AE v. State

829 N.E.2d 549, 2005 WL 1364663
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 7, 2005
Docket49A02-0411-JV-967
StatusPublished

This text of 829 N.E.2d 549 (AE v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
AE v. State, 829 N.E.2d 549, 2005 WL 1364663 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

829 N.E.2d 549 (2005)

A.E., Appellant-Defendant,
v.
STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.

No. 49A02-0411-JV-967.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

June 7, 2005.

*551 Danielle L. Gregory, Indianapolis, for Appellant.

Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Stephen Tesmer, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, for Appellee.

OPINION

CRONE, Judge.

Case Summary

A.E. appeals a true finding and his resulting eighteen-month commitment to the Department of Correction following his guilty plea. We affirm in part and remand in part.

Issues

A.E. raises three issues for review, which we restate as the following:

I. Whether a juvenile, who is ordered committed for a fixed period to the Department of Correction, is entitled to credit time for pre-sentence detention;
II. Whether the court was within its discretion when it ordered A.E. to become a ward of the Department of Correction for eighteen months; and
III. Whether the State committed prosecutorial misconduct, resulting in fundamental error, by arguing on behalf of a victim who did not attend the dispositional hearing.

Facts and Procedural History

According to the factual basis, on June 28, 2004, fifteen-year-old A.E. and a friend were on the south side of Indianapolis when they decided to rob a man near a gas station. Brandishing knives, A.E. and his friend approached Ronald Morgan and demanded money. Morgan complied. During the robbery, A.E. or his friend cut Morgan with a knife. A.E. was arrested that day.

On June 30, 2004, the court approved the State's filing of a petition[1] alleging that A.E. committed delinquent acts that would constitute robbery, a class B felony, and resisting law enforcement, a class A misdemeanor, if committed by an adult. On July 20, 2004, A.E. signed an agreement in which he admitted the robbery offense in exchange for the State dismissing the resisting law enforcement charge. A.E. and the State were free to argue for *552 an appropriate disposition with a cap of twenty-four months.

On October 4, 2004, the court accepted the plea agreement, entered a true finding, and ordered an eighteen-month commitment to the Department of Correction. In addition, the court ordered A.E. to complete anger control classes, drug/alcohol counseling, individual counseling, and a vocational and/or GED program.

Discussion and Decision

I. Credit Required for Juvenile's Detention Before Determinate Sentence Ordered

A.E. asserts that the court should have given him ninety-nine days' credit against his eighteen-month determinate sentence for his detention from the date of arrest through the date of his dispositional hearing. For support, he cites C.T.S. v. State, 781 N.E.2d 1193, 1202, 1204 (Ind.Ct.App.2003), trans. denied. The State disagrees with C.T.S. and instead relies upon Matter of Tina T., 579 N.E.2d 48, 61 (Ind.1991), for the proposition that there is no need for credit time in the juvenile context. The State contends that absent a specific legislative provision for credit time, the trial court was correct in not awarding any time.

In C.T.S., a panel of this court concluded that the lower court abused its discretion when it detained a juvenile for over four months during the pendency of proceedings. 781 N.E.2d at 1200. The panel explained its reasoning:

There is ample evidence in the record demonstrating that C.T.S.'s parents were willing to go to great lengths so that C.T.S. could be released to their care while the proceedings were pending. Mother employed a nanny who would be available to supervise C.T.S. while Mother and Stepfather were at work. Also, Stepfather indicated that he was willing to take a leave of absence from work to be with C.T.S. at all times. Given the willingness of C.T.S.'s parents to provide adult supervision of C.T.S. at all times, which became evident to the trial court after the November 21, 2001 pretrial hearing, a less restrictive alternative, such as home detention, would have likely ensured C.T.S.'s appearance for subsequent proceedings and negated the need to detain C.T.S. for reasons of his protection or that of the community. Under these facts and circumstances, the trial court erred when it continued C.T.S.'s detention after the November 21, 2001 pretrial hearing.

Id. In restating its conclusion, the panel then noted,

It is unclear from the record before us whether C.T.S. was given credit towards his recommended twelve-month commitment to the Department of Correction for that four-month period that he was detained. Therefore, we remand this case to the trial court to clarify its dispositional order to reflect that C.T.S. will be given credit for that period of detention against his recommended period of commitment.

Id. at 1204.

We agree that C.T.S. should have been credited for his pre-trial detention and likewise conclude that credit time should have been granted to A.E. in the present case. In reaching this conclusion, we distinguish Tina T., which was decided prior to the enactment of the determinate sentencing statutory provisions of the juvenile code.[2] In Tina T., our supreme court stated, *553 there is no need for good time credit in the juvenile context. Unlike the criminal justice system, where a defendant serves a finite sentence and can anticipate release upon a day certain, a ward of the juvenile court remains under the court's continuing jurisdiction until he reaches the age of majority, the court discharges the ward in the exercise of its discretion, or guardianship is awarded by the court to the Department of Corrections. I.C. 31-6-2-3. Rather than a determinate term of imprisonment which can be shortened by good time credit, the continuous judicial oversight of a ward under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court extends over a variety of settings and can be terminated at any point at which the court determines that it is no longer necessary or appropriate. Even if the ward is committed to Boys or Girls School and guardianship is awarded to the Department of Corrections, appellees themselves point out that such commitment does not necessarily extend until the juvenile reaches the age of majority, but may be terminated upon the determination of the DOC that a less restrictive placement has become appropriate. Accumulating a specific number of days for good time served in order to earn an earlier release from incarceration simply has no applicability here.

579 N.E.2d at 61-62.

In 1997, our legislature clarified, "the juvenile court's jurisdiction over a delinquent child ... continues until: (1) the child becomes twenty-one (21) years of age, unless the court discharges the child ... at an earlier time; or (2) guardianship of the child is awarded to the department of correction." Ind.Code § 31-30-2-1(a). That same year, our legislature enacted the following provision:

(a) This section applies if a child is a delinquent child under IC 31-37-1.
(b) After a juvenile court makes a determination under IC 5-2-12-4, the juvenile court may,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Martin v. State
774 N.E.2d 43 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2002)
Booher v. State
773 N.E.2d 814 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2002)
Ratliff v. State
741 N.E.2d 424 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2000)
Purcell v. State
721 N.E.2d 220 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1999)
Jordan v. State
512 N.E.2d 407 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1987)
Lampitok v. State
817 N.E.2d 630 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2004)
Nevel v. State
818 N.E.2d 1 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2004)
Madaras v. State
425 N.E.2d 670 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1981)
Matter of Tina T.
579 N.E.2d 48 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1991)
A.D. v. State
736 N.E.2d 1274 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2000)
A.M.R. v. State
741 N.E.2d 727 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2000)
E.H. v. State
764 N.E.2d 681 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2002)
B.K.C. v. State
781 N.E.2d 1157 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2003)
C.T.S. v. State
781 N.E.2d 1193 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2003)
In re K.G.
808 N.E.2d 631 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2004)
M.B. v. State
815 N.E.2d 210 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2004)
C.C. v. State
826 N.E.2d 106 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2005)
J.D. v. State
826 N.E.2d 146 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2005)
A.E. v. State
829 N.E.2d 549 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
829 N.E.2d 549, 2005 WL 1364663, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ae-v-state-indctapp-2005.