State v. Day

• Decision Date: 18 December 2006
• Docket Number: No. 2006-8-C.A.,2006-8-C.A.
• Citation: 911 A.2d 1042
• Parties: STATE v. Corey DAY.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

911 A.2d 1042

STATE v. Corey DAY.

No. 2006-8-C.A.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

December 18, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Aaron L. Weisman, Esq., Providence, for Plaintiff.

Richard K. Corley, Esq., for Defendant.

Present: WILLIAMS, C.J., GOLDBERG, FLAHERTY, SUTTELL, and ROBINSON, JJ.

OPINION

Justice FLAHERTY, for the Court.

When a child is waived from the jurisdiction of the Family Court pursuant to G.L.1956 §§ 14-1-7 and 14-1-7.1 to stand trial as an adult, is the Attorney General then prohibited from charging the child with offenses different from, and/or in addition to, those upon which the waiver originally was based? In this case of first impression, it is our opinion that there is nothing in the statutory scheme that restricts the Attorney General from bringing charges against the child in the Superior Court which are different than those that served as the basis for waiver from the Family Court, provided the new charges arise from the same nucleus of operative facts.

On January 28, 2004, the Ocean Tides Residential Treatment Program (Ocean Tides or the Ocean Tides facility) was broken into, and one of its employees, Christopher Wilson, later was found bound, gagged, and imprisoned in a walk-in freezer on the premises. The defendant, Corey Day (defendant or Day), who was a juvenile at the time, was arrested and accused of the break-in. Because Day had not reached the age of majority at the time of his arrest, the Family Court had exclusive jurisdiction over him. Pursuant to §§ 14-1-7 and 14-1-7.1, the Attorney General moved that the Family Court waive jurisdiction over Day so that he could be tried as an adult for the criminal charges stemming from the incident.¹ In his waiver motion, the Attorney General contended that the seventeen-year-old Day had committed four separate offenses: (1) breaking and entering; (2) second-degree robbery; (3) kidnapping; and (4) assault with intent to commit robbery and kidnapping.

After a hearing on November 8, 2004, the Family Court granted the state's motion and ordered Day waived from its jurisdiction, and it ordered him "held for trial under the procedure of the court which would have jurisdiction of such offense if committed by an adult."

A grand jury subsequently indicted Day for (1) burglary; (2) first-degree robbery; (3) felony assault; (4) kidnapping; and (5) larceny of goods valued at greater than $500. The defendant then moved to dismiss the indictment based on Rule 12(b)(2)² of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure on the ground that the Superior Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case because the indictment impermissibly charged him with crimes that were different from, greater than, and in addition to, the offenses for which he was waived by the Family Court. The defendant argued that the Family Court found probable cause only for the charges of (1) breaking and entering; (2) second-degree robbery; (3) kidnapping; and (4) assault with intent to commit robbery and kidnapping.³ The defendant contended that § 14-1-7.1 prohibited the state from charging him with crimes different from those for which the Family Court found probable cause and that served as the basis for the waiver. A justice of the Superior Court agreed with Day, and he granted the motion to dismiss the indictment. The state timely appealed. We reverse.

Standard of Review

"This Court reviews questions of statutory interpretation de novo, * * *, and in undertaking this analysis, we apply our well-established maxims of statutory construction." State v. Oliveira, 882 A.2d 1097, 1110 (R.I.2005). "It is well settled that when the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous, this Court must interpret the statute literally and must give the words of the statute their plain and ordinary meanings." State v. DiCicco, 707 A.2d 251, 253 (R.I.1998) (quoting Accent Store Design, Inc. v. Marathon House, Inc., 674 A.2d 1223, 1226 (R.I. 1996)). "Moreover, when we examine an unambiguous statute, `there is no room for statutory construction and we must apply the statute as written.'" Id. (quoting In re Denisewich, 643 A.2d 1194, 1197 (R.I. 1994)). However, "[i]f we discern a statutory ambiguity, this Court establishes and effectuates the legislative intent behind the enactment." State v. Fritz, 801 A.2d 679, 682 (R.I.2002). And, "it is equally well established that, when confronted with statutory provisions that are unclear or ambiguous, this Court, as final arbiter of questions of statutory construction, will examine statutes in their entirety, and will `glean the intent and purpose of the Legislature "from a consideration of the entire statute, keeping in mind [the] nature, object, language and arrangement" of the provisions to be construed.'" DiCicco, 707 A.2d at 253 n. 1 (quoting In re Advisory to the Governor, 668 A.2d 1246, 1248 (R.I. 1996) and Algiere v. Fox, 122 R.I. 55, 58, 404 A.2d 72, 74 (1979)).

Analysis

This case presents an issue of first impression for this Court and requires us to take an exacting look at the language of §§ 14-1-7 and 14-1-7.1. Together, these two statutes set forth the requirements for waiver of jurisdiction of the Family Court over a child who has been accused of certain misconduct so that the child may be tried as an adult. Generally, when a juvenile is accused of conduct that would constitute a crime if committed by an adult,⁴ the matter is adjudicated under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Family Court, and the child is subject only to a determination of delinquency. However, when the Family Court waives its jurisdiction under §§ 14-1-7 and 14-1-7.1, the child may be tried as an adult, and sentenced as an adult if he is found guilty. The issue squarely presented to us by the facts of this case is whether §§ 14-1-7 and 14-1-7.1 require that, after a waiver has been granted, the charges brought against a child in the Superior Court must be precisely aligned with the charges set forth in the Family Court's waiver order.

Section 14-1-7 is entitled "Waiver of jurisdiction or certification hearing" and says, in relevant part,

"(a) If any child is charged with an offense which would be punishable by life imprisonment if committed by an adult, that child, upon motion of the attorney general, shall be brought before the court and the court shall conduct a waiver hearing pursuant to § 14-1-7.1.

"(b) Any child sixteen (16) years of age or older who is charged with an offense which would constitute a felony if committed by an adult shall, upon motion of the attorney general, be brought before the court and the court shall conduct a waiver hearing pursuant to § 14-1-7.1."

Section 14-1-7.1 is entitled "Waiver of jurisdiction —Proof" and says:

"(a) Upon a motion by the attorney general pursuant to § 14-1-7, the court shall conduct a hearing at which it shall be the duty of the attorney general to produce evidence to enable the court to determine:

"(1) That probable cause exists to believe that the offense charged has been committed and that the child charged has committed it, unless the proof has been elicited at a prior hearing on detention of the juvenile and the findings have been made by the same justice of the family court who is conducting the waiver proceeding; and

"(2) That the child's past history of offenses, history of treatment, or the heinous or premeditated nature of the offense is such that the court finds that the interests of society or the protection of the public necessitate the waiver of jurisdiction of the court over the child.

"(b) If the court finds that subdivisions (a)(1) and (a)(2) of this section have been proven by a preponderance of evidence, it may waive jurisdiction over the child and refer the child to the appropriate adult court to be tried for the offense as an adult.

"(c) A waiver of jurisdiction over a child pursuant to this section shall constitute a waiver of jurisdiction over that child for the offense upon which the motion is based as well as for all pending and subsequent offenses of whatever nature, and the child shall be referred to the court which would have had jurisdiction if the offense had been committed by an adult. In the event that the child is acquitted of the offense for which the waiver has been sought, the waiver shall be vacated."

The defendant argues that the language of § 14-1-7.1(b) is clear and unambiguous, and that the plain meaning of the words "to be tried for the offense as an adult" bars the Attorney General from charging a child in the Superior Court with any crimes different from—including those that constitute a more serious offense or a lesser included offense—or in addition to those for which waiver was granted in the Family Court. According to defendant, the words "the offense," used repeatedly in § 14-1-7.1, can mean only a particular crime as defined by the laws of this state. The defendant claims further support for his argument in the last sentence of § 14-1-7.1(c), that requires a waiver to be vacated in the event that an accused is "acquitted of the offense for which the waiver has been sought." This precise language, he argues, requires that any and all offenses for which waiver is sought must be included verbatim in the charges brought against the child if he is tried subsequently as an adult in the Superior Court. It is central to defendant's interpretation that when the Family Court waives jurisdiction of the child under §§ 14-1-7 and 14-1-7.1, it does so only with respect to its jurisdiction over the offense charged, but not over the child himself.

The state agrees with defendant that § 14-1-7.1 is clear and unambiguous in its mandate but, not surprisingly, disagrees about what the statute actually means. The state contends that the language "as well as for all pending and subsequent offenses of whatever nature" present in § 14-1-7.1(c) clearly indicates that a prosecutor is free to charge a child as an adult in the Superior Court with any and all crimes arising...