State ex rel. K.M.

• Decision Date: 04 December 2007
• Docket Number: No. 20060683.,20060683.
• Citation: 2007 UT 93,173 P.3d 1279
• Parties: STATE of Utah, in the interests of K.M., a person under eighteen years of age. K.M., Petitioner.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

173 P.3d 1279

2007 UT 93

STATE of Utah, in the interests of K.M., a person under eighteen years of age.

K.M., Petitioner.

No. 20060683.

Supreme Court of Utah.

December 4, 2007.

Mark L. Shurtleff, Att'y Gen., Joanne C. Slotnik, Asst. Att'y Gen., Narda Beas-Nordell, Michael O. Zabriskie, Salt Lake City, for the State.

Joan C. Watt, Debra M. Nelson, Salt Lake City, for K.M.

On Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeals

NEHRING, Justice:

INTRODUCTION

¶ 1 The juvenile court accepted K.M.'s admission to child abuse homicide, an offense that would be a third degree felony if committed by an adult. K.M. then sought to withdraw her admission. The juvenile court denied her motion, and the court of appeals affirmed. In this review on certiorari, we conclude that rule 25 of the Utah Rules of Juvenile Procedure, upon which the juvenile court relied in accepting K.M.'s admission, fails to afford due process of law to juveniles because it does not mandate that the juveniles understand the nature and elements of the offense to which they are admitting. The inadequate communication of the nature and elements of the offense, which rule 25 permitted, led the juvenile court to accept a plea that was at odds with the contents of K.M.'s admission and was therefore not entered into knowingly. We therefore reverse the court of appeals.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 K.M. did not know she was pregnant until she gave birth in the downstairs bathroom of her home. K.M. was fifteen years old at the time. On the day K.M. delivered the infant, she suffered from what she thought was severe menstrual cramping. To alleviate the pain, she took several Advil and soaked in a bath. After several hours of severe cramping, K.M. had an urge to run into the bathroom, and then she had the urge to push. When the infant's "little body fell into [her] arms," K.M. said that it made "[n]o movement, no sound." K.M. was confused by what had just happened and did not know what to do with the still, silent human form that inexplicably appeared next to her. She did not want to place the infant on the floor and chose instead to open the bathroom window and put the child in the window well. K.M. watched the little body for five or ten seconds. It did not appear to move or breathe or utter a sound. The birth occurred between 11:00 and 11:30 on the night of September 4, 2002.

¶ 3 K.M. experienced severe blood loss, and she failed to summon assistance from any of her family members before she eventually lost consciousness. After regaining consciousness, K.M. showered in an attempt to clean herself, but she continued to bleed. She left the shower and attempted to reach her room. K.M. lost consciousness several more times before she made her way to her bed, where she passed out. At approximately two o'clock in the morning, K.M's mother discovered her in her bed covered in blood.

¶ 4 K.M.'s mother called K.M.'s aunt, who is a nurse and who had been tending K.M. throughout that day, and reported that something was terribly wrong with K.M. When K.M.'s aunt arrived, she estimated that K.M. had lost between 600 and 1000 cubic centimeters of blood and needed immediate medical attention. She knew the bleeding was vaginal and thought it might be a spontaneous hemorrhage, perhaps attributable to a tumor.¹ K.M.'s aunt told K.M.'s mother to call 911. She did, and paramedics arrived soon after.

¶ 5 K.M. was transported to the hospital. After an ultrasound and pelvic exam indicated that K.M. had recently given birth, K.M. told her mother about the little body she had left in the window well. K.M.'s aunt immediately returned to the house and found the lifeless body of a four-pound baby boy.

¶ 6 K.M. has an I.Q. between seventy-nine and eighty-four and multiple learning disabilities. She had been examined by two doctors in the last few months preceding the unexpected birth, but neither physician had diagnosed a pregnancy. According to K.M., she had her menstrual cycle two weeks prior to going into labor. She attributed her swollen abdomen to weight gain.

¶ 7 According to the medical examiner, the infant's partially inflated lungs indicated that the baby had been born alive. The medical examiner could not ascertain the cause of death but expressed the opinion that maternal neglect contributed to the infant's death.

¶ 8 The State filed a petition in juvenile court charging K.M. with one count of murder, a first degree felony if committed by an adult. After her trial on this charge had begun, K.M. reached a plea agreement with the State and agreed to admit to child abuse homicide, a third degree felony if committed by an adult. Pursuant to rule 25 of the Utah Rules of Juvenile Procedure, the juvenile court conducted a colloquy with K.M., assisted by K.M.'s counsel. The juvenile court asked K.M.'s counsel to "advise [K.M.] of her rights on the record." Counsel indicated that he had talked to K.M. at length about her rights and explained to her the nature of a trial. Counsel then explained to K.M. on the record the rights that K.M. was surrendering by admitting culpability. He described K.M.'s right to confront witnesses, her right against self-incrimination, and her right to appeal an unlawful sentence. He indicated that she would be able to withdraw the plea for good legal reason up until the time of sentencing. Then, acknowledging K.M.'s emotional state, counsel sought to elicit from K.M. an indication of whether she understood what was happening and whether she was willing to proceed. She responded that she understood the proceedings and that she wished to continue. The judge supplemented counsel's explanation of K.M.'s rights by telling her in simple terms that she had a right to call witnesses who could help her case and a right against self-incrimination. Neither K.M.'s counsel nor the judge advised her that she was presumed to be innocent unless and until the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt all of the elements the offense with which she was charged and that she would waive her right to testify at trial by admitting the crime.

¶ 9 The juvenile court then questioned K.M. about the events surrounding the birth and death of the infant. K.M. presented a detailed account of the circumstances surrounding the offense. She admitted that she now understood that she could have asked her aunt for help but explained that she was in shock at the time and that she did not know what was happening to her. Despite her willingness to enter the plea agreement, K.M. expressly refused to admit that the infant was born alive. Nevertheless, the juvenile court determined that, based on the medical evidence that the infant's lungs were partially inflated, there was sufficient factual basis for K.M.'s admission to one count of child abuse homicide and accepted her admission.

¶ 10 K.M. subsequently moved to withdraw her admission. She asserted that she "understood little or none" of the admission colloquy, that she was pressured into admitting the amended allegation, and that she did not realize that she was admitting to causing the death of the child. The juvenile court held a hearing on K.M.'s motion, and K.M. testified that she had questioned her admission immediately after entering it. K.M. explained that she did not understand the plea colloquy because of the "big words" and that she "didn't want to sound stupid [by] saying no." When the judge probed her understanding of basic legal concepts, she gave nonsensical answers. When asked by counsel what her right against self-incrimination meant, she answered, "I didn't know that I could take back the plea, I guess." When asked about her right to remain silent, K.M. responded, "I thought I could never talk again." K.M. explained the right to proof beyond a reasonable doubt as "[f]or a trial to become" and "[f]or a trial to come." After considering the evidence, the juvenile court denied the motion to withdraw and sentenced K.M. The judge imposed a suspended sentence of thirty days' detention, placed K.M. on probation, and ordered her to complete rehabilitation programs and 250 hours of community service.

¶ 11 After the juvenile court denied her motion to withdraw her admission, K.M. appealed. The court of appeals affirmed the juvenile court's denial of K.M.'s motion to withdraw. We granted certiorari to review two issues: (1) "[w]hether rule 25 of the Rules of Juvenile Procedure incorporates the provisions of rule 11 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure and/or additional requirements with respect to a juvenile court's colloquy with a juvenile at the time of accepting an admission to a criminal offense"; and (2) "[w]hether Petitioner's admission in this case was knowing and voluntary according to the requirements of due process applicable in juvenile proceedings."

DISCUSSION

¶ 12 This case touches on a number of bedrock dilemmas that confront a society founded on the rule of law when the state is called upon to bring the power of that law to bear on persons who, because of their youth cognitive deficits, or other disabilities, are incapable of comprehending how or why they are being held to account for their behavior. The court of appeals' dissent presented the central dilemma in real world terms when it asked, "If a juvenile is too young to enter into a legally binding contract to purchase a set of tires, how can that same juvenile validly waive constitutional rights and enter into a legally binding plea agreement?" K.M. v. State (State ex rel. K.M.), 2006 UT App 74, ¶ 30 n. 1, 136 P.3d 1230 (Orme, J., dissenting).

¶ 13 Our juvenile courts owe their existence to the legislature's recognition that the sharp edges of the law, which are necessary to achieve predictability and even-handedness when dealing with the affairs of adults, often inflict harm on children who come in contact with them. Thus, owing to a juvenile's stage of development, a juvenile's decisions about legal affairs may be influenced in varying degrees by the demands or expectations...