A. D. T. v. State, X--330
| Decision Date | 28 August 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. X--330,X--330 |
| Citation | 318 So.2d 478 |
| Parties | A.D.T., a minor, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Richard W. Ervin, III, Public Defender, and David, J. Busch, Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and Richard W. Prospect, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
The sole issue raised by this appeal is whether the correct procedure was employed when the juvenile court waived its jurisdiction and certified the appellant, the juvenile defendant below, for trial as an adult.
Appellant was charged by indictment on November 22, 1974, with one count of disorderly intoxication and three counts of resisting arrest with violence. The same day a motion for waiver of jurisdiction and certification was filed in the juvenile court. At the hearings held on the motion, defense counsel moved for dismissal on the grounds that a petition alleging delinquency had not been filed and, in the alternative, that the motion requesting certification of the child for trial as an adult had not been timely filed. In denying these motions, the Circuit Court permitted the indictment to substitute for the petition alleging delinquency and allowed the State to make certain amendments thereon in order to comply with Rule 8.070, R.J.P. 1
Appellant now alleges that the trial court erred in allowing the grand jury indictment, as amended, to substitute for a delinquency petition. The language found in F.S. 39.09(2)(a) seems to require the filing of a delinquency petition in a case where the State Attorney intends to seek waiver of juvenile court jurisdiction. 2 It should also be noted that in addition to requiring the filing of a delinquency petition, the statute also requires the waiver motion to be filed within five days of the filing of the delinquency petition.
The State argues that the foregoing provisions were designed merely for the purposes of informing the child and his parents of the nature of the charge and allowing adequate time in which to prepare a defense. If a petition submitted pursuant to Rule 8.070, R.J.P., satisfies the due process requirements, why, the State rhetorically asks, may not an indictment initiated by a grand jury likewise afford due process? In so narrowly defining the purposes of the statutes and rules applicable to juveniles, the State has overlooked the true issue.
The State of Florida, as well as most if not all other states of the Union, has long recognized that juveniles constitute a special and distinct class of citizens, with particularized needs to be afforded unique treatment by the state. Relevant are the purposes of the chapter of the Florida Statutes relating to the judicial treatment of juveniles as expressed by the Florida Legislature in F.S. 39.001. The four purposes listed are:
'(1) To protect society more effectively by substituting for retributive punishment methods of training and treatment directed toward the correction and rehabilitation of children who violate the laws;
'(2) To assure to all children brought to the attention of the courts, either as a result of their misconduct or because of neglect or mistreatment by...
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