R.O.B., In Interest of, A94A2482

• Decision Date: 31 January 1995
• Docket Number: No. A94A2482,A94A2482
• Citation: 453 S.E.2d 776,216 Ga.App. 181
• Parties: In the Interest of R.O.B., a child.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

Page 776

453 S.E.2d 776

216 Ga.App. 181

In the Interest of R.O.B., a child.

No. A94A2482.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Jan. 31, 1995.

Debra G. McDonald, Athens, for appellant.

Lindsay A. Tise, Jr., Dist. Atty., Kathy Johnson, Asst. Dist. Atty., Hartwell, for appellee.

ANDREWS, Judge.

R.O.B. was adjudicated delinquent, found in need of treatment and rehabilitation, and placed on probation. On appeal he contends the juvenile court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the delinquency petition because an adjudicatory hearing was not held or set to be held within 60 days from the date of the filing of the petition.

Under OCGA § 15-11-26(a), if the child is not in detention, "the court shall fix a time for hearing [on the petition] which shall be not later than 60 days from the date of the filing of the petition." It is undisputed that the petition alleging delinquency was filed on December 13, 1993; that R.O.B. was not held in detention; that R.O.B. was arraigned on December 17, 1993; that on February 22, 1994, an adjudicatory hearing was set for March 4, 1994, and that the adjudicatory hearing on the petition was held on March 4, 1994.

Prior to the adjudicatory hearing, R.O.B. moved for dismissal of the petition on the basis that the juvenile court failed to comply with the 60-day time requirement of OCGA § 15-11-26(a). The juvenile court denied the motion ruling that R.O.B.'s arraignment on December 17 satisfied the requirement of OCGA § 15-11-26(a) that a hearing be held within 60 days of the filing of the petition.

OCGA § 15-11-26(a) requires that the juvenile court fix a time for an adjudicatory hearing on a petition alleging delinquency not later than 60 days from the date the petition was filed. Sanchez v. Walker County Dept. of Family, etc., Svcs., 237 Ga. 406, 408, 229 S.E.2d 66 (1976); see Johnson v. State, 183 Ga.App. 168, 169, 358 S.E.2d 313 (1987). "While the adjudicatory hearing itself need not be conducted within days of the filing of the petition, the hearing date must be set within that period. [Cit.]" In the Interest of L.A.E., 214 Ga.App. 268, 269, 447 S.E.2d 627 (1994). An arraignment hearing scheduled within the 60-day time period is not sufficient to satisfy the requirement that an adjudicatory hearing must be set within that period. See id. at 269, 447 S.E.2d 627.

Since an adjudicatory hearing was not held, nor was a hearing date set for an adjudicatory hearing, within 60 days from the date the petition was filed, and the 60-day time limit is jurisdictional and must be strictly observed, the juvenile court erred by denying R.O.B.'s motion to dismiss the petition. See id. at 269-270, 447 S.E.2d 627.

Judgment reversed.

JOHNSON, J., concurs.

BEASLEY, C.J., concurs specially.

BEASLEY, Chief Judge, concurring specially.

I concur. This case differs from the circumstances in In the Interest of L.A.E., 214 Ga.App. 268, 447 S.E.2d 627 (1994), because an arraignment was scheduled in this case for four days after the petition was filed, the child and his mother were summoned expressly for arraignment, and an arraignment was held, all as provided by Rule 10, Uniform Juvenile Court Rules, and particularly subsection 10.1. The purposes of an arraignment were met, as demonstrated by the signatures of the 16-year-old child and his mother on the acknowledgment of rights form and on the entry of his admission to the underage possession of alcohol and his denial of the charges of battery and pointing a gun at another. The fact that what had transpired at that time was an arraignment was confirmed at the subsequent adjudicatory hearing, for which the child and both his parents were summoned to show cause. The witnesses were also summoned for that March 4 date.

In the case...