52 Conn. App. 336, 738 A.2d 749
Abuse and Neglect :
CT Appellate Division
1999

Declining to reach several issues raised for the first time on appeal, the Connecticut Appellate Court affirmed a termination of parental rights despite the mother's contentions, which included her claim that the trial court erred in refusing to remove from the petition documents, including several police records. The appellate court found that the documents were exhibits, not 'supporting evidence and pleadings,' and thus their attachment to the petition was permitted by the Connecticut Practice Book. The appellate court did not accept the mother's argument that the police statements were inadmissible because they contained hearsay; the appellate court reasoned that many of the challenged documents were admitted at trial and all the information contained in the documents was contained in the DCF social study and addendum to the social study, both of which were admitted at trial.

The appellate court also disagreed with the mother's claim that the trial court improperly denied her a new trial after the witness with whom the baby had allegedly been abandoned admitted in a criminal trial that she had lied in the child protection proceeding. The appellate court noted that the admission at criminal trial was elicited on cross examination by the questions of the mother's defense lawyer. Because the mother's lawyer in the termination case could have asked the witness the same questions, the appellate court concluded that the failure to discover the witness's recantation prior to the close of the termination trial constituted a lack of due diligence.

DocID: 59 ExtDocID: 0000000000059

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