Griffith v. State

791 N.E.2d 235, 2003 Ind. App. LEXIS 1230, 2003 WL 21544497
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 10, 2003
Docket49A05-0206-CR-255
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 791 N.E.2d 235 (Griffith 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
Griffith v. State, 791 N.E.2d 235, 2003 Ind. App. LEXIS 1230, 2003 WL 21544497 (Ind. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinions

OPINION

SULLIVAN, Judge.

Once again, this court has been called upon to determine whether a juvenile court appropriately waived a minor to adult criminal court. In what appears to be a matter of first impression, we are presented the issue of what offenses may be waived to adult court under the provisions of Indiana Code § 31-30-3-4 (Burns Code Ed. Repl.1997).

Ryan Griffith appeals from his convictions 1 for theft as a Class D felony,2 carrying a handgun without a license, a Class A misdemeanor,3 and two counts of criminal confinement as Class B felonies.4 As stated by both Griffith and the State, the issue presented for our review is whether the Marion Superior Court had jurisdiction over all of the offenses which were included in a petition alleging Griffith’s delinquency.

The record reveals that on August 15, 2000, Griffith, a fifteen-year-old boy, had taken his father’s handgun with the intention of committing suicide.5 Griffith’s friends learned that he intended to kill himself and convinced him to take the handgun back home. However, upon returning home, Griffith feared that he would be punished by his father because he had broken the lock to get into his father’s bedroom to take the handgun. Once again, Griffith decided that he would have to commit suicide or run away. He packed a few of his belongings and went to Thatcher Park where he laid down on a bench contemplating suicide. Griffith testified that he “chickened out” of committing suicide. Transcript at 240. Then, as he sat on the bench, he saw David Whit-lock and Wendy England pull into the parking lot in David’s Chevy Cavalier.

Griffith approached them as they sat at a picnic table and ate. He asked them for a cigarette and David retrieved one from his car. After making some small talk with them, Griffith pulled the handgun out and pointed it at Wendy and David and told them that he needed the keys to the car. David gave him the keys and he and Wendy raised their hands and began to walk toward a fence just as Griffith had ordered. However, as they walked, David and Griffith began to struggle and David was shot in the chest. Nonetheless, David was able to acquire the handgun and fired [237]*237one shot which hit Griffith. David subsequently died as a result of his gunshot wound.

The juvenile court originally had jurisdiction over Griffith. The State petitioned the juvenile court to waive jurisdiction over Griffith based upon the consideration that he was charged with an act which would be murder if committed by an adult and that he was over ten years of age at the time the act was committed. See I.C. § 31-30-3-4. After conducting a hearing, the juvenile court waived jurisdiction of all six counts with which Griffith had been charged. Griffith waived his right to a jury trial and was found guilty of all six counts by the trial court.6

Jurisdiction is the legal power of a court to conduct a proceeding or other matter. Twyman v. State, 459 N.E.2d 705, 707 (Ind.1984). There are three types of jurisdiction: (1) subject matter jurisdiction, (2) jurisdiction of the person, and (3) jurisdiction of the particular case. Id.

Subject matter jurisdiction concerns whether or not the particular court has jurisdiction over the general class of actions to which the particular case belongs. Id. Subject matter jurisdiction must be derived from the Constitution or statute and cannot be conferred by the consent or agreement of the parties. Id. An objection to subject matter jurisdiction cannot be waived. Id.

Jurisdiction of the person refers to the right of the court to exercise jurisdiction over the particular parties who are brought before the court. Id. Objections to jurisdiction of the person may be waived by failure to assert them in a timely manner. Id.

Jurisdiction of the particular case refers to the right, authority, and power to hear and determine a specific case within a certain class of cases over which a court has subject matter jurisdiction. State v. Willits, 773 N.E.2d 808, 812 (Ind.2002). Failure to object to the trial court’s jurisdiction of the particular case may result in waiver of the objection. See id.

The parties in this case both approach their respective arguments under the assumption that the issue in question is subject matter jurisdiction. Unfortunately, while both this court and our Supreme Court have made concerted efforts to clear up the confusion surrounding jurisdiction issues over juveniles, such efforts, we believe, have not been totally successful. Indeed, in Twyman, our Supreme Court noted that juvenile jurisdiction is a confused area of the law. 459 N.E.2d at 707. Therefore, rather than assuming that the only issue before us is one of subject matter jurisdiction, as Griffith and the State allege, we feel that it is necessary to once again take an in-depth look at jurisdictional issues when juveniles are involved.

[238]*238According to I.C. § 81-30-3-4, upon motion by the prosecuting attorney and after conducting a hearing, the juvenile court shall waive jurisdiction of an individual if it finds that the child is charged with an act which would be murder if committed by an adult, there is probable cause to believe that the child has committed the murder, and the child was at least ten years of age. The only restriction upon waiver is if the juvenile court finds that it would be in the best interests of the child and of the safety and welfare of the community for the child to remain within the juvenile justice system. Id. Because Griffith was fifteen years old at the time that the murder occurred, the only other statutory section regarding waiver which could have been applicable in this case was Indiana Code § 31-30-3-2 (Burns Code Ed. Repl.1997). That section states that upon motion of the prosecutor and following a hearing, the juvenile court may waive jurisdiction if it finds that the child, who was at least fourteen years of age at the time the act was committed, is charged with an act which was heinous or aggravated or was part of a repetitive pattern of delinquent acts.7 I.C. § 31-30-3-2.

In filing the motion seeking waiver, the prosecutor did not allege that the acts with which Griffith were charged were heinous or aggravated or that they were part of a repetitive pattern of delinquent acts. Neither did the juvenile court make findings which would support a waiver of jurisdiction according to the requirements of I.C. § 31-30-3-2. The grounds which the prosecutor alleged in seeking waiver, and the findings by the juvenile court in waiving jurisdiction of Griffith, rest solely upon the requirements of I.C. § 31-30-3-4. Therefore, in reviewing Griffith’s claim, we review the juvenile court’s waiver from the standpoint of whether or not the requirements of I.C. § 31-30-3-4 were met.

In Twyman, our Supreme Court reviewed the jurisdictional statutes which were controlling at the time. The Court determined that the age of the offender was not a factor in the exercise of the criminal court’s subject matter jurisdiction, but that age was a consideration for subject matter jurisdiction of a juvenile court. 459 N.E.2d at 708.

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Related

Truax v. State
856 N.E.2d 116 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2006)
Phares v. State
796 N.E.2d 305 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2003)
Griffith v. State
791 N.E.2d 235 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
791 N.E.2d 235, 2003 Ind. App. LEXIS 1230, 2003 WL 21544497, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/griffith-v-state-indctapp-2003.