Wooton v. Com.

• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: REES, Chief Justice.
• Citation: Wooton v. Com., 255 Ky. 810, 75 S.W.2d 556 (Ky. Ct. App. 1934)
• Decision Date: 23 October 1934
• Parties: WOOTON v. COMMONWEALTH.

75 S.W.2d 556

255 Ky. 810

WOOTON v. COMMONWEALTH.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky

October 23, 1934

Appeal from Circuit Court, Lawrence County.

Willie Wooton was convicted of being a delinquent child, and from a judgment of the circuit court, denying an appeal from a judgment of the juvenile session of the county court on such verdict, he appeals.

Reversed.

C. F See, Jr., and W. T. Cain, both of Louisa, for appellant.

Bailey P. Wootton, Atty. Gen., and David C. Walls, Asst. Atty. Gen for appellee.

REES Chief Justice.

Willie Wooton, a male child under seventeen years of age, was proceeded against in the juvenile session of the Lawrence county court for delinquency. A jury was impaneled, and the following verdict was returned: "We, the jury, agree and find the defendant guilty of being a delinquent." Thereupon a judgment was entered, adjudging him to be a delinquent and committing him to the house of reform until he was twenty-one years of age unless sooner paroled.

The proceedings were instituted by the filing of a petition by William Savage in which the following charges were made:

"Willie Wooton is a male child under the age of seventeen years now within the said county and not an inmate of a state institution, or any institution incorporated under the laws of this state, or of any reform school for juvenile offenders, and is a delinquent child in this, that the said child habitually uses (a) vile, (b) obscene, (c) vulgar, (d) profane, (e) indecent language and has violated the following law of the state of Kentucky, to wit: Unlawfully and maliciously shooting with attempt to kill Arthur Savage, Jr. with a deadly weapon on or about the second day of July, 1933 in Lawrence County, Kentucky."

Willie Wooton filed in the Lawrence circuit court a motion for an appeal from the judgment of the juvenile session of the Lawrence county court, supported by the affidavit of his father, Ed Wooton, which set out in substance the proceedings in the county court. The circuit court denied the appeal on the theory that it was without jurisdiction and from that judgment this appeal is prosecuted.

Section 331e-1 of the Kentucky Statutes defines the term "delinquent child" and section 331e-2 confers upon the county courts of the several counties of this state exclusive jurisdiction in all cases coming within the terms and provisions of the act concerning dependent, neglected, or delinquent children. Section 331e-4 provides the manner of proceeding against delinquent children and against persons in charge of neglected or dependent children. Section 331e-7 provides for the disposition and care of a child found to be delinquent. Under that section the county judge is given wide discretion as to what disposition of the child shall be made. He may allow the child to remain in its own home, subject to the friendly visitation of a probation officer, or he may cause such child to be placed in a suitable family home, or he may commit the child to the house of reform for boys, if a boy, or to the house of reform for girls, if a girl, or he may make other provisions for the care, custody, and control of the delinquent child. Under the provisions of section 331e-5, a male child under seventeen years of age or a female child under eighteen years of age accused of a criminal offense may, in the discretion of the county court when brought before it as a delinquent, be proceeded against as a delinquent or it may be transferred to the court having jurisdiction of the offense to be proceeded against in accordance with the laws that may be in force in this state governing the commission of crimes. A circuit court is without jurisdiction to try a male child under seventeen years of age or a female child under eighteen years of age charged with a criminal offense unless the child has been proceeded against in the county court and that court has transferred the child to the circuit court. Talbott v Commonwealth, 166 Ky. 659, 179 S.W. 621; Waters v. Commonwealth, 171 Ky. 457, 188 S.W. 490. When a delinquent child is brought before the county court and it appears that he has committed a criminal offense, the county court may either retain jurisdiction and make...