Boone Ex Rel. Ferry v. Danforth

463 S.W.2d 825
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMarch 8, 1971
Docket55212
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 463 S.W.2d 825 (Boone Ex Rel. Ferry v. Danforth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boone Ex Rel. Ferry v. Danforth, 463 S.W.2d 825 (Mo. 1971).

Opinions

FINCH, Judge.

Plaintiff, Frank Allen Boone, after being adjudged a delinquent juvenile and committed to the State Board of Training Schools, was transferred by said board by administrative order, pursuant to § 219.230 (2),1 to the Classification and Assignment Division of the Department of Corrections and thereafter was confined in various institutions operated by that department. He brought suit in the Circuit Court of Cole County seeking a determination that this transfer without a judicial hearing was unconstitutional and invalid. He appeals from an adverse judgment of the Circuit Court. We reverse.

Plaintiff’s petition was in two counts. Count I sought a declaratory judgment that a transfer of any juvenile, including plaintiff, from the State Board of Training Schools and its institution for juveniles to the Department of Corrections and its adult correctional institutions without any judicial hearing and determination violates his constitutional rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States and his rights under Art. I, § 10 of the Constitution of Missouri, 1945, V.A.M.S. Count II was a petition for writ of habeas corpus directed to Warden Swenson.

The stipulated facts show that on April 27, 1966, plaintiff, then 14, was adjudged by the Juvenile Court of the City of St. Louis to be delinquent by reason of petty larceny and trespass, and was committed by that court to the State Board of Training Schools. He was not prosecuted as an adult, pursuant to § 211.071.

On February 6, 1967, the State Board of Training Schools, pursuant to § 219.230(2), and without any judicial hearing, ordered plaintiff transferred “from the Missouri Training School for Boys to the Classification and Assignment Division of the Department of Corrections at Jefferson City, Missouri, .and .held in custody therein until such time as he may be discharged by due course of law.” The transfer was pursuant to recommendation of the Classification Committee of the Training Schools and was with the concurrence of the Governor. It recited that the conduct of plaintiff had been such as to demonstrate that he was incorrigible and not amenable to reformation afforded at the Training School for Boys and that his presence was detrimental to the discipline and welfare of other boys at the school. After that transfer, the plaintiff first was placed by the Department of Corrections in the Algoa Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men. Subsequently, he was transferred from there to the Training School for Men at Moberly, and ultimately to the State Penitentiary for Men in Jefferson City.

While Boone was incarcerated in the State Penitentiary he instituted this suit. Thereafter, and before the hearing of this case by the Circuit Court, he was released from the Penitentiary on order of the State Board of Training Schools and placed under supervision of a Placement Officer pursuant to a Training School Placement Plan, his release being conditioned on compliance with specific written rules and instructions. In its findings and judgment, the trial court, noting that petitioner had been released from the Penitentiary and was no longer in the custody of the Warden, quashed the writ of habeas corpus. With reference to the count seeking a declaratory judgment, the court held that § 219.-230(2) was constitutional and that plaintiff was not entitled to a judicial hearing as a [827]*827condition to his transfer from the State Board of Training Schools to the correctional institutions operated by the Department of Corrections.

We first consider two preliminary questions raised by respondents which go to the question of whether we should consider this appeal on its merits. They first suggest that notice of appeal was not timely filed and that the appeal should be dismissed for this reason. We overrule this contention. This case was heard by the court without a jury and judgment was entered October 14, 1969. No motion for new trial was filed and the judgment became final thirty days after its entry. Appellant had ten days thereafter for filing a notice of appeal. Gross v. Merchants-Produce Bank, Mo.App., 390 S.W.2d 591. The fortieth day, which was November 23, fell on a Sunday but that day is not counted under Supreme Court Rule 44.01. Consequently, the notice of appeal which was filed on November 24, 1969, was timely.

Secondly, respondents suggest that the questions presented on appeal may be moot for the reason that plaintiff is not now in any institution and if his parole is revoked he will be returned, pursuant to the release documents, “to the Training School for further training.” The respondents’ brief recognizes that the question presented is an important one and says that they are not opposed to having it decided but feel that the question of mootness should be raised. We have concluded not to dismiss the appeal on that basis. This is a continuing question due to the fact that other transfers of juveniles under § 219.-230(2) occur from time to time. This same question has arisen in the past without being decided and the identical question is presented in three original habeas corpus proceedings filed in this court on January 6, 1971.2 Furthermore, plaintiff is still subject to parole, which could be revoked, and he could be again committed by the State Board of Training Schools to the Department of Corrections and its adult institutions. Under such circumstances, it is appropriate to decide the issue instead of dismissing the case as moot. Moore v. Ogilvie, 394 U.S. 814, 89 S.Ct. 1493, 23 L.Ed.2d 1; Pierce v. La Valle, 2 Cir., 293 F.2d 233; Friend v. United States, 128 U.S.App.D.C. 323, 388 F.2d 579; Matthews v. Hardy, 137 U.S.App.D.C. 39, 420 F.2d 607.

What, then, of the basic issue presented on this appeal, namely, the validity of the transfer of plaintiff from the State Board of Training Schools and its • institution at Boonville to the Department of Corrections and its adult correctional institutions, and of the statute under which that transfer was made? Was this, as the State contends, merely an authorized administrative decision to transfer plaintiff from one institution to another because of his asserted misbehavior at the first? Or was this such a change in commitment and custody, without any notice, hearing or judicial determination, as to violate plaintiff’s constitutional rights?

The original proceeding against plaintiff in the Juvenile Court was pursuant to Chapter 211. Section 211.071 of that Chapter provides that after a hearing the Juvenile Court may determine that the juvenile is not a fit subject to be dealt with under the Juvenile Code, in which event he is transferred to the Circuit Court and prosecuted under the general law. He then is tried as any other defendant charged with a crime and is accorded all the procedural and constitutional safeguards. If convicted in such a trial of an offense punishable by [828]*828imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections, he may be so sentenced and imprisoned in any of the correctional institutions operated by that department.

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Boone Ex Rel. Ferry v. Danforth
463 S.W.2d 825 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1971)

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Bluebook (online)
463 S.W.2d 825, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boone-ex-rel-ferry-v-danforth-mo-1971.