BR v. State
| Decision Date | 03 March 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 49A02-0404-JV-322.,49A02-0404-JV-322. |
| Citation | 823 N.E.2d 301 |
| Parties | In the Matter of B.R., Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff. |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Jan B. Berg, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellant.
Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Grant H. Carlton, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.
B.R. appeals the juvenile court's adjudication that he committed the delinquent act of disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor if committed by an adult, and presents the following issues for our review:
We affirm.
On February 2, 2004, B.R. initiated an argument with a fellow student at Emmerich Manual High School in Indianapolis. While the two were standing face to face, B.R. pulled out an opened knife and pointed it at the other student. After seeing the knife, the other student struck B.R. and left the scene.
The State filed a delinquency petition against B.R. for disorderly conduct. There is no record that the juvenile court expressly approved the filing of that petition. The juvenile court found the delinquency allegation to be true and placed B.R. in the custody of the Department of Correction for a recommended period of twelve months. This appeal ensued.
Juvenile courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. Phares v. State, 796 N.E.2d 305, 307 (Ind.Ct.App.2003). Their jurisdiction must be invoked by establishing the statutory jurisdictional prerequisites. Id. When jurisdictional facts are not in dispute, the question of whether a lower court had jurisdiction over a juvenile proceeding is reviewed de novo. Id.
B.R. first contends that his delinquency adjudication should be vacated because the juvenile court failed to follow the necessary statutory prerequisites to obtain jurisdiction in this matter. Specifically, he argues that the juvenile court failed to expressly authorize the filing of a delinquency petition in accordance with Indiana Code Section 31-37-10-2. That statute provides:
The juvenile court shall do the following:
Ind.Code § 31-37-10-2 (emphases added).
In support of his argument, B.R. cites our decision in K.S. v. State, 807 N.E.2d 769 (Ind.Ct.App.2004), aff'd on reh'g, 816 N.E.2d 1164 (Ind.Ct.App.2004),
trans. pending. In that case, we applied the long-standing and well-settled principle that certain steps must be taken before the commencement of a juvenile delinquency proceeding, including express court approval for the filing of a delinquency petition. Id. at 770-71 (citing, e.g., Taylor v. State, 438 N.E.2d 275, 277 (Ind.1982)). We agree with B.R. that the juvenile court erred when it did not expressly approve the filing of the delinquency petition.
The concurring opinion1 attempts to distinguish K.S. from the instant case and asserts that the juvenile court properly assumed jurisdiction over B.R. because strict compliance with the statutory prerequisites to obtaining juvenile jurisdiction is necessary only when a juvenile does not have a history of delinquency adjudications. See op. at 302.2 But our legislature has specified the circumstances under which a juvenile court may retain jurisdiction over a juvenile. See Ind.Code §§ 31-30-2-1, 31-30-2-3. According to Indiana Code Section 31-30-2-1:
I.C. § 31-30-2-1; see In re Tina T., 579 N.E.2d 48, 61 (Ind.1991)
. Further, after being divested of jurisdiction, the juvenile court may reacquire jurisdiction only through the means set forth in Indiana Code Section 31-30-2-3. J.J.M. v. State, 779 N.E.2d 602, 607 (Ind.Ct.App.2002). That statute permits the juvenile court to reinstate jurisdiction for the purpose of modifying its original dispositional decree, but reinstatement must occur within thirty days of receiving notice of the date on which the Department of Correction intends to release a child from its custody. See I.C. § 31-30-2-3; J.J.M., 779 N.E.2d at 607 n. 1 (citing W.L. v. State, 707 N.E.2d 812, 813 (Ind.Ct.App.1999)).
In S.W.E. v. State, 563 N.E.2d 1318, 1320-22 (Ind.Ct.App.1990), this court was presented with the same issue raised by B.R., namely, whether the juvenile court acquired jurisdiction when it did not approve the filing of the delinquency petition.3 On April 19, 1989, S.W.E. had been adjudicated delinquent for the illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor and was placed on six months' probation. Id. at 1319. Later that same month, S.W.E. was also charged with delivery of a schedule I controlled substance, which formed the basis for his appeal. Id. This court acknowledged that the juvenile court did not follow the required procedural steps to obtain jurisdiction but, nevertheless, held that the court had already acquired jurisdiction in the prior delinquency adjudication. Id. at 1321. But the very next paragraph of the opinion clarifies that holding:
Pursuant to Indiana Code Section 31-6-2-3 the juvenile court's jurisdiction over any delinquent child continues until the child reaches his twenty-first birthday unless the court before then either discharges the child or awards guardianship of him to the [D]epartment of [C]orrections [sic]. None of those events had occurred when the delinquency petition regarding delivery of a controlled substance was filed and the waiver hearing conducted. Thus, the court already had jurisdiction of S.W.E. and the further proceedings that were held protected his due process rights. There was no failure to acquire jurisdiction.
Id. (emphasis added).
And in W.L., 707 N.E.2d at 813, we held that the juvenile court was divested of jurisdiction over W.L. once it had entered the dispositional decree. On January 8, 1998, after W.L. had been adjudicated a delinquent child, the juvenile court "ordered that W.L. be placed on suspended commitment, ordered family counseling, entered a parental participation order, and ordered that W.L. do extra chores in his home." Id. The prosecutor later discovered that he had inadvertently omitted the victim's claim for restitution, and on January 22, 1998, the State filed a Motion to Reopen for Restitution. Id. Relying on Indiana Code Section 31-30-2-1, we held that "the juvenile court discharged W.L. and his parents in the dispositional decree" and that, as a result, the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction to rule on the State's motion. Id. at 814.4
Taken together, S.W.E. and W.L. demonstrate that the jurisdiction of a juvenile court in a subsequent proceeding turns not on the existence of a prior delinquency adjudication, but on the contents of the dispositional decree in the prior proceeding and the date it was entered. We cannot agree with the import of the concurring opinion that the juvenile court retains jurisdiction over every child ever adjudicated a delinquent or because a particular child has been a "frequent customer" of the juvenile court. See op. at 302-303.
Here, B.R. has been adjudicated a delinquent on four previous occasions. But on three of those occasions, the court awarded guardianship of B.R. to the Department of Correction, an act that terminates a juvenile court's jurisdiction. See I.C. § 31-30-2-1(a)(2). Further, the court did not move to reinstate its jurisdiction over B.R. within thirty days of receiving notification from the Department of Correction of B.R.'s scheduled date of release. See I.C. § 31-30-2-3; J.J.M., 779 N.E.2d at 607; W.L., 707 N.E.2d at 813. And punishment for the fourth adjudication, which involved a finding of truancy, consisted of formal home detention. The preliminary inquiry and investigation report reveals that the matter was closed on October 19, 2001, which indicates that B.R. and his parents had been discharged in accordance with Indiana Code Section 31-30-2-1(a)(1) and that the juvenile court had been divested of jurisdiction. See W.L., 707 N.E.2d at 813
. As K.S. emphasizes, "Indiana courts have held for many years that strict compliance with the statutory prerequisites for obtaining jurisdiction at the commencement of delinquency proceedings is required of juvenile courts." 807 N.E.2d at 770. In this case, the juvenile court's jurisdiction had been terminated in each of the previous four delinquency proceedings, and, for that reason, the juvenile court erred when it did not expressly approve the filing of the delinquency petition.
We cannot agree with the concurring opinion's position that the juvenile court retained jurisdiction over B.R. due to his previous delinquency adjudications and, therefore, could dispense with the statutory requirement that it expressly authorize the filing of the delinquency petition. The concurring opinion argues that it is more practical to "presume[ ] that it is in the best interests of the child or the community to initiate a formal delinquency proceeding with respect to subsequent delinquency allegations without the juvenile court having to enter a formal finding to that effect." Op. at 308. While this may be so, the legislature has unambiguously specified otherwise. See I.C. § 31-37-10-2 (...
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