APPEAL
FROM THE WASHINGTON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 72PR-15-65]
HONORABLE BETH BRYAN, JUDGE
Nathan
B. Lewis and Cody J. Pritchard, for appellant.
Taylor
Law Partners, LLP, by: Scott E. Smith, for appellees.
KENNETH S. HIXSON, JUDGE
The
appellant, Christopher Lee Paschall, has two minor children.
The appellant murdered his children's mother, Casey
Brace, and also murdered his children's maternal
great-grandfather. This appeal stems from a guardianship case
involving appellant's minor children after he was
arrested and subsequently convicted of the murders. Appellant
was incarcerated throughout the guardianship proceedings.
After a series of other temporary placements, the Washington
County Circuit Court granted permanent guardianship of the
minor children to appellant's brother and his wife.
Appellant disagreed with the circuit court's decision and
appeals. We affirm.
I.
Factual Summary
Appellant
murdered his children's mother and their
great-grandfather. On January 26, 2015, while appellant was
incarcerated, John and Mary Paschall, appellant's
parents, filed a petition for appointment of guardian of the
person and for ex parte emergency guardianship. In their
petition, the Paschalls alleged that appellant had been
incarcerated and that appellant's minor children needed a
guardian. They further alleged that the children were
currently in the custody of Cathy Townsend, the
children's maternal grandmother, who resided in Washburn,
Missouri. Before their mother's death, the children had
resided in Arkansas. The Paschalls also alleged that it was
not in the children's best interest to remain in
Cathy's care and custody in Missouri and that they had
spent a considerable amount of time helping to raise the
children.
A week
later, on February 3, 2015, appellant, while incarcerated,
filed a notarized waiver and consent in response to John and
Mary Paschall's petition for appointment of guardian.
Appellant alleged that he is the children's father and
that he waived his time to file an answer, the formal
statutory-notice requirements for all proceedings, and his
appearance at such proceedings. Appellant further stated that
he consented to the circuit court's appointment of John
and Mary Paschall as his children's guardians. The
circuit court thereafter appointed the Paschalls as temporary
guardians.
A few
days later, Amber Trammell, the children's maternal aunt,
(sister of the children's murdered mother) and Cathy
Townsend, the maternal grandmother, filed a motion and an
amended motion to intervene and to set aside the order of
temporary guardianship. Amber and Cathy alleged that they had
already been issued letters of guardianship in Missouri.
Thereafter, John and Mary Paschall, Amber Trammell, and Cathy
Townsend reached a temporary settlement agreement, and the
Washington County Circuit Court filed an agreed order. The
circuit court ruled that Arkansas had jurisdiction pursuant
to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act
(UCCJEA), codified at Arkansas Code Annotated sections
9-19-101 to -401. The parties agreed that John and Mary
Paschall should continue their appointment as temporary
guardians. Amber and Cathy were granted the right to
intervene, and their motion and amended motion to set aside
the order of temporary guardianship was dismissed. The
parties additionally agreed that Amber and Cathy were
entitled to visitation with the children and that the
attorney ad litem for the children would set up counseling.
Shortly
after Amber Trammell was granted the right to intervene,
Amber filed her own motion with the circuit court to be
appointed as the children's guardian. On April 24, 2015,
appellant filed a pro se response to Amber Trammell's
petition titled "Motion to Terminate Supervised
Visitation, Petition for Restraining Order, Motion for Full
Custody, & Motion to Dismiss Defendant's Filing for
Co-Guardianship." In his response, appellant stated that
he had signed over all rights concerning the minor children
to his parents, John and Mary Paschall. He further alleged
that Cathy Townsend was a drug dealer and violent and that
Amber's husband, Justin, had killed his own father.
Appellant prayed that the circuit court would "deem fit
to terminate" any visitation given to Cathy Townsend;
issue restraining orders against Cathy, Amber, and Justin;
dismiss Amber's petition for guardianship; and grant John
and Mary Paschall full custody.
After a
trial, the circuit court filed an order appointing John and
Mary Paschall as permanent guardians of the children. Amber
Trammell was granted visitation. Additionally, Jeremy
Paschall, appellant's brother and the children's
paternal uncle, was granted visitation. The circuit court
further ordered that there be no contact between appellant
and the children until the children's counselor advised
otherwise and all the parties agreed. If the parties could
not reach an agreement, communication would not be allowed
without a court order.
Less
than a year later, on September 14, 2016, the children's
attorney ad litem, Hadley M. Hindmarsh, filed an emergency
motion for emergency substitution of guardians. The attorney
ad litem alleged that Mary Paschall had allowed the children
to have extensive telephone communication with appellant and
that appellant had been "exerting a substantial and
highly concerning level of control over the actions of the
Guardian, Mary Paschall, concerning the minor children, the
guardianship case, the children's counseling and other
matters related to Christopher Paschall's numerous
pending criminal cases." Therefore, based on over forty
telephone recordings, the attorney ad litem stated she had
serious concerns regarding the well-being and safety of the
minor children in Mary and John Paschall's care and
requested that the children be removed. She recommended that
Jeremy and his wife, Crystal Paschall, the children's
paternal uncle and aunt, be appointed as temporary or
permanent guardians.[1]
The
participating parties, including John and Mary Paschall,
Jeremy and Crystal Paschall, Amber Trammell, and the attorney
ad litem, reached a temporary settlement agreement and agreed
to allow Jeremy and Crystal Paschall to be appointed
temporary guardians.[2] Visitation with John and Mary Paschall and
Amber Trammell was permitted but at the sole discretion of
Jeremy and Crystal Paschall. The same parties later reached a
final settlement agreement regarding all pending matters, and
the circuit court adopted the agreement in a final order
filed on January 31, 2017. Jeremy and Crystal Paschall were
appointed as permanent guardians of the children. The order
additionally addressed and set out the visitation
restrictions agreed to by the parties.
About
three months later, appellant, who is now represented by
counsel, filed in May 2017 a pro se "Objection and
Motion to Set Aside Final Order filed January 31, 2017, for
Dismissal of the Emergency Temporary Guardianship and for
Return of Guardianship of the Minor Children to John and Mary
Paschall." In his motion, appellant acknowledged that he
had signed a waiver of notice and consent to the guardianship
in 2015; however, he alleged that his April 2015 pro se
response to Amber Trammell's petition for guardianship
"effectively terminated his previously filed Waiver and
Consent." Appellant further alleged that even if the
April 2015 response did not terminate his waiver and consent,
his "[w]aiver was tied to his consent to John and Mary
Paschall as guardians and [appellant] did not waive notice of
any pleadings challenging John and Mary Paschall as the
guardians." Mary ...