Grant v. State, 48170
| Decision Date | 23 December 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. 48170,48170 |
| Citation | 305 So.2d 351 |
| Parties | James Edward GRANT v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Fraiser & Burgoon, W. S. Stuckey, Jr., Greenwood, for appellant.
A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by John C. Underwood, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
James Edward Grant, thirteen years old, was adjudged a delinquent child by the Circuit Court of Leflore County and was committed to the Columbia Training School until the age of twenty-one. He now appeals that adjudication and sentence.
In November 1973 the appellant was tried in the Circuit Court of Leflore County for murder. At the conclusion of the state's case the trial court granted a directed verdict, holding the state had failed to present sufficient evidence to convict the appellant of either the crime of murder or manslaughter.
After granting the directed verdict, the appellant, being of the opinion that jurisdiction was no longer in the circuit court, sought to have the cause transferred to the Youth Court of Leflore County under the provisions of the Youth Court Law, Mississippi Code Annotated section 43-21-1 et seq. (1972). This motion was denied and the appellant and his parents were ordered to appear at a delinquency hearing held before the court sitting in the capacity of a youth court.
At this hearing the state, relying upon the evidence offered at the murder trial, presented no testimony nor was any testimony offered by the appellant. The court thereupon adjudged the appellant a delinquent child and ordered him committed to the state training school at Columbia until he is twenty-one.
The appellant now contends the circuit court, having determined as a matter of law that the appellant was not guilty of the crime charged, did not have jurisdiction to sit as a youth court. We agree with this contention.
The issue presented is not whether the circuit court had jurisdiction when the appellant was initially indicted and tried for murder. Indeed the appellant does not question that jurisdiction since it is granted to the circuit court by Mississippi Code Annotated section 43-21-31 (1972), which states inter alia:
. . . (T)he circuit court shall have exclusive jurisdiction of such child if he be charged with any crime which, upon conviction, is punishable by life imprisonment or death.
He does argue that when, because of the lack of evidence, the directed verdict was granted, he was entitled to be acquitted since no pending charges remained against him. Moreover, if mistaken in this thought and there remained pending offenses less than capital against him, revealed by the evidence in the murder trial, jurisdiction was exclusively within the youth court.
The issue of jurisdiction of minors involved in criminal activities has previously been before this Court. We resolved that jurisdiction, except for cases involving crimes punishable by life imprisonment or death, is vested in the youth court of the appropriate county whenever the defendant is less than eighteen years...
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Carter v. State
...does not reveal that we ever held that a crime punishable by a life sentence was not within the purview of the statute. Grant v. State, 305 So.2d 351 (Miss.1974). Cases from other jurisdictions are cited as authority for the argument that the phrase 'punishable by sentence of death or life ......
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In the Matter of C.S., 12647.
...has held that the youth court obtains jurisdiction, once again, after a juvenile is acquitted in criminal court. Grant v. State, 305 So.2d 351, 352 (Miss.1974). The court did not have to deal with the question of subsequent jurisdiction over a youth convicted in criminal court of a lesser i......