69 (276 SE2d 850) (1981); In the Interest of H. L. T., supra. This court at a future date perhaps should reconsider and possibly overrule Division 4 of George v. Anderson, 135 Ga. App. 273 (217 SE2d 609) (1975) to the extent that it may suggest a contrary rule.
The instant case does not conflict with In the Interest of H. L. T., supra, where this court reversed the termination of parental rights of a father who had been convicted of voluntary manslaughter of the mother. As to the standard of review by our court, in each case we observed the requirement of clear and convincing evidence.
I do wish to point out, however, that upon further study and reflection, I now believe that I would have voted differently and we should have affirmed the trial court’s decision to terminate the parental rights in In the Interest of H. L. T., supra. In H. L. T. there was certain positive evidence as to the father’s fitness, i.e., model prisoner who had a home and job awaiting him upon his release from prison, a devoted father who maintained contact with the child, and the recommendation of the guardian ad litem not to terminate the parental rights, that was set forth in the opinion. But, on the other hand, there was likewise substantial and considerable negative evidence set forth in detailed findings of fact by the judge in addition to the fact that the father killed the child’s mother: The father had called the stepson a son of a bitch and called him an animal,1 and had shoved the stepson’s bicycle off a patio; the father had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital but had stayed there only a few hours; on one occasion he followed his wife to a bar and there broke out the windshield to her car during an ensuing argument; and the father actually killed the mother in the presence of the children while they were watching television; he had to change his daughter’s clothes *495because they were stained and spattered with the mother’s blood, and indeed the child’s socks were still bloody when the police arrived; the judge found that the father’s treatment of the mother and her son was wilful and cruel, and almost none of this evidence was set forth in the opinion. Considering all of the positive and negative facts and circumstances which the trial judge said he considered before rendering his decision, I now believe that the negative evidence was clear and convincing and sufficient to have authorized termination of the father’s parental rights; therefore, we should have affirmed. Had the trial judge in that particular case failed to terminate the father’s parental rights under these facts, I believe we could likewise have there affirmed. This court’s error in H. L. T., however, was one in evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence, and not one of applying an incorrect rule of law. The trial judge there viewed all the evidence positive and negative in making his ruling. I believe we gave the erroneous impression in our opinion that he based his decision only on the killing, which was not the case as a reading of the transcript and record clearly will indicate.
Both H. L. T. and the instant case involved a parent’s appeal from the termination of his parental rights. As previously discussed, the task of the appellate court in such a case is to determine whether, after reviewing all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the appellee, a rational trier of fact could have found by clear and convincing evidence that deprivation of the child and parental unfitness existed and were likely to continue. In doing so, this court examines the sufficiency of the quality and quantity of the evidence rather than reweighs the evidence, or substitute our judgment for the discretion and judgment of the factfinder. Where the trial court declines to terminate the parent’s rights and the third party appeals, this court generally will affirm absent a manifest abuse of discretion by the trial court. See Painter v. Barkley, supra. Such is the state of the law as I understand it in termination cases and where one parent kills another parent, and the extent to which it protects natural parental rights to a child which rights must be ever zealously guarded.

 This is actually more complimentary than allegorical accusatory affinity allegations of human ancestry as being that of “wild animals” provided by home reference books. Encyclopedia Britannica, “Civilization.”