In the Interest of K.E.

Summary

The Kansas Supreme Court held that a father’s due process rights were not violated when the trial court denied his last-minute request to testify by telephone from Georgia at a parental-rights termination hearing. The court concluded that he failed to establish the statutory requirements of good cause, compelling circumstances, and appropriate safeguards for testimony from outside the courtroom under K.S.A. 2010 Supp. 60-243(a). It reversed the Court of Appeals and affirmed the termination of the father’s parental rights.

Holdings

1. The trial court did not violate Father's due-process rights because Father received appropriate notice and an opportunity to appear and be heard in a meaningful manner; due process did not entitle him to testify by telephone under the circumstances.
2. The trial court abused its discretion by failing to knowingly apply the revised statutory standard, but the error was harmless because the court's reasoning was functionally equivalent to the analysis required by K.S.A. 2010 Supp. 60-243(a).

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court violated Father's procedural due-process rights by denying his last-minute request to testify by telephone from Georgia at the parental-rights termination hearing.
2. Whether the trial court's failure to expressly apply the newly revised K.S.A. 2010 Supp. 60-243(a) constituted reversible error.
3. Whether Father established the statutory prerequisites of good cause, compelling circumstances, and appropriate safeguards for testimony by contemporaneous transmission from another location.

Disposition

reversed