ZANESVILLE − The Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office is awaiting a decision from the Ohio Supreme Court regarding evidence in a local custody case.
The local prosecutor’s office argued on behalf on the Muskingum County Adult and Child Protective Services in front of the state on Feb 6, according to a press release from the local office.The case centers on a 2021 custody case, regarding the use of a psychologist’s report as evidence.
The release involves a local woman who gave birth to two children in 2020. Protective Services asked Muskingum Juvenile Court for temporarily custody due to the mother’s mental health. The children were placed in the care of a family member.
Protective Services filed a motion in 2021 to give the family member legal custody. A report filed by a psychologist was used during a May 2022 hearing. The mother’s attorney objected, stating the mother should have been able to question the psychologist at the hearing.
The juvenile court disagreed and the mother appealed the decision in the Fifth District Court of Appeals, where the decision was reversed. Protective Services appealed the case, which was then taken up by the Ohio Supreme Court.