Ex parte Lewis

• Decision Date: 17 December 1947
• Docket Number: A-10860.
• Citation: 188 P.2d 367,85 Okla.Crim. 322
• Parties: Ex parte LEWIS.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

188 P.2d 367

85 Okla.Crim. 322

Ex parte LEWIS.

No. A-10860.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

December 17, 1947

Original proceeding in the matter of the petition of Owen Lewis, a minor, for a writ of habeas corpus to secure his release from confinement in State Training School for White Boys at Helena.

Writ denied.

On habeas corpus, inquiry is limited to questions as to whether court had jurisdiction of person of defendant and of crime charged and whether it had jurisdiction to render particular judgment.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Courts should be slow to resort to judicial surgery in upsetting precedents, and should do so only when it will enhance or promote healthful growth of the law. But, they should not seek the line of least resistance and knowingly follow precedents that are palpably bad, for such a course produces stagnation and error upon error.

2. The Juvenile Act should be liberally construed to effect its humanitarian objects, but, in so construing the Act, courts should not transcend the clear and unambiguous intent of the Act, as expressed in the unmistakable language of the legislature.

3. The Juvenile Act, Title 10 O.S.A. § 101, as amended, in so far as a delinquent child is concerned, confines the applicability of said Act to 'any male under 16 years of age and any female under 18 years of age, not an inmate of a State Institution, incorporated under the laws of this State,' and in a criminal sense, who violates any law of the United States, or of this State, or a City or Town ordinance, and such child shall be proceeded against as in the Juvenile Act provided.

4. The right of the juvenile court to proceed to make disposition of a child under 16 years of age, charged with juvenile delinquency by reason of the commission of crime, is dependent upon jurisdiction of the subject matter, of the person, and upon the provisions under which its powers are exercised, as contained within the statutes, since said juvenile court is one of special and limited jurisdiction.

5. Jurisdiction of a juvenile delinquent is acquired by the juvenile court by the filing of a petition, Title 10 O.S.A. § 105; by service of summons and notice as provided in Title 10 O.S.A. § 106; unless clearly and validity waived; and, the determination of certain jurisdictional facts, prerequisite to disposition of a child by said juvenile court, Title 10 O.S.A. § 112.

6. A proceeding against a child believed to be a juvenile delinquent may be instituted by any reputable person who is a resident of the county and who has knowledge that said child appears to be delinquent, for any of the reasons set forth in the statute, Title 10 O.S.A. § 105; the allegations of said petition should meet the requirements of said section of the statute.

7. Before the juvenile court can make disposition of a child based on the allegations of the petition for juvenile delinquency, it must conduct a hearing thereon and adjudicate the facts of whether said child is delinquent, Title 10 O.S.A. § 112, and, if said child is a delinquent by reason of the commission of crime as defined in Title 10 O.S.A. § 101 as amended; whether said child had the mental capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of its act, then, in the exercise of its discretion the juvenile court may retain jurisdiction for disposition of said child as provided in Title 10 O.S.A. § 111, or, may cause said child to be prosecuted in a court of competent jurisdiction, Title 10 O.S.A. § 112.

8. When the juvenile court has adjudged a child to be a juvenile delinquent by reason of the commission of crime and when said child has been found to possess sufficient mental capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his acts and that by reason thereof he should be prosecuted in a court of competent jurisdiction therefor, said adjudication should be called to the attention of the county attorney, the chief prosecuting officer of the county, directing him to institute prosecution.

9. When the matter of juvenile delinquency has been called to the attention of the county attorney and he has been directed by order of the juvenile court to institute prosecution against a juvenile delinquent as for the commission of crime, the county attorney should immediately proceed with such prosecution by filing a complaint before a committing magistrate, or submitting said matter to a grand jury.

10. When a child has been adjudged a juvenile delinquent by the juvenile court, and found to possess mental capacity sufficient to appreciate the wrongfulness of his acts, is charged by complaint with the violation of law, as defined in Title 10 O.S.A. § 101, as amended, and is brought before a committing magistrate, said committing magistrate shall proceed at once to conduct a preliminary hearing to determine: (1) If a crime has been committed; and, (2) Whether there is probable cause to believe the accused committed it. If the issues be found against the accused, said juvenile shall be bound over to a court of competent jurisdiction for trial with or without bail, as the law may require.

11. The procedure of the Juvenile Act relative to the prosecution of juvenile delinquents for the commission of crime does not deprive the county attorney of his discretionary power as to the institution of prosecutions, since under the provisions of Title 22 O.S.A. § 258, the matter of instituting prosecutions by complaint and information is vested in the County Attorney. Therefore, the order of the juvenile court is only directory, but, it should carry great weight with him in his determination of the matter of prosecuting a juvenile in a court of competent jurisdiction. Subjecting the matter to the discretion of the County Attorney throws an added safeguard around the juvenile against unwarranted and possibly useless prosecutions, and otherwise enures to his protection.

12. In the trial before the juvenile court on the allegations in the petition to have a child adjudged delinquent, such child shall have the right to demand a trial by jury which shall be granted, unless waived, or, the judge of his own motion may call a jury in the trial of such cases; Title 10 O.S.A. § 102. Unless demand is made therefor, the same is waived.

13. In the preliminary hearing, on a criminal complaint before the committing magistrate, the juvenile is not entitled to a jury.

14. In a trial of a juvenile delinquent as for the commission of crime, in a court of competent jurisdiction, it is not within the power of the court to arbitrarily assume that the county court, sitting as a juvenile court, was incapable of determining the mental capacity of the Juvenile and its delinquency. Said court, of competent jurisdiction, does not sit in an appellate capacity with powers of reversal; but, the issue of mental capacity is a defense against the charge which may be raised in the trial upon its merits and if raised, thus becomes a question of fact to be determined by the jury in the trial on the criminal charge.

15. In the trial of a juvenile delinquent, as for the commission of crime, where the accused is found not guilty for lack of mental capacity to know the wrongfullness of his acts, the juvenile court by reason of its continuing jurisdiction until the delinquent male is 21 years of age and female is 18 years of age, may parole, commit, or make other disposition of said juvenile delinquent as provided by law.

16. Where the age of a juvenile is definitely determined, in the case of a male under 16 years and in the case of females under 18 years; and there has been an adjudication of juvenile delinquency by reason of the commission of crime, and, it has been determined by the juvenile court that said child was possessed of sufficient mental capacity to know the wrongfulness of his acts, the juvenile court has sole jurisdiction to make disposition of the juvenile delinquent either by committal, as provided in the Juvenile Act, or, it may cause said juvenile to be prosecuted in a court of competent jurisdiction.

17. The Juvenile Act takes away no jurisdiction heretofore conferred on the courts to try an offense against the penal laws of the State, and where a male child under 16 years of age or a female under 18 years of age commits a crime but the juvenile court did not acquire jurisdiction to make an adjudication of juvenile delinquency before it reached the age of 16 years in the case of a male and 18 years in the case of a female, courts of competent jurisdiction may proceed to try said child as though he were an adult, without resort to the juvenile court.

18. It is a fundamental rule of construction that an act of the legislature must be construed in such a manner as to harmonize with and give meaning to each and every provision thereof, where it is possible so to do.

19. The cases of Wilson v. State, 65 Okl.Cr. 10, 82 P.2d 308; Ex parte Dickerson, 67 Okl.Cr. 439, 94 P.2d 951, and all other previous decisions in conflict with the rules of law hereinbefore set forth in this syllabus, are modified to conform with the above statements of law.

William F. Hillhouse and Andrew Wilcoxen, both of Muskogee, for petitioner.

Mac Q. Williamson, Atty. Gen., and Lewis A. Wallace, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.

BRETT Judge.

Petitioner, Owen Lewis, a minor, filed in this court his petition for writ of habeas corpus, alleging that he was unlawfully restrained by Colonel W. E. Downs, superintendent of the State Training School for White Boys at Helena, Oklahoma.

He alleges that such restraint was under any by virtue of an order of commitment made and entered on March 26, 1947 by John D. Gulager, Judge of the County Court in and for Muskogee County, Oklahoma; said commitment, omitting the caption, being substantially as follows, to wit:

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