CC v. State

826 N.E.2d 106, 2005 WL 957318
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 27, 2005
Docket39A04-0408-JV-414
StatusPublished

This text of 826 N.E.2d 106 (CC 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
CC v. State, 826 N.E.2d 106, 2005 WL 957318 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

826 N.E.2d 106 (2005)

C.C., Appellant-Respondent,
v.
STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Petitioner.

No. 39A04-0408-JV-414.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

April 27, 2005.
Transfer Denied August 11, 2005.

*107 Alison T. Frazier, Eckert, Alcorn, Goering & Sage, LLP, Madison, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

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

OPINION

BAKER, Judge.

Appellant-respondent C.C. appeals his adjudication as a juvenile delinquent for committing acts that would have been battery, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct if they had been committed by an adult and the order committing him to the Department of Correction (DOC). Specifically, C.C. raises four issues: whether the juvenile court properly acquired jurisdiction over him; whether the juvenile court properly advised him of his rights; whether the juvenile court properly allowed hearsay evidence to be admitted at his dispositional hearing; and whether the juvenile court abused its discretion in ordering him committed to the DOC. Finding that C.C. has waived his jurisdictional argument and finding no other error, we affirm the judgment of the juvenile court.

FACTS

On August 8, 2003, the State filed a delinquency petition against fifteen-year-old C.C., alleging that he had committed battery, which would be a class A misdemeanor if committed by an adult, by punching someone in the jaw and throwing him down on the street. The State later amended the petition to add an additional allegation of battery for slapping a seven-year-old child. An initial hearing was held on September 29, 2003, and the order noted that the juvenile court advised C.C. of his rights, the allegations against him, and the possible dispositions. Appellant's App. p. 148. Thereafter, the State twice more amended the petition to add a third charge of battery, a charge of criminal mischief for damaging a school computer monitor, and a charge of disorderly conduct for fighting. Following another hearing, the juvenile court entered an order on December 2, 2003, finding probable cause to believe that C.C. was a delinquent child and authorizing the filing of a delinquency petition.

On December 16, 2003, the juvenile court conducted a fact-finding hearing and found C.C. to be a delinquent child in that he committed the act of disorderly conduct and set a dispositional hearing for January 21, 2004. The juvenile court found the evidence insufficient to support a true finding *108 on the charge of criminal mischief.[1] After the dispositional hearing, the juvenile court ordered C.C. to attend a three-day per week intensive program offered through St. Vincent's Stress Center in Indianapolis. The juvenile court further ordered that C.C. be released to the custody of his father in order to ensure that C.C. continued with his schooling and that he would attend the program at St. Vincent's.

During January 2004, C.C. was a student in the WINGS program, an alternative education program in Jefferson County for students who have behavioral difficulties in their school. Once admitted to the WINGS program, C.C. regularly failed to attend and called his father to pick him up early many days. On January 17, 2004, C.C. became angry with another student, took a compact disc player, and smashed it against the floor. On February 3, 2004, C.C. got angry and kicked one of the wooden fire doors located at the WINGS school. The door was damaged but operable.

At some point in January 2004, C.C. went uninvited into the home of Christina Galbreath. C.C. grabbed at Christina, put himself on top of her, and offered her money for sex. On one occasion, C.C. entered Christina's home through a window and chased her and her sister around the house. When Christina made C.C. leave, he re-entered the house by using an ID card to open the back door.

On March 8, 2004, the probation department filed a Petition for Modification of the Dispositional Decree because C.C. failed to follow through with the conditions of his probation and because he committed a criminal act by kicking and damaging the door and by committing burglary and harassment against Galbreath. On April 23, 2004, the probation department amended its petition by alleging that C.C. had committed the acts of battery and residential entry against Galbreath.

On April 29, 2004, the juvenile court found that C.C. had violated the terms of his probation by committing criminal mischief, a class B misdemeanor if committed by an adult, sexual battery, a class D felony if committed by an adult, and residential entry, a class D felony if committed by an adult. B.C. Morton, the chief probation officer, thereafter prepared and submitted a pre-dispositional report to the juvenile court, conveying his recommendation that C.C. be committed to the DOC. This recommendation was based on the opinion of Dr. Gillam, a psychiatrist who had previously worked with C.C., that "all that could be done for this child in psychiatric settings had been done and that if he reoffended after discharge from the hospital that DOC would be the appropriate placement." Appellant's App. p. 225.

At the dispositional hearing, the State offered into evidence through Morton a disciplinary report from the Jackson County Juvenile Detention Center where C.C. was being held pending the dispositional hearing. The juvenile court admitted the exhibit over C.C.'s hearsay objection. Morton testified at the hearing that "Dr. Gill[am] very plainly said that if [C.C.] violates again that he does not need to go back through the mental health system; he needs to go to the Department of Corrections *109 [sic] because there's nothing more that the mental health system can provide for [C.C.]." Tr. p. 65. C.C. made no objection to this testimony. The juvenile court ordered that C.C.'s disposition be modified to place him in the DOC for eighteen months, and C.C. now appeals.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

I. Jurisdiction

C.C. first argues that the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction. Specifically, he contends that the juvenile court failed to strictly comply with the statutory prerequisites for obtaining jurisdiction.

Indiana Code section 31-37-10-2 states:

The juvenile court shall do the following:
(1) Consider the preliminary inquiry and the evidence of probable cause.
(2) Approve the filing of a petition if there is probable cause to believe that:
(A) the child is a delinquent child; and
(B) it is in the best interests of the child or the public that the petition be filed.

C.C. avers that the juvenile court "did not properly obtain subject matter jurisdiction in the proceedings against C.C." because it failed to make specific findings regarding probable cause or findings that filing a delinquency petition was in the best interests of the child or the public. Appellant's Br. p. 9. In support of this proposition, C.C. cites to K.S. v. State, 807 N.E.2d 769 (Ind.Ct.App.2004), in which a panel of this court held that strict compliance with the statutory prerequisites for obtaining jurisdiction at the commencement of delinquency proceedings is required of juvenile courts. In reversing the delinquency adjudication, that panel found that the issue could not be waived even though K.S.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
826 N.E.2d 106, 2005 WL 957318, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cc-v-state-indctapp-2005.