I. R. v. People, 24241
| Decision Date | 26 January 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 24241,24241 |
| Citation | 464 P.2d 296 |
| Parties | I.R., Plaintiff in Error, v. PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Defendant in Error. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Dawson, Nagel Sherman & Howard, Michael A. Williams, Denver, for plaintiff in error.
Duke W. Dunbar, Atty. Gen., John P. Moore, Deputy Atty. Gen., George E. DeRoos, Asst. Atty. Gen., James D. McKevitt, Dist. Atty., Second Judicial District, Gregory A. Mueller, Asst. Dist. Atty., and Edward A. Simons, Deputy Dist. Atty., for defendant in error.
This writ of error presents a question of law which was declared by the trial judge to be as follows: 'Does the Juvenile Court have jurisdiction over a petition in delinquency alleging vehicular homicide or is it excluded by the Children's Code as a 'traffic offense'?' The trial judge held that the Juvenile Court did not have jurisdiction of such a petition in delinquency and entered an order dismissing the petition. We disagree.
Although the district attorney in the first instance apparently caused the filing in the Juvenile Court of the petition here under consideration, and though he thereafter again recognized the original jurisdiction, at least, of the Juvenile Court by filing a 'Motion to Transfer and Remand Respondent to District Court' under 1967 Perm.Supp., C.R.S.1963, 22--1--4(4)(a) of the Children's Code, he contends here however that the trial judge was correct in dismissing Sua sponte the petition. In this regard the position taken by the trial judge was that vehicular homicide (1965 Perm.Supp., C.R.S.1963, 13--5--155) should be deemed and considered a violation of a state 'traffic law' as such phrase is used in the Children's Code, and that being a traffic offense it is excluded from the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court by a specific provision in the Children's Code.
The principal argument advanced in support of the contention that vehicular homicide is a traffic offense is that in enacting the vehicular homicide statute in 1965 the General Assembly evidenced its legislative intent when it placed the vehicular homicide statute in Chapter 13 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, which Chapter relates to 'Automobiles and Other Motor Vehicles.' Hence, it is argued, vehicular homicide must be deemed a violation of a state traffic law. In our view, however, the particular legislative intent with which we are here concerned is the legislative intent of the Children's Code enacted in 1967, and not any legislative intent behind the earlier enactment of the vehicular homicide statute. Hence, resolution of the present controversy can only be obtained by reference to the Children's Code itself.
The Children's Code provides that the Juvenile Court has exclusive original jurisdiction in proceedings concerning any delinquent child, which proceeding is to be distinguished from a true criminal proceeding. 22--1--4(1)(a). A delinquent...
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