In re B.T.

82 A.3d 431, 2013 Pa. Super. 316, 2013 WL 6407675, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3195
Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided December 9, 2013·Published·Cited by 19 cases

Opinions

OPINION BY

STRASSBURGER, J.:

B.T. (Appellant) appeals from the dispo-sitional orders1 of January 6, 2012, following his adjudication of delinquency based upon his commission of multiple burglaries 2 and related crimes. On appeal, Appellant challenges (1) the October 6, 2011 order denying his motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, and (2) the October 21, 2011 order denying his motion to suppress. [433] We affirm the dispositional order entered at case 8618; vacate the dispositional orders and adjudications of delinquency entered at cases 3613, 3615, 3616, and 3617; reverse the October 21, 2011 order denying Appellant’s suppression motion; and remand the ease for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

On July 1, 2011, Detective Orlando Ortiz went to Appellant’s home as part of an investigation into a series of burglaries. Appellant’s father informed Detective Ortiz that Appellant was nine years old, and produced documentation reflecting a date of birth in November 2002 for Appellant.3 Based upon this information, Detective Ortiz informed Appellant’s father that Appellant was too young to be charged with a crime, but that he would like to talk to Appellant about additional burglaries and the other individuals involved. Detective Ortiz explained to Appellant’s father that Appellant would not be charged with any criminal acts, and Appellant’s father gave permission for Appellant to go with Detective Ortiz to the police station. Appellant, his father declining to go along, was transported in an unmarked police car, without restraints. At the station, Appellant ate pizza while Detective Ortiz interviewed him for approximately one hour. While Detective Ortiz subsequently drove Appellant home, Appellant pointed out houses that he and other participants had burglarized.

The next time the police interacted with Appellant was over a month later, when Appellant was caught in the act of a burglary and restrained by one of the victims until the police arrived. Having received information that Appellant was actually 15 years old,4 the police arrested Appellant for that burglary as well as the others to which Appellant admitted having committed.

Appellant was charged in five separate juvenile petitions on August 13, 2011, with burglary and related crimes. On September 7, 2011, Appellant moved to dismiss the petitions, claiming that the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction because Appellant was under the age of ten. In response, the juvenile court ordered that Appellant undergo a bone age scan. At a subsequent hearing, radiologist Dr. Michael Nalban-tian testified that the test results suggested, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that Appellant was 15.6 years old as of September 16, 2011, the date of the scan. Considering two standard deviations, which would account for nutritional defects and disease, Appellant would be at least 13 years and two months old. Finding this evidence credible, and the documentary evidence purporting Appellant to be only nine years old incredible, the juvenile court denied Appellant’s motion to dismiss.

On October 21, 2011, a hearing was held on Appellant’s motion to suppress the statements given to the police on July 1, 2011. Appellant claimed that the statements wherein he described his role in the burglaries should be excluded because they were given during the course of a custodial detention, and Appellant had not been advised of his Miranda5 rights prior to questioning. See Motion to Suppress, 9/2/2011; N.T., 10/21/2011, at 23-35. Ap[434] pellant also claimed that his confession was not knowing, intelligent, and voluntary. See Motion to Suppress, 9/2/2011; N.T., 10/21/2011, at 35-36. The juvenile court denied the motion, finding that Miranda warnings were not warranted because the police, relying upon information given by Appellant’s father, believed that Appellant could not have been prosecuted due to his age.

Hearings were held on November 9 and November 22, 2011, concerning the various burglary charges. On January 6, 2012, the juvenile court adjudicated Appellant delinquent, and committed him to Abraxas Leadership Development program by separate dispositional orders of the same date filed at each docket number. On February 29, 2012, the juvenile court discharged Appellant from Abraxas and ordered him committed to George Junior Republic.

Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal following denial of reconsideration. Appellant presents two questions for this Court’s review.

1. Did not the [juvenile] court err as a matter of law and deny Appellant due process under both the Pennsylvania and United States Constitutions when it denied his Motion to Dismiss Due to Lack of Jurisdiction, where Appellant alleged that at the time of the acts in question he was only 9 years of age and did not qualify as a delinquent child under 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 6302?
2. Did not the [juvenile] court err as a matter of law and violate Appellant’s state and federal constitutional rights when it denied his Motion to Suppress Statements after Appellant was subjected to a custodial interrogation and the officer failed to administer Miranda warnings; additionally, did not the [juvenile] court err and violate Appellant’s federal and state Constitutional rights when it held that there was good faith exception to the Miranda requirements because the officer honestly believed Appellant was only 9 years old?

Appellant’s Brief at 3.

“Because the question of subject matter jurisdiction is purely one of law, our standard of review is de novo, and our scope of review is plenary.” Commonwealth v. Brinson, 30 A.3d 490, 492 (Pa.Super.2011) (citing Commonwealth v. D.S., 903 A.2d 582, 584 (Pa.Super.2006)). However, factual findings and credibility determinations in juvenile proceedings are within the exclusive province of the hearing judge. In re L.A., 853 A.2d 388, 391 (Pa.Super.2004).

“A petition alleging that a child is delinquent must be disposed of in accordance with the Juvenile Act.” In re J.J., 848 A.2d 1014, 1017 (Pa.Super.2004). A delinquent child is a “child ten years of age or older whom the court has found to have committed a delinquent act and is in need of treatment, supervision or rehabilitation.” 42 Pa.C.S. § 6302.

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In re B.T., 82 A.3d 431, 2013 Pa. Super. 316, 2013 WL 6407675, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3195 (Pa. Ct. App. 2013).

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