State v. Halverson

• Decision Date: 15 December 1971
• Docket Number: No. 54273,54273
• Citation: 192 N.W.2d 765
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellant, v. Marcus Richard HALVERSON, Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 765

192 N.W.2d 765

STATE of Iowa, Appellant, v. Marcus Richard HALVERSON, Appellee.

No. 54273.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Dec. 15, 1971.

Review Denied Jan. 22, 1972.

Richard C. Turner, Atty. Gen., James W. Hughes, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Harold H. Pahlas, Clayton County Atty., for appellant.

Klauer, Stapleton, Ernst, Sprengelmeyer & Schrup, Dubuque, for appellee.

UHLENHOPP, Justice.

The determinative issue in this appeal is whether a separate hearing is required on the question of transferring an alleged juvenile delinquent from juvenile court to criminal court. See Code, 1971, § 232.72.

On August 24, 1969, fires occurred in two school buildings in Elkader, Iowa. On August 29, 1969, the county attorney of Clayton County filed a petition in juvenile court against Marcus Richard Halverson, alleging in pertinent part:

That the above named child is sixteen years of age, resides at Elkader, Clayton County, Iowa, and is a delinquent child within the statutes of the State of Iowa, to wit:

1. That on the 24th day of August, 1969, he did commit the crime of arson by setting fire to two (2) school buildings in the town of Elkader, Clayton County, Iowa, to feloniously burn the same, this being contrary to the law as provided in Chapter 707.2 of the 1966 Code of Iowa, as amended.

On January 8, 1970, hearing commenced on the petition in juvenile court (Oberhausen, J.). Before testimony began, the court asked the county attorney if he anticipated instituting the matter in district court should the juvenile court not retain jurisdiction. The county attorney answered affirmatively.

Thereafter, however, the court announced:

The Court: Before we hear the first witness, it is the court's view that this is a regular hearing on a petition charging delinquency and at this time the State and the juvenile may present any or all relevant evidence concerning the question of delinquency and as to whether the court should or will make a finding of delinquency.

A full-blown juvenile hearing on the merits followed. The court heard 17 witnesses, mainly regarding the fires and the claimed connection of Marcus with them. The court also examined 29 exhibits. In addition, the court heard a psychiatric evaluation of Marcus and received a written report of social investigation.

On January 30, 1970, the court entered its judgment finding that Marcus would not benefit from juvenile court facilities but that the evidence was sufficient to warrant a criminal charge. The judgment stated:

It is, therefore, ordered by the court that the petition herein be and the same is hereby dismissed, and that the matter of the alleged violation of the criminal law forming the basis for the petition be and the same is hereby referred to the Clayton County Attorney for proper action under criminal law.

On February 26, 1970, the Clayton County grand jury indicted Marcus for arson. Marcus pleaded former jeopardy and not guilty.

On April 17, 1970, in the criminal case, the trial court (Nelson, J.) sustained the plea of former jeopardy and dismissed the indictment. The State appealed to this court from that ruling.

The parties argued a number of legal issues before us, but in the view we take of the case, the answer to one question determines the appeal. Under Iowa statutes, after a hearing on the merits of a delinquency charge in juvenile court based on commission of a crime, can the child be prosecuted in criminal court for that crime? We consider first the development of the Iowa statutes on juvenile vis-a-vis criminal jurisdiction, and then the present statutory law.

I. We can hardly comprehend at this day that even into the present century children were handled the same as adults at the bar of criminal justice. But the fact is that Iowa did not adopt the juvenile court system until 1904. 30 G.A. ch. 11.

Thereafter and until 1965, the cases of children who committed indictable crimes were handled in either of two ways--in criminal or in juvenile court. The grand jury could indict a child or the county attorney could inform against him, or a petition could be filed against him in juvenile court. This result was reached under a statute providing that 'When there is an indictment or a conviction in the district court of any delinquent child of an indictable offense, the district court may, before judgment, if the punishment be not imprisonment for life, or death, transfer the cause to the juvenile court.' Code, 1962, § 232.20; State v. Reed, 207 Iowa 557, 218 N.W. 609; Ethridge v. Hildreth, 253 Iowa 855, 114 N.W.2d 311.

Prior to the 1965 session of the Iowa legislature, a committee of probation officers, lawyers, ministers, and others concerned with the welfare of youth made a thorough study of Iowa juvenile court laws and proposed a complete revision. The committee's proposed bill was enacted in 1965 with few changes. 61 G.A. ch. 215. The new statute provided a comprehensive procedure for investigation, petition, and notice, leading to 'The hearing on the merit of the petition'. 61 G.A. ch. 215, §§ 4, 5, 6, 9, 12. Provision was made, following the hearing, for disposition for neglect, dependency, of delinquency, if established. §§ 34, 35.

One of the sections of the new statute provided (and still provides) that 'The criminal court shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the juvenile court over children less than eighteen years of age who commit a criminal offense.' 61 G.A. ch. 215, § 67. Soon after the new statute was enacted, a case came to this court in which a county attorney had informed against a child in criminal court for an indictable crime, as under the old practice. This court held that the old practice was not changed in such respect; under the new concurrent jurisdiction section, a child could be charged as before in criminal or in juvenile court. State v. Stueve, 260 Iowa 1023, 150 N.W.2d 597. That holding was soon reaffirmed in another decision. Ashby v. Haugh, 260 Iowa 1047, 152 N.W.2d 228.

On March 21, 1966, the United States Supreme Court decided Kent v. United States, 383 U.S. 541, 86 S.Ct. 1045, 16 L.Ed.2d 84. That case involved an ex parte order by a juvenile court authorizing criminal charges to the filed against a child. The Court emphasized the critical nature of transfer proceedings and the great importance to the child, and held, among other things, that a hearing on the question of transfer is essential.

Kent met with prompt response in Iowa. When the Iowa legislature met again in 1967, it had the Stueve, Ashby, and Kent decisions before it. The legislature added a number of sections to the juvenile court statute, several of which had to do with the respective jurisdictions of the criminal and juvenile courts. 62 G.A. ch. 203. One section specifically provided that all children appearing in any court other than juvenile court shall, with exceptions not involved here, he immediately transferred to juvenile court. 62 G.A. ch. 203, § 15 (now § 232.64, Code, 1971). Another section, evidently enacted specifically to comply with Kent, dealt with transfer of children by the juvenile court to criminal court. § 23. That section provided (and still provides in § 232.72, Code, 1971):

When a petition alleging delinquency is based on an alleged act committed after the minor's fourteenth (14th) birthday, and the court, After a hearing, deems it contrary to the best interest of the minor or the public to retain jurisdiction, the court may enter an order making such findings and referring the alleged violation to the appropriate prosecuting authority for proper action under the criminal law. When such child pleads guilty or is found guilty of a public offense in another court that court may with the consent of the juvenile court refer the child back to juvenile court for further disposition. In any event the court before whom the plea was made or the conviction was had is expressly authorized to set aside such plea or conviction but only after the child has successfully completed a period of probation of not less than one (1) year. (Italics added.)

In 1969 a case came to this court in which a child had been indicted by a grand jury and in which the criminal court had refused to transfer the case to juvenile court. This court reversed, holding that in cases under present §§ 232.64 and 232.72, criminal courts must transfer children to juvenile court. The latter court is the one which determines whether cases of children are to be handled in juvenile or criminal court. Mallory v. Paradise, 173 N.W.2d 264 (Iowa). See also In re Brown, 183 N.W.2d 731 (Iowa). Such is the present state of Iowa law.

II. In the present case, a hearing in juvenile court was held on the merits as to whether Marcus was delinquent, based on a charge of arson. Marcus contends, as a constitutional matter of double jeopardy, that after such a hearing the State could not try him in criminal court for the same alleged arson. We find consideration of the constitutional aspect unnecessary, because we think the matter is ruled by legislative intent manifested in the present juvenile court statute.

When the legislature overhauled the juvenile court law in 1965, it provided for hearings on petitions charging delinquency. Those hearings were not intended to be on the question of transfer, for at that time juveniles could be charged in criminal court without the intervention of juvenile court. Moreover, the statute spoke and still speaks of such a hearing as 'on the merit of the petition'. § 232.11, Code, 1971. And such hearings lead to specified dispositions, not including transfer. § 232.34.

Then came Kent, the ensuing statutory requirement in Iowa that children appearing in any court be transferred to juvenile court, and the further provision in § 232.72 for transfer from juvenile court to criminal court 'after a hearing' as Kent requires. In this new § 232.72, the legislature appears to have provided a separate hearing from the one on the merits under existing §§...