In Re Rodriguez

34 Cal.App.3d 510 (1973) 110 Cal. Rptr. 56 In re JESSIE RODRIGUEZ et al., Minors.

KERN COUNTY WELFARE DEPARTMENT, Petitioner and Respondent,

v.

CONFESSOR R. PADILLA, Objector and Appellant.

Docket No. 1875. Court of Appeals of California, Fifth District.

October 4, 1973. [511] COUNSEL

Michael Korn, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Objector and Appellant.

Ralph B. Jordan, County Counsel, and George Wright Quick, Deputy County Counsel, for Petitioner and Respondent.

OPINION

THOMPSON, J.[*]

The Kern County Welfare Department filed a petition pursuant to the provisions of Civil Code section 232, subdivision (d)[1] to [512] have the four Rodriguez children, Jessie, Marcos, Kennedy and Ines free from the custody and control of their father, Confessor R. Padilla, who had been convicted of the murder of the children's mother, Mary Rodriguez, and had been sentenced to life imprisonment. The petition further requested that the children be placed in the custody and control and under the guardianship of the Kern County Welfare Department for adoption placement.

On June 5, 1972, the trial court issued its citation requiring the father to appear at a hearing set on July 28, 1972, which citation was served upon the father on June 21, 1972, at San Quentin Prison.

A hearing was had on July 29th, neither the father nor the children being present. The probation report was received. It set forth the ages of the children, 11, 10, 9 and 7; that the deceased mother and father were separated in November 1969 and the children declared dependents of the court on February 18, 1970; that the father was convicted of murdering the mother of the children and sentenced to San Quentin. The probation report also disclosed that the father wished to keep his children from being freed from his parental control and indicated his intention to resist the petition. The probation report recommended that the court determine the minor children to be fit and proper persons for consideration under the provisions of section 232, subdivision (d) of the Civil Code and be declared free from the custody and control of appellant father. The court was requested to take judicial notice of appellant father's conviction of the murder of the children's mother and his sentence to life imprisonment. The only evidence presented was the probation office's report and the request for judicial notice of appellant's conviction.