In re M.C.

• Decision Date: 27 September 2016
• Docket Number: No. 06-16-00022-CV,06-16-00022-CV
• Parties: In the Matter of M.C., A Juvenile
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

502 S.W.3d 852

In the Matter of M.C., A Juvenile

No. 06-16-00022-CV

Court of Appeals of Texas, Texarkana.

Submitted: September 9, 2016
Decided: September 27, 2016

Stan Schwieger, Law Office of Stan Schwieger, Waco, TX, for appellant.

Abel Reyna, District Attorney, Sterling A. Harmon, Assistant District Attorney, McLennan County District Attorney's Office, Waco, TX, for appellee.

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

OPINION

Opinion by Justice Moseley

M.C. initially was placed under the court-ordered supervision of McClennan County¹ juvenile authorities in 2012 for participation in a riot.² In August 2015, M.C. entered a "true" plea to the allegation that he had been guilty of the aggravated sexual assault of a child in late November 2013 when he was sixteen years old. As the result of that plea, M.C. was adjudicated by the trial court for the aggravated sexual assault charge and committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) for a determinate sentence of ten years. On March 1, 2016, the trial court transferred M.C.'s case to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Correctional Institutions Division (TDCJ-CID). It is the order of transfer to the TDCJ-CID which is the subject of this appeal.

M.C. argues that the trial court's findings are not sufficient for this Court to adequately review the trial court's transfer order; he would have us remand this matter to the trial court for further findings and conclusions. We find the record adequate to support the trial court's transfer order and overrule M.C.'s point of error.

I. Standard of Review

Where a juvenile has been adjudicated and committed to TJJD and subsequently is transferred to TDCJ-CID, we review the trial court's order for an abuse of discretion. In re T.D.H. , 971 S.W.2d 606, 610 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1998, no pet.). "In determining whether the trial court abused its discretion, we review the entire record to determine if the trial court acted arbitrarily, unreasonably, or without reference to any guiding principles or rules." In re A.C. , 10–14–00364–CV, 2015 WL 6437696, at *1 (Tex.App.—Waco Oct. 22, 2015, no pet.) (mem. op.). "The trial court's decision will be upheld if the record contains some evidence to support it." In re N.K.M. , 387 S.W.3d 859, 864 (Tex.App.—San Antonio 2012, no pet.).

II. Evidence Presented

At the hearing on the State's motion to transfer, the State presented two witnesses, Eric Powell (M.C.'s supervising probation officer when M.C. was on probation for the riot offense) and Leonard Cucolo (court liaison for the TJJD).

The evidence established that M.C. was put on juvenile court supervision for the riot offense, which was characterized as gang-related because M.C.'s school had

502 S.W.3d 855

listed M.C. as a member of "My Brother's Keepers," which was classified as a gang in Waco. While on probation, Powell said M.C. had exhibited some behavioral problems, but "he did pretty decent. But there was room for a lot of improvement." According to Cucolo, M.C. violated his probationary terms by "not paying his probation fees ... [and] not participating in the probation programs ...." Powell had no concerns about M.C. being a substance or drug abuser. Although Powell said M.C. had violated his supervisory rules, he did not specify the violative conduct upon which he based that conclusion, adding that where M.C.'s violations included his failure to report, those violations usually involved problems with transportation. Powell added that M.C.'s family could have been more supportive in M.C.'s efforts.

Cucolo further testified that M.C. had been committed to TJJD for about five months and had not been able to complete two treatment programs required of him, those being an "aggression replacement training program and the residential sexual behavior treatment program," which usually took twelve to eighteen months to complete. M.C. had done well while committed to TJJD, working toward academic advancement, abstaining from misconduct, and never having been placed in the security unit. Even so, the Department did not find that M.C. had either adequately grasped the nature of his offense, taken responsibility for his offense, or developed strategies to alter his behavior to allow him to "avoid or break the offense cycle." Cucolo indicated that it was the belief at TJJD that M.C. would present "a significant risk to the community if he was to be released to adult parole."

Additionally, Cucolo described the requirement in the Texas Human Resources Code that a juvenile in M.C.'s situation (serving a determinate sentence for a first degree felony) must serve at least three years of the meted sentence in TJJD. See TEX. HUM. RES. CODE ANN. § 245.051(c)(2) (West 2013). M.C. had been committed to TJJD August 13, 2015, and the trial court's hearing was held February 29, 2016, about a week before M.C. would turn nineteen. Once a juvenile attains the age of nineteen, the TJJD loses control over that juvenile. TEX. HUM. RES. CODE ANN. § 245.151(e) (West 2013). Because of the determinate sentence, the trial court could either release M.C. to parole under TDCJ-CID's supervision or transfer him to TDCJ-CID for continued confinement.

M.C. presented testimony from two witnesses, Destany Carter (a sexual-offense caseworker at the unit in which...