Blythe v. State
| Decision Date | 30 March 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 277S147,277S147 |
| Citation | 268 Ind. 97,373 N.E.2d 1098 |
| Parties | Percy BLYTHE, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below). |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Harriette Bailey Conn, Public Defender, Ihor N. Boyko, Deputy Public Defender, Indianapolis, for appellant.
Theodore L. Sendak, Atty. Gen., Susan J. Davis, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
Defendant (Appellant) was charged by indictment filed November 21, 1973 in the St. Joseph Circuit Court. The charge was first degree murder (felony), Ind.Code § 35-13-4-1(a), arising out of a homicide which had occurred on October 13, 1973. At the time of the proceedings in the Circuit Court, the defendant was sixteen years of age, and Ind.Code § 31-5-7-13 was in effect and required the transfer of criminal charges against juveniles of that age to the Juvenile Court for disposition. Excepted from the purview of that statute were charges against children over sixteen years of age when "charged with a violation of law, which if, committed by an adult, would be a capital offense." Also in effect was Ind.Code § 31-5-7-14 which permitted the judge of the Juvenile Court, after full investigation, to waive jurisdiction, under such circumstances, and order the juvenile held for trial in the court which would have jurisdiction of such offenses if committed by an adult in this case, the St. Joseph Circuit Court.
Although the death penalty provisions of our criminal statutes had previously been held unenforceable, as unconstitutional, we have heretofore held that the placing of jurisdiction over crimes, by reference to crimes carrying a possible death sentence, remained valid. The reference to capital punishment in the statute fixing jurisdiction was merely designatory of a group of crimes. Martin v. State, (1974) 262 Ind. 232, 314 N.E.2d 60; Lockridge v. State, (1975) 263 Ind. 678, 338 N.E.2d 275. There is, therefore, no question but that the St. Joseph Circuit Court had jurisdiction of the defendants under the indictment.
To this point, there is no dispute. Following the appointment of counsel and a plea of not guilty entered on November 28, 1973, the defendant appeared on December 18, 1973, and without the formality of an amended indictment or information, entered a plea of guilty as to the offense of second degree murder. Upon such plea, he was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than fifteen nor more than twenty-five years. Thereafter, the defendant sought relief under Post Conviction Rule 1, which was denied, and is before us on an appeal from the denial of his motion to correct errors filed in the post conviction proceedings. Two issues are presented, but in view of our conclusion reached herein we need address only the assignment that the trial judge lacked subject matter jurisdiction to accept the guilty plea and sentence him.
It is the defendant's position that although the court had jurisdiction to proceed upon the first degree murder indictment it was divested of jurisdiction, except to transfer the cause to the Juvenile Court when the theory of the State's action changed from felony murder to second degree murder. The State contends that the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court, which vested with the filing of the indictment, was not subject to being divested.
We have been cited to no direct authority in support of either position, and our research has disclosed no Indiana decisions upon the subject. Some early cases from other jurisdictions held that where the criminal court had jurisdiction of the juvenile under a statute providing for such under a charge of first degree murder, a verdict of guilty as to a lesser included offense could operate only as an acquittal of the first degree murder charge, and not as a conviction of the lesser offense. Later and better reasoned cases have held that such courts could sentence the juvenile on a guilty verdict as to the lesser included offense. See Annotation at 48 ALR 2d 663. We find no cases, however, where the issue of more extensive jurisdiction in such cases has been litigated.
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Twyman v. State
...have used the term "subject matter jurisdiction" in reference to juveniles charged with crime in an adult court, Blythe v. State, (1978) 268 Ind. 97, 373 N.E.2d 1098; Seay v. State, (1975) 167 Ind.App. 22, 337 N.E.2d 489; a closer examination of the language employed by our supreme court in......
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...court decisions confirm this practice. See, e.g., Snodgrass v. State, 273 Ind. 148, 406 N.E.2d 641, 645 (1980); Blythe v. State, 268 Ind. 97, 373 N.E.2d 1098, 1099 (1978); Lindley v. State, 268 Ind. 83, 373 N.E.2d 886, 888-89 (1978) ("child" defined to exclude all persons charged with first......
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...N.E.2d 351; Swain v. State, (1938) 214 Ind. 412, 15 N.E.2d 381; Mack v. State, (1932) 203 Ind. 355, 180 N.E. 279. Cf. Blythe v. State, (1978) Ind., 373 N.E.2d 1098, 1100. In Witt v. State, (1933) 205 Ind. 499, 185 N.E. 645, it was recognized that the legislature, in enacting the felony murd......
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