Tillotson, In re
| Decision Date | 31 May 1954 |
| Docket Number | No. 41719,41719 |
| Citation | 73 So.2d 466,225 La. 573 |
| Parties | In re TILLOTSON. |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
John F. Rau, Jr., Gretna, for appellant.
Fred S. LeBlanc, Atty. Gen., M. E. Culligan, Asst. Atty. Gen., Severn T. Darden, Dist. Atty., Geo. McCulloch, Jr., Alexander E. Ralston, Jr., Asst. Dist. Attys., New Orleans, for appellee.
On the morning of September 13, 1953, two New Orleans Police Officers noticed the 16 year old juvenile inovlved in these proceedings, distraught and weeping, at the corner of one of the streets of the city. Upon inquiring of her the reason for her perturbation, she told them a sordid story of occurrences on the previous evening with a young man which began at a night club in Jefferson Parish, where her mother worked as a barmaid, and culminated in sexual intercourse with him during the early morning hours in her mother's bed at her home in New Orleans, with her mother's apparent consent and approval.
Upon receiving this information, the officers took the girl to the Juvenile Court, where the statement was reduced to writing and signed by her. Pending an investigation, she was committed to the Convent of Good Shepherd at New Orleans. On December 2, 1953, a petition was filed in the Juvenile Court by its Probation Officer which, after alleging that the child was within the jurisdiction and in need of the protection of the court, concluded with a prayer that it appeared that the interest of the public and the child required that further action be taken and that the court render such proper and necessary orders for the child's welfare. On the following day, a trial was had before one of the judges of the court who, after considering the testimony of the child, her aunt, her father and her statement to the police, found her to be in need of the protection of the court and committed her to the Convent of Good Shepherd for an indefinite period. The mother of the child did not appear at this hearing.
Subsequently, council now representing the child (who was evidently employed after the trial) filed a motion for a new trial and the judge thereupon reopened the case, the rehearing being fixed for January 13, 1954. On the appointed day, the child was produced and her father and mother appeared in response to summons which had been mailed to them.
At the beginning of the hearing, counsel objected to the manner of service of the summons and also to the jurisdiction of the court on the ground that the allegations of the petition were insufficient to bring the case within the purview of the applicable statute, LSA-R.S. 13:1570. These objections were overruled and the court then heard the evidence of the policemen to whom the statement of the child was given. The mother and father of the child also took the stand but they confined their testimony to statements of the fact that they had received the citation to appear through the United States mail. Following this trial, the judge recommitted the child to the Convent of Good Shepherd for an indefinite period. Her counsel then prosecuted this appeal in her behalf.
Counsel initially complains that the court erred in overruling his objection to the summons issued to the parents of the girl on the ground that it did not state the facts upon which the proceeding was based, as required by LSA-R.S. 13:1575, and also that it was improper to effect service of the summons by use of the mails, in view of LSA-R.S. 13:1576.
There is no merit in these contentions. The parents of the child, in response to the summons, appeared before the court without objection on their part. Consequently, counsel is not in a position to complain, even if it be conceded that the contents of the summons did not literally comply with the requirements of LSA-R.S. 13:1575 or that its service was not made by an officer of a court, as prescribed by LSA-R.S. 13:1576.
The next claim of counsel is that the court was without jurisdiction because the petition failed to allege sufficient facts to bring the case within the provisions of LSA-R.S. 13:1570, which sets forth the matters over which the Juvenile Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction. 1
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...In re Redding, 184 Pa.Super. 352, 134 A.2d 689 (1957); Ex Parte Yelton, Tex.Civ.App., 298 S.W.2d 285 (1957); In re Tillotson, 225 La. 573, 73 So.2d 466 (1954); Everett v. Barry, 127 Colo. 34, 252 P.2d 826 (1953); In re Aronson, 263 Wis. 604, 58 N.W.2d 553 (1953). However, investigation reve......
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...do not fall within the category of criminal prosecutions, as is evident from long established jurisprudence, In re Tillotson, 225 La. 573, 73 So.2d 466 (1954); State v. David, 226 La. 268, 76 So.2d 1 (1955); State v. Smith, 209 La. 363, 24 So.2d 617 (1945); State ex rel. Caillouet v. Marmou......
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State ex rel. Paul v. Department of Welfare
...court on March 17, 1964 without any objection whatever. We think the argument of relatrix is answered in the case of In re Tillotson, 225 La. 573, 73 So.2d 466 involving a commitment by a juvenile court to an institution. It was contended that the summons issued to the parents of the delinq......