In re H.C.

• Citation: 562 S.W.3d 30
• Decision Date: 03 October 2018
• Docket Number: No. 06-18-00006-CV,06-18-00006-CV
• Parties: In the MATTER OF H.C.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas

562 S.W.3d 30

In the MATTER OF H.C.

No. 06-18-00006-CV

Court of Appeals of Texas, Texarkana.

Date Submitted: July 16, 2018

Date Decided: October 3, 2018

Gary D. Young, Lamar County & District Attorney, Paris, TX, for Appellee.

Gary L. Waite, Attorney at Law, Paris, TX, for Appellant.

Before Morriss, C.J., Moseley and Burgess, JJ.

OPINION

Opinion by Justice BurgessOn September 29, 2017, the County Court of Lamar County, acting as a juvenile court, determined that fifteen-year-old H.C. had engaged in delinquent conduct by committing theft of property valued at $2,500.00 or more, but less than $30,000.00, a state-jail felony,¹ and placed H.C. on twelve months' probation in the custody of her great-grandmother, I.B.² Approximately three weeks later, H.C. took her grandmother’s vehicle without permission, and she and some friends drove it to Houston, thereby violating several conditions of her probation. Consequently, after a hearing on the State’s motion to modify disposition, the juvenile court entered its order modifying its disposition by committing H.C. to the care, custody, and control of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) for an indeterminate period of time not to exceed her nineteenth birthday.

On appeal, H.C. contends (1) that the juvenile court erred in (a) failing to order a medical or psychiatric inquiry into her competency to proceed with the modification hearing and (b) failing to stay the proceedings in order to have her examined to determine whether she had an intellectual disability; (2) that she received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial; and (3) that there is legally insufficient evidence to support the trial court’s findings (a) that she could not, in her home, be provided the care and level of support and supervision needed to meet the conditions of probation and (2) that reasonable efforts had been made to prevent or eliminate the need to remove her from the home. We find that (1) the juvenile court did not err by not staying the proceedings and ordering a mental examination, (2) ineffective assistance of counsel has not been shown, and (3) legally sufficient evidence supports the challenged findings of the trial court. We will affirm the trial court’s order.

I. Background

On September 29, 2017, H.C. pled true to the State’s allegations that she had committed delinquent conduct by committing a state-jail-felony-level theft. Before her plea, the juvenile court examined H.C., who testified that she understood the charges, the punishment range, and that she could be confined in the TJJD until she was nineteen years old. H.C. also affirmed that, if it was determined that the State’s charges were true, she would have a record that could be used against her in the future in a criminal proceeding. In addition, she affirmed that she understood her constitutional rights to a jury, to confront witnesses, to remain silent, and to require the State to prove its charges beyond a reasonable doubt. Both H.C. and her guardian, I.B.,³ informed the juvenile court that they had had sufficient time to consult with H.C.’s appointed counsel and that they were satisfied with his representation. H.C. also told the juvenile court that she had signed and understood the stipulation of evidence offered by the State, that it had been explained to her by her attorney, and that she was pleading guilty of her own free will.

The juvenile court then found that H.C. had engaged in delinquent conduct by committing the charged theft and placed H.C. on twelve months' probation in the care of I.B. In addition to the typical conditions of probation, the juvenile court ordered H.C. to successfully complete counseling, therapy, or treatment as arranged by her probation officer, to follow through with Amanda Holmes at Red River Behavioral Health and take medication as prescribed,⁴ and to participate in individual counseling with Melissa Ladd.

On October 21, 2017, H.C. and two friends took H.C.’s grandmother’s vehicle without permission and drove it to Houston. On October 25, 2017, H.C. was placed in the Grayson County Juvenile Detention Center (the Detention Center), where she remained until the hearing to modify disposition. At the hearing, H.C. pled true to the State’s allegations that she had violated three terms of her probation, including committing the offense of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

Testimony at trial showed that H.C. had been in counseling and on medication since she was ten years old, but that there had been no significant improvement in her behavior. Janean Butler, H.C.’s juvenile probation officer, testified that there had been a number of medications tried, which would bring some initial improvement, but H.C. would always return to being defiant, aggressive, and destructive both at home and in school. As she has gotten older, her behavior problems have only gotten worse.

In February 2017, H.C. began to wean off of her medication, until she was taking no medication by April 2017.⁵ Also in February, H.C. and a friend ran away from home and stayed in a house in Greenville. When she was returned home, she reported that the owner of the house had sexually assaulted them. Then, in August, H.C. and four other juveniles stole an all-terrain vehicle in Paris, which resulted in H.C.’s original adjudication and probation. While on probation, although I.B. supervised H.C. in taking her medication, H.C. would spit it out afterwards. About three weeks into her probation, H.C. and two friends took her grandmother’s vehicle, drove it to Houston, and abandoned it. The girls got picked up by a pedophile and the other girls left on a bus, but H.C. went to a shelter where she was found by the police.

Dr. Kevin Weatherly, a licensed psychologist, testified that he had met with H.C. in the Detention Center in late November and late December 2017, where he tested her cognitive/intellectual, personality, and emotional functioning. He also spoke with I.B. and a person at H.C.’s school and reviewed Holmes' notes. Weatherly confirmed H.C.’s bipolar disorder

, ADHD, and ODD diagnoses. He also found that H.C.’s intellectual functioning was low, fairly close to where he would diagnose an intellectual disability. Weatherly testified that ADHD causes an inability to consistently control impulses to act because of a degradation in executive functioning and that ODD indicates a pattern of behavior that involves repeated violations of rules and arguing with those in authority. He noted that there had been an inconsistent taking of medication by H.C., which would cause repeated ups and downs cognitively and emotionally. He stressed that consistency was the key to her treatment and that medication was the primary factor for her successful treatment.

Weatherly opined that H.C. would benefit from consistent medication management services, including compliance with the regimen prescribed and individual and family counseling. He testified that all of these services were available locally. Based on his interviews with H.C. and I.B., Weatherly believed that H.C. would comply with his recommendations and that I.B. was capable of providing the medication management services and other support necessary.

Weatherly opined that it was in the best interest of H.C. to give her another chance at home provided she was compliant with the medication and treatment recommendations. However, he also testified that, without compliance and treatment, the risk would be very large for the community and to H.C. and that H.C. would repeat her prior behavior and offenses.

Danna Nixon, a juvenile supervision officer at the Detention Center, testified that H.C. has had seven incident reports for infractions of Detention Center rules, but that most of the infractions were minor. She testified that, for the couple of weeks preceding the hearing, H.C. had followed directions very well. Nixon also testified that the only medications given to H.C. while at the Detention Center had been over-the-counter medications.

H.C.’s juvenile probation officer, Janean Butler, testified that, while on probation and before being placed in the Detention Center, H.C. had attended one individual counseling session. Family counseling had not been scheduled because no times were available. Butler testified that, while H.C. had a loving family who wanted her to come back home, the things I.B. and the rest of the family had tried in an attempt to address H.C.’s issues were not successful. She pointed out that H.C.’s history of running away had placed her in situations in which she could have been killed or she could have killed someone else. She also testified that there were not adequate resources in Lamar County to address H.C.’s issues and that she believed it was in H.C.’s and the community’s best interests that H.C. not be returned home.

Butler also testified that she had found no out-of-home alternative to TJJD for H.C. because of her history of running away and being aggressive toward her peers. Specifically, she testified that there were no boot camp programs for females available and that there were only short-term treatment facilities available for juveniles, but that H.C. required more than a short-term facility. Butler believed that all of the services required by Weatherly’s recommendations could be obtained both in Paris and at the TJJD. Although Butler agreed with Weatherly that some of H.C.’s issues arose in part from inconsistent medication and agreed with his recommendations for treatment for H.C., she disagreed that H.C. could be successful at home. She pointed out that Weatherly’s recommendations were the same as the conditions of her probation, which H.C. and I.B. promised they would do, but failed to implement.

I.B., who is seventy-six years old, testified that the last time H.C. saw Holmes was in February 2017, when H.C. asked Holmes to let her go off of her medication. She claimed that Holmes told H.C. she could wean off of them. I.B. testified that H.C. does different...