Matter of A.S.W.

• Decision Date: 20 September 1978
• Docket Number: No. 11646.,No. 11723.,11646.,11723.
• Citation: 391 A.2d 1385
• Parties: In the Matter of A. S. W., Appellant. In the Matter of J. A. M., Appellant.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

391 A.2d 1385

In the Matter of A. S. W., Appellant In the Matter of J. A. M., Appellant.

No. 11646.

No. 11723.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued March 16, 1978.

Decided September 20, 1978.

Ross T. Dicker, Washington, D. C., appointed by this court, for appellant in No. 11646.

David J. Ontell, Washington, D. C., appointed by this court, for appellant in No. 11723.

Leo N. Gorman, Asst. Corp. Counsel, Washington, D. C., with whom John R. Risher, Jr., Corp. Counsel, Washington, D. C., at the time this case was briefed and argued, and Richard W. Barton, Deputy Corp. Counsel, Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for appellee.

Before KELLY, NEBEKER and FERREN, Associate Judges.

FERREN, Associate Judge:

This case presents the question whether residents of the District of Columbia's Cedar Knoll Children's Center, located in Laurel, Maryland, who are charged with assaulting counselors on the premises, D.C. Code 1973, § 22-505(a), are subject to the jurisdiction of the Superior Court, Family Division; or whether instead, as appellants claim, such juveniles have a constitutional right to a proceeding in the state where the offenses took place — Maryland. We reject appellants' contention, hold that the Superior Court does not have jurisdiction, and affirm the adjudications of appellants' delinquency.

I.

On July 4, 1976, the Cedar Knoll Children's Center suffered an electrical failure resulting in a shutoff of lights and air conditioning and a consequent use of candles. Aided by this fortuity, the residents of "B Side" of the Lincoln Cottage planned an uprising, possibly an escape. Sometime around 11:00 p. m. they extinguished the candles.

One of the Counselors, Sherman Coston, Jr., investigated. When he entered the dormitory, however, someone tossed a sheet over his head, assaulted him, and wrestled him onto a bed. As he struggled, he called for the help of fellow counselor, David Whitmyer, who was locking "A Side" of the cottage. Mr. Whitmyer responded, but as he entered the locker room area someone knocked his candle from his hand and pushed him into the dormitory. There, he saw Mr. Coston on a bed, bloody and battered. Mr. Whitmyer testified that when he asked for an explanation, F.H.S., a resident of the cottage, informed him that they were "getting out" and asked for the keys. He further testified that he was struck during the episode but that he could not identify his assailant.

Not long after Mr. Whitmyer's entrance, Mr. Coston was escorted to a seclusion room where he was locked up; Mr. Whitmyer was carried to the shower and confined there. Apparently, other authorities soon quelled the disturbance, freed the counselors, and began an investigation. As a result, several juveniles, including 16-year-old A.S.W. and 17-year-old J.A.M., were charged in Family Division petitions alleging "need of care and rehabilitation." Specifically, they were each charged with two counts of assault, D.C.Code 1973, § 22-505(a), and one count of conspiracy to assault, id.; D.C.Code 1973, § 22-105a(a).¹

A factfinding hearing began in the Family Division on October 2, 1976.² F.H.S., a Lincoln Cottage resident who also had been charged in connection with the incident, testified for the government after receiving a promise to dismiss the petition against him. F.H.S. connected both appellants to both assaults. Primarily on the strength of his testimony, supplemented by the accounts of the two counselors (although their testimony contained little direct evidence of appellants' involvement), the government obtained findings of guilt on both counts and delinquency adjudications as to each appellant.³ On December 7, 1976, both A.S.W. and J.A.M. were committed to the Social Rehabilitation Administration for indeterminate periods not to exceed two years.

II.

Appellants argue that they have a constitutional right to a factfinding hearing in Maryland. Art. III, § 2, cl. iii of the United States Constitution provides: "The trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed." The Sixth Amendment adds: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed. . . .⁴ Juvenile proceedings, however, are not criminal trials or prosecutions, McKeiver v. Pennsylvania, 403 U.S. 528, 91 S.Ct. 1976, 29 L.Ed.2d 647 (1971); In re J. T., D.C.App., 290 A.2d 821, cert. denied, 409 U.S. 986, 93 S.Ct. 339, 34 L.Ed.2d 252 (1972). Thus, art. III and the Sixth Amendment do not apply here.⁵

The Fifth Amendment, however, entitles juveniles to due process. McKeiver, supra. This suggests the possibility that the site of a factfinding hearing may be restricted by a constitutional guarantee similar, if not identical, to the guarantees in art. III and the Sixth Amendment. According to the Supreme Court, "the applicable due process standard in juvenile proceedings . . . is fundamental fairness," with an emphasis on assuring factfinding procedures which are "accurate." McKeiver, supra, 403 U.S. at 543, 91 S.Ct. 1976. In order to determine whether appellants, therefore, are entitled to a hearing in Maryland as a matter of fundamental fairness, we should examine, for guidance, the purposes of art. III, § 2, cl. iii and the Sixth Amendment and the probable impact if these constitutional guarantees were — and were not — applicable to juvenile proceedings.

The Supreme Court has noted that "[t]he provision for trial in the vicinity of the crime is a safeguard against the unfairness and hardship involved when an accused is prosecuted in a remote place." United States v. Cores, 356 U.S. 405, 407, 78 S.Ct. 875, 877, 2 L.Ed.2d 873 (1958). We agree with appellants that this constitutional "venue" limitation was intended, more specifically, to assure the availability of witnesses and other evidence and of the solace of family and friends of the accused, as well as to prevent unnecessary hostility from a distant community and the financial burden of a remote trial. See id. at 407, 78 S.Ct. 875; United States v. Johnson, 323 U.S. 273, 275, 65 S.Ct. 249, 89 L.Ed. 236 (1944).⁶ In applying these considerations to the circumstances of this case, we conclude that fundamental fairness does not dictate a Maryland hearing (conducted by Maryland authorities under Maryland law).

We focus initially on the critical element of fundamental fairness for juveniles, accuracy of factfinding, see McKeiver, supra, and thus on the question whether a Maryland proceeding would increase the availability of witnesses and other evidence. We are considering offenses committed upon employees of a District of Columbia institution by juveniles who reside there. All witnesses were found within the same institutional enclave, under District of Columbia control, and thus were easily produced for the hearing. The Cedar Knoll facility is located but a few miles away from the District. Accordingly, there is no reason to believe that a Maryland hearing would increase the prospects for accurate factfinding.

The other factors underlying the art. III and Sixth Amendment site-of-hearing limitations do not bear as directly on accuracy of factfinding, which appears to be the key to the fundamental fairness inquiry. See McKeiver, supra. But even if they did, these factors do not enhance appellants' argument. We do not perceive that a Maryland hearing would be likely to produce less community hostility or more support from family and friends for a juvenile accused of an offense in a District facility. As to juveniles who are residents of the District, these factors presumably would cut in favor of a District of Columbia hearing.⁷ Community hostility, in any event, may have little, if any, relevance because of the nonpublic and nonjury nature of juvenile proceedings; but to the extent that an offense itself were to become public in a way that threatened a fair proceeding, it would be just as likely for hostility to surface in Maryland against offenders from a foreign enclave as it would be for hometown hostility to affect the District of Columbia proceedings.⁸

Nor, finally, does it appear that a District of Columbia hearing for Cedar Knoll offenses would impose on appellants — or on other juveniles similarly situated — a greater financial burden than a Maryland hearing would. To the contrary, in fact, it is not clear that the District of Columbia plan for furnishing legal representation to indigents in criminal and juvenile cases would extend to proceedings in Maryland, see D.C. Code 1978 Supp., § 11-2601; nor is there evidence of record that Maryland provides as extensive a program for legal representation to indigent juveniles (including investigative, expert, and other services) as the District of Columbia does. See D.C.Code 1978 Supp. §§ 11-2601 to -2608. The record shows that counsel for appellants were appointed and paid for under the District plan. Thus, at least as to indigent juveniles at Cedar Knoll, including appellants, a District of Columbia hearing would not appear to suggest a financial disadvantage.

We do not categorically exclude the possibility that a juvenile hearing in the District of Columbia could be fundamentally unfair, and thus a violation of due process, when the offense underlying the delinquency petition was committed in another jurisdiction. We do hold, however, that in these cases of assault by residents of a District juvenile detention facility, located in Maryland, due process does not require a Maryland hearing conducted by Maryland officials under Maryland law and procedures. The ample guarantees of the District's juvenile system, see In re J. T., supra at 825-26, assure fundamental fairness that would not be enhanced by requiring that the hearing take place in the state where the facility is located and the offenses were...