In re I.E.H.
| Decision Date | 07 July 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. COA15–45.,COA15–45. |
| Citation | 775 S.E.2d 926 (Table) |
| Parties | In the Matter of I.E.H. |
| Court | North Carolina Court of Appeals |
Mark L. Hayes, for Juvenile–Appellant.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Special Deputy Attorney General Gerald K. Robbins, for the State.
Juvenile Ira Hamilton1 appeals from an adjudication order finding him delinquent for attempted second-degree sexual offense in violation of N.C. Gen.Stat. § 14–27.5. The juvenile alleges the trial court erred in its delinquency determination on three grounds: (1) the delinquency petition was insufficient to confer jurisdiction in the trial court to adjudicate the juvenile; (2) the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss; and (3) the trial court erred in failing to find beyond a reasonable doubt that he attempted to commit a second-degree sex offense. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court's adjudication order.
I. Factual & Procedural History
This case involves an attack that occurred on 4 October 2013. Ira is a fourteen-year-old boy who, at the time of this incident, attended Parkland High School in Winston–Salem. The target of the attack was an eleven-year-old autistic boy named Nate Sawyer.2 Nate lives with his mother and grandmother in Winston–Salem. A social worker involved in the case described Nate as presenting physically, emotionally, and behaviorally younger than his chronological age. Nate's description of what happened to him on 4 October 2013 has varied over time. The evidence presented at trial tended to show the following facts:
Nate testified on the night of 4 October 2013, he played soccer with neighborhood friends. After soccer, he went to his friends' house, which is on the same street as his own house. When the friends finished playing, Nate started walking home. As he walked, Nate heard someone yell out “help,” and he ran to the back of a house, toward the sound. Then, either three or four “boys” grabbed Nate, tied him up, and hit him with their hands and with sticks. Two of the boys took off Nate's clothes and threw them behind a tree. The other boy, who Nate identified to be Ira, “st[uck] the sticks in [his] behind.” Nate testified he was not sure if it was a wooden stick or another kind of stick, but he knew something went in his behind because he felt it and it hurt. Nate reiterated Ira “was the one that was doing the thing.” The boys then ran away; Nate put his clothes back on and went home. He told his mother and grandmother “they hurt me.” Nate's mother testified Nate had “dirt all over him” and “[h]is clothes were disfigured ... they were not on properly.” She estimated it was about 9:30 P.M. when Nate arrived home. She immediately called the police.
Juan Hernandez testified on the night of 4 October 2013, around 8:00 or 9:00 P.M., he was sitting in his car one block away from Nate's street, talking to his girlfriend. Three or four boys ran up to Hernandez and asked him for a ride. One or two of these boys were not wearing shirts and “they were sweaty.” Hernandez identified Ira as one of the boys. Hernandez declined to give the boys a ride. He later gave police a description of the boys and told police he knew that two of the boys were brothers and that they went to Parkland High School.
Later that night, Nate was transported to Wake Forest Baptist Hospital, where he was examined by a sexual assault nurse examiner, Joyce Hilton. Hilton examined Nate only a few hours after the alleged attack, around 12:00 A.M. The examination began by Nate recounting the events of the night to Hilton. Nate told Hilton the boys “took [his] clothes off[,] ... put their nuts in [his] butt and one put ... it in [his] mouth, and they put four sticks in [his] butt.” Hilton conducted a physical examination of Nate. Hilton reported Nate had “no injuries, but we did notice some grass and dirt under his testicular sac when we examined his private areas .” Hilton examined Nate's anus and found it was normal, with no signs of penetration. Two weeks later, on 17 October 2013, Nate described what happened to social worker Cynthia Stewart. Nate told Stewart the boys “sticked [sic] four sticks in my butt, not real sticks, like they [sic] weenies.”
The State filed a juvenile petition against Ira on 16 January 2014. The case came on for trial in Forsyth County District Court on 27 May 2014. The State presented testimony from eleven witnesses, including Nate. At the close of the State's evidence, Ira's attorney moved to dismiss the petition. The motion to dismiss was denied. Ira chose not to present evidence. The State gave its closing argument. Ira's attorney gave his closing argument, during which he asked the trial court “to dismiss these petitions.” The trial court adjudicated Ira a delinquent juvenile on the attempted second-degree sexual offense charge. The trial court entered a written juvenile adjudication order in accordance with her findings on 28 May 2014.
II. Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction lies in this court pursuant to N.C. Gen.Stat. § 7A–27(b)(2), which provides for an appeal of right directly to the Court of Appeals from any final judgment of a district court in a civil action. SeeN.C. Gen.Stat. § 7A–27(b)(2) (2014).
III. Standards of Review
The juvenile presents three claims for our review. First, the juvenile claims the delinquency petition was insufficient. “[A] defective petition is inoperative and fails to evoke the jurisdiction of the court.” In re M.S.,199 N.C.App. 260, 262, 681 S.E.2d 441, 443 (2009) (citation and quotation marks omitted). “Challenges to a court's subject matter jurisdiction may be raised at any time.” In re T.R.P.,360 N.C. 588, 595, 636 S .E.2d 787, 793 (2006) (citations omitted). “Whether a trial court has subject-matter jurisdiction is a question of law, reviewed de novo on appeal.” McKoy v. McKoy,202 N.C.App. 509, 511, 689 S .E.2d 590, 592 (2010) (citation omitted).
Second, the juvenile claims the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss. “We review a trial court's denial of a [juvenile's] motion to dismiss de novo.” In re S.M.S.,196 N.C.App. 170, 171, 675 S.E.2d 44, 45 (2009).
Third, the juvenile claims the trial court failed to find proof beyond a reasonable doubt. “[I]t is reversible error for a trial court to fail to state affirmatively that an adjudication of delinquency is based upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” In re D.K.,200 N.C.App. 785, 788, 684 S.E.2d 522, 525 (2009) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted).
IV. Analysis
A. Sufficiency of the Petition
The juvenile first argues the petition does not sufficiently allege a charge from which a court can adjudicate him delinquent. We disagree.
N.C. Gen.Stat. § 7B–1802 (2014).
Here, the delinquency petition charged Ira with attempted violation of N.C. Gen.Stat. § 14–27.5. N.C. Gen.Stat. § 14–27.5 describes the crime of second-degree sexual offense:
(a) A person is guilty of a sexual offense in the second degree if the person engages in a sexual act with another person:
(1) By force and against the will of the other person; or
(2) Who is mentally disabled, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless, and the person performing the act knows or should reasonably know that the other person is mentally disabled, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless.
N.C. Gen.Stat. § 14–27.5 (2014). The petition against Ira stated the following facts in support of the offense: “the juvenile did unlawfully, willfully and feloniously ... attempt to engage in a sex offense with [Nate Sawyer] who was at the time mentally disabled and physically helpless.” The juvenile argues such a “short form” description of the facts supporting the offense is insufficient to confer jurisdiction in the trial court under the Juvenile Code. Specifically, he asserts the petition fails to include the elements of “attempt”: (1) “specific intent to commit the sexual act” and (2) “overt acts showing intent.”
In adult cases, a criminal indictment “charging a completed offense is deemed sufficient to support a conviction for an attempt to commit the crime charged.” State v. Slade,81 N.C.App. 303, 306, 343 S.E.2d 571, 573 (1986) ; see alsoN.C. Gen.Stat. § 15–170 (2014) (). Thus, it is normally not necessary for an indictment to allege the elements of attempt in order for the adult defendant to be convicted of attempt to commit the crime for which he was indicted. Furthermore, in adult cases where second-degree sexual offense of a disabled person is alleged, our statutes allow for “short form” indictments, wherein “it is sufficient to allege that the defendant unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did engage in a sex offense with a person who was mentally disabled, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless, naming such victim, and concluding as aforesaid .” N.C. Gen.Stat. § 15–144.2(c) (2014). Therefore, the language of the juvenile petition in this case meets the standard to which an adult indictment for attempted second-degree sexual offense would be held. The issue, then, is whether this language is sufficient in a juvenile petition alleging the same offense.
This Court has consistently recognized-in published opinions-the similarities between the juvenile petition and the criminal indictment: “[T]he juvenile petition ‘serves essentially the same function as an indictment in a felony prosecution and is subject to the same requirement that it aver every element of a criminal offense, with sufficient...
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