Jailed Ex-Husband Wins Round on House Appraisal

(CN) - A jailed ex-husband should have been allowed to find out what the house appraised for in his divorce case, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled.

Leslie Reece filed for divorce from Jeffrey Klocko in 2003 after five years of marriage. The trial court awarded Reece the house, which was valued at $200,000 in 2004.

Klocko challenged the ruling by filing a motion for discovery of the home's appraisal. He participated in a trial by telephone, because he was in prison on 12 counts of sexually abusing Reese's daughter.

The court again entered a judgment of divorce, with the home belonging to Reese.

Klocko appealed, accusing the judge of bias and of revisiting the original court decision.

Judge Highers upheld the divorce, but said Klocko is entitled to discovery and vacated the portion of the divorce regarding the marital home.

"Klocko sought discovery of all documents evidencing improvements to the marital home," Highers ruled. "This information could have proven crucial to Klocko's claim that he made improvements to the marital home, such that it became marital property."

However, Highers declined to remove the trial judge from the case, ruling that she was not biased, despite the fact that she found Klocko not to be a credible witness, and she suggested and granted a restraining order against him.

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