In re Child of Scott A.
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The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the judgment of the district court terminating Father's parental rights to his child pursuant to Me. Rev. Stat. 4055(1)(B)(2)(a), (b)(i)-(ii), (iv), holding that Father was not denied a fair hearing and that the court did not err by drawing an adverse inference from Father's invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege.
On appeal, Father argued that the district court's judgment violated his due process rights because the court predicated factual findings that he was involved in illegal drug activity in part on his invocation at trial of his constitutional privilege against self-incrimination. The Supreme Judicial Court disagreed, holding (1) Father received a fair hearing; (2) the court did not err by considering evidence of Father history of drug-related criminal conduct and substance abuse, established in part by adverse inferences, as factors that contributed to the determination of parental unfitness; and (3) the court was entitled to conclude that Father was parentally unfit within the meaning of at least one statutory definition of that legal standard.
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