FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Court of Appeals reversed and dismissed on a technicality Wednesday a child custody case from Washington County.
At issue in the case was whether Roy McMahan was properly served with a petition to terminate his parental rights by the Arkansas Department of Human Services. The appeals court said he wasn't.
McMahan's parental rights were terminated by Circuit Judge Stacey Zimmerman in March. Zimmerman found McMahan was properly served.
The court found DHS failed to send McMahan a copy of the summons and complaint by first-class mail and marked as "legal mail" while he was incarcerated at the Arkansas Department of Correction's Tucker Unit.
DHS employees said they did and McMahan said he didn't receive any legal mail while in prison. He was served in person by the warden at the prison and by a lieutenant while at the Washington County Jail, but the judges said that wasn't sufficient.
NW News on 10/30/2014