Houston v. Brackett

Marshall Houston and Vera Houston filed a petition for adoption of Cevil and Virginia Brackett, her children by a former marriage. Petitioners alleged that the children’s father, Clyde Brackett, was an unfit person by reason of abandonment and desertion for more than three months. The father filed an answer denying that he was unfit, and a demand for a jury trial. The County Court of Winnebago County denied the demand for trial by jury and the trial proceeded before the court without a jury. The court found the father unfit as alleged and entered a decree of adoption. Brackett appealed. His…