A.C. v. State of Indiana

• Court: Indiana Court of Appeals
• Decided: April 1, 2020
• Docket: 19A-JV-2510
• Status: Published

Opinion

FILED Apr 01 2020, 9:19 am

CLERK Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals and Tax Court

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Paula M. Sauer Curtis T. Hill, Jr. Danville, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana

Justin F. Roebel Supervising Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

A.C., April 1, 2020 Appellant-Respondent, Court of Appeals Case No. 19A-JV-2510 v. Appeal from the Hendricks Superior Court State of Indiana, The Honorable Karen M. Love, Appellee-Petitioner. Judge Trial Court Cause No. 32D03-1905-JD-70

Friedlander, Senior Judge.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-JV-2510 | April 1, 2020 Page 1 of 8 [1] A.C. appeals the juvenile court’s dispositional order, challenging the court’s

authority to award wardship of him to the Department of Correction (DOC).

We affirm.

[2] On May 4, 2019, seventeen-year-old A.C. was involved in an altercation with

his father which lead to police being called. Upon being detained in a police

vehicle, A.C. spit in his father’s face. As a result of this incident, the State filed

a delinquency petition alleging that A.C. had committed one count of battery

and one count of battery by bodily waste, both Class B misdemeanors if 1 committed by an adult. A.C. admitted to the battery by bodily waste, and the

State dismissed the other count of battery. The State and the probation

department recommended that A.C. be placed in a residential facility where his

behavioral issues, as well as any substance abuse issues and trauma as a result

of physical and psychological abuse, could be addressed and where family

counseling would be required. A.C. agreed with this recommendation. The

juvenile court found A.C. to be a delinquent child, placed him under the

supervision of the probation department and in treatment at Transitions

Academy and ordered him to serve a four-month term of probation upon

completion of the residential treatment. A.C. entered Transitions Academy on

May 30.

1 Ind Code § 35-42-2-1 (2018).

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-JV-2510 | April 1, 2020 Page 2 of 8 [3] On June 27, the State filed a Motion to Modify Supervision with the juvenile

court, alleging that A.C. had violated the dispositional order and the conditions

of his probation by leaving the Transitions Academy facility for three days

without permission and by testing positive for marijuana. At a hearing on the

motion, A.C. admitted that he violated the court’s order by leaving the facility

without permission. A representative of Transitions Academy testified that the

facility was willing to allow A.C. to remain in treatment. The State

recommended that A.C. remain at Transitions, and the court ordered A.C.’s

continued placement at Transitions.

[4] On September 12, the State filed a second Motion to Modify Supervision. On

this occasion, the State alleged that A.C. had violated the terms of the

dispositional order and the conditions of his probation by assaulting other

residents on at least three different occasions, failing to fully engage in therapy,

refusing to take responsibility for his actions, refusing to engage in an

appropriate manner, behaving aggressively, threatening to assault his therapist,

using profanity toward staff and court personnel, and failing to control his

behavior from escalating. At a hearing on this motion, A.C. admitted to the

assault of another resident by kicking him in the head. The CEO of Transitions

testified that A.C. had struggled the entire time he had been at the facility. She

stated that he was “still not taking any responsibility” and that he “has a very

short fuse.” Tr. Vol. 2, pp. 98, 99. She further testified that A.C. “poses a risk

to others more than [he] poses a risk to himself” because, when he gets very

angry, he becomes “very verbally aggressive” and “very physically aggressive.”

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-JV-2510 | April 1, 2020 Page 3 of 8 Id. at 99. Finally, she testified that A.C. could not remain at the facility because

he had no interest in engaging in therapy and that he needed a placement that

“eliminates all choice for him” and that the only program she knew of that

offered that is the DOC. Id. at 101. Both A.C.’s probation officer and the CEO

of Transitions recommended that A.C. be placed in the DOC. The court

accepted A.C.’s admission and modified its original dispositional order to

award wardship of A.C. to the DOC. A.C. now appeals.

[5] A.C. challenges the juvenile court’s authority to commit him to the DOC. The

gist of A.C.’s argument is that his violation of the court’s dispositional order

and the conditions of his probation is the same as a violation of probation in a

criminal case. Accordingly, he argues the juvenile court had no authority to

order him committed to the DOC for a probation violation without a portion of

his “sentence” being suspended in the court’s original dispositional order.

Appellant’s Br. p. 11. In support of his argument, he cites criminal statutes

regarding misdemeanor plea agreements and probation violation and

revocation.

[6] In presenting this argument, A.C. completely overlooks the character of the

juvenile system and its differences from the criminal system. On this topic, our

Supreme Court has said:

[A] juvenile case is a civil and not a criminal matter. Juvenile adjudications do not constitute criminal convictions.

The nature of the juvenile process is rehabilitation and aid to the juvenile to direct his behavior so that he will not later become a Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-JV-2510 | April 1, 2020 Page 4 of 8 criminal. For this reason the statutory scheme of dealing with minors is vastly different than that directed to an adult who commits a crime. Juvenile judges have a variety of placement choices for juveniles who have delinquency problems, ranging from a private home in the community, a licensed foster home, a local juvenile detention center, to State institutions such as the Indiana Boys School and Indiana Girls School. None of these commitments are considered sentences.

Jordan v. State, 512 N.E.2d 407, 408 (Ind. 1987) (internal citation omitted).

[7] Once a child is determined to be a delinquent child pursuant to either Indiana

Code sections 31-37-1-1 (1997) or 31-37-2-1 (1997), the juvenile court is

required to hold a dispositional hearing to, among other things, consider the

alternatives for the care, treatment, rehabilitation, or placement of the child.

Ind. Code § 31-37-18-1 (1997). If the child is determined to be delinquent

pursuant to Section 31-37-1-1, as A.C. was in the present case, the juvenile

court has the choice of several dispositions and may choose more than one. See

Ind. Code §§ 31-37-19-5 (2012), -6 (2009). Examples of disposition alternatives

are supervision of the child by the probation department, outpatient treatment,

emancipation of the child, and community service. See Ind. Code § 31-37-19-

5(b). Still others are wardship to the DOC, confinement in a juvenile detention

facility, and placement in a shelter care facility. See Ind. Code § 31-37-19-6(b).

[8] The choice of the specific disposition of a juvenile adjudicated to be delinquent

is a matter within the sound discretion of the juvenile court. J.S. v. State, 881

N.E.2d 26, 28 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008). The juvenile court is accorded wide

latitude and great flexibility in its dealings with juveniles. Id. This discretion is,

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-JV-2510 | April 1, 2020 Page 5 of 8 however, subject to the statutory considerations of the welfare of the child, the

safety of the community, and the policy of favoring the least harsh disposition.

M.C. v. State, 134 N.E.3d 453, 458 (Ind. Ct. App. 2019); see also Ind. Code § 31-

37-18-6 (1997) (setting forth factors juvenile court must consider when entering

a dispositional decree). We will reverse a juvenile disposition only for an abuse

of discretion, which occurs when the juvenile court’s action is clearly erroneous

and against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances before the court,

or the reasonable, probable, and actual inferences drawn therefrom. C.C. v.

State, 831 N.E.2d 215, 217 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005).

[9] Here, in its first dispositional order, the juvenile court placed A.C. under the

supervision of the probation department and ordered placement at Transitions

Academy. This was clearly within the court’s discretion and statutory powers.

See Ind. Code §§ 31-37-19-5(b)(1) (juvenile court may, in addition to an order

under § 31-37-19-6, order supervision of child by probation department), 31-37-

19-6(b)(2)(D) (juvenile court may enter any dispositional decree specified in §

31-37-19-5 and place child in shelter care facility).

[10] The State subsequently filed two motions to modify A.C.’s supervision, alleging

that A.C. had violated the terms of his probation. Any change in a juvenile’s

disposition order, including revoking his probation, is accomplished by

modification of the original order pursuant to Section 31-37-22-1 (2017), as the

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-JV-2510 | April 1, 2020 Page 6 of 8 2 court did in this case. Following the hearing on the State’s second motion to

modify supervision, the juvenile court awarded wardship of A.C. to the DOC in

its modified dispositional order. This disposition is also a statutory alternative.

See Ind. Code § 31-37-19-6(b)(2)(A)(i) (juvenile court may award wardship to

the department of correction).

[11] Pursuant to the juvenile statutory scheme, probation and wardship to the DOC

are just two of several statutory disposition alternatives available to the juvenile

court. Section 31-37-19-5(b)(1), under which the court may order supervision of

the juvenile by the probation department, does not require a suspended

sentence as a prerequisite to the imposition of probation; rather, a term of

probation stands alone as a distinct disposition and is treated as any other

disposition alternative in the juvenile setting. This is distinct from probation in

the criminal setting where probation is a criminal sanction in lieu of

imprisonment. See Bratcher v. State, 999 N.E.2d 864, 873 (Ind. Ct. App. 2013),

trans. denied.

2 The juvenile court is required to advise the child and the child’s parent, guardian, or custodian of the modification procedures. See Ind. Code § 31-37-18-8 (1997). A.C. does not claim that he was not informed of these procedures. Indeed, at A.C.’s fact-finding/disposition hearing he was advised that if he is placed on probation and is later found to have violated a condition of that probation, the court may modify its original dispositional order and impose any of the dispositional options that could have been imposed. Tr. Vol. 2, p. 30. Moreover, A.C. specifically initialed the paragraph in the court’s order of probation that states: “If the Court finds that I have violated any conditions of probation, the Court may modify the original dispositional order and impose any of the dispositional options that could have been imposed, to include removal from the home and commitment to secure or residential placement for an indeterminate period.” Appellant’s App. Vol. 2, p. 63. In addition, at the hearings on the State’s motions to modify supervision, the court warned A.C. of the possible consequences of a finding that he violated his probation: “[T]he Court can, uh, change the conditions of your probation. I could order probation to last for a longer period of time. I could change your placement. I could send you to the Department of Correction[ ].” Tr. Vol. 2, p. 55; see also id. at 70, 92.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-JV-2510 | April 1, 2020 Page 7 of 8 [12] In this case, when A.C. failed to abide by the court’s original dispositional order

(i.e., comply with the terms of his probation and participate in treatment at

Transitions), the court modified its order to award wardship of A.C. to the

DOC. In doing so, the court followed the juvenile statutory scheme, which

does not require a suspended commitment to the DOC in order for a juvenile to

be placed on probation.

[13] Based on the foregoing, we conclude the trial court was within its statutory

authority when it modified its original dispositional order and ordered wardship

of A.C. to the DOC.

[14] Judgment affirmed.

Robb, J., and Pyle, J., concur.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-JV-2510 | April 1, 2020 Page 8 of 8