Termination of Parental Rights

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WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. C.L.K.,

Case No.: 2017AP1413; 2017AP1414

Officials: DUGAN, J.

Focus: Termination of Parental Rights

On appeal, C.L.K. contends that by granting a directed verdict for the State at the close of the State’s case during the grounds phase of the proceedings without allowing him an opportunity to present any evidence, the trial court violated his due process right to present a defense, which constituted structural error. The State concedes that the trial court followed an incorrect procedure by granting a directed verdict at the close of the State’s case. However, it contends the error is subject to harmless, not structural, error analysis and, because the evidence of abandonment was overwhelming, the error was harmless.

We agree that the trial court erred. However, we conclude that the error does not constitute a structural error. Therefore, the error should be analyzed under the harmless error analysis. Applying that analysis, we find that the error was harmless. We affirm the trial court’s orders.

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.