In re E.C.

216 S.W.3d 424
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided September 27, 2006·No. No. 04-05-00085-CV·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by

SARAH B. DUNCAN, Justice.

The issue presented by this appeal is whether the trial court’s order modifying its previous disposition to commit E.C. to the Texas Youth Commission is governed by the 2001 version of section 54.05 of the Texas Family Code or the 2003 version. We agree with the El Paso Court of Appeals’ reasoning in In re U.G.V., 199 S.W.3d 1 (Tex.App.-El Paso 2005, no pet.), that the applicability of the 2003 version of the statute turns on whether the conduct giving rise to the modification occurred on or after September 1, 2003, the effective date of the 2003 version of the statute. Accordingly, because the conduct giving rise to the modification in this case occurred in 2004, we hold the 2003 version of the statute applies and affirm the trial court’s judgment.

Factual and ProceduRal Background

E.C. was first adjudicated a delinquent for the misdemeanor offense of assault-bodily injury on August 9, 2001. E.C. was again adjudicated a delinquent on September 19, 2003, this time for the misdemean- or offense of resisting arrest, which occurred on August 9, 2003. Although this 2003 adjudication initially resulted in E.C. being placed on probation, his violations of the terms of his probation in 2004 resulted in the trial court modifying its disposition and committing E.C. to the TYC until his twenty-first birthday. It is undisputed that E.C. did not object to the trial court’s modification order on the ground that the governing law authorized commitment to TYC only if he had not one but two previous misdemeanor adjudications.

E.C.’s court-appointed counsel filed a timely motion for a new trial and a timely notice of appeal. On appeal, however, [426] E.C.’s attorney filed a motion to withdraw and an Anders1 brief concluding that E.C.’s appeal is without merit and frivolous. Because our independent review of the record revealed an arguable issue regarding whether E.C. met the statutory criteria for commitment to TYC under the governing law, we ordered the trial court to appoint new appellate counsel for E.C. to brief this issue and whether it could be raised for the first time on appeal. That brief, as well as the State’s response, have now been filed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review a modification order under an abuse of discretion standard. See In re J.P., 136 S.W.3d 629, 633 (Tex.2004). A trial court abuses its discretion when it “clearly fails to analyze or apply the law correctly.” City of Dallas v. Vanesko, 189 S.W.3d 769, 771 (Tex.2006). “Statutory construction is a matter of law, which we review de novo.” Dallas County Cmty. College Dist. v. Bolton, 185 S.W.3d 868, 872 (Tex.2005).

Applicable Law

Before September 1, 2003, section 54.05(f) and (k) of the Texas Family Code provided as follows:

(f) Except as provided by Subsection (j), a disposition based on a finding that the child engaged in delinquent conduct that violates a penal law of this state or the United States of the grade of felony or, if the requirements of Subsection (k) are met, of the grade of misdemeanor, may be modified so as to commit the child to the Texas Youth Commission if the court after a hearing to modify disposition finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the child violated a reasonable and lawful order of the court....
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(k) The court may modify a disposition under Subsection (f) that is based on a finding that the child engaged in delinquent conduct that violates a penal law of the grade of misdemeanor if:
(1) the child has been adjudicated as having engaged in delinquent conduct violating a penal law of the grade of felony or misdemeanor on at least two previous occasions; and
(2) of the previous adjudications, the conduct that was the basis for one of the adjudications occurred after the date of another previous adjudication.2

Construing this version of the statute, which we will refer to as section 54.05 (2001), this Court held that “[t]he clear and unambiguous language of the statute permits commitment only when the juvenile has been adjudicated for felony or misdemeanor conduct on two previous occasions. The two previous adjudications must be separate and in addition to the adjudication on which the modification is based.” In re S.B., 94 S.W.3d 717, 719 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 2002, no pet.) (emphasis added). Significant to our analysis in this case, however, this interpretation was contrary to that embraced by a principal drafter of much of the juvenile legislation in Texas over the last thirty years, the [427] late University of Texas Professor Robert 0. Dawson, and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission.3 We describe the disagreement as “significant” because, effective September 1, 2003, section 54.05 was amended to adopt Professor Dawson’s and the Commission’s view and permit commitment to TYC when the juvenile had been adjudicated for one misdemeanor offense before the adjudication upon which the modification is based:

(f) Except as provided by Subsection (j), a disposition based on a finding that the child engaged in delinquent conduct that violates a penal law of this state or the United States of the grade of felony or, if the requirements of Subsection (k) are met, of the grade of misdemeanor, may be modified so as to commit the child to the Texas Youth Commission if the court after a hearing to modify disposition finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the child violated a reasonable and lawful order of the court....
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(k) The court may modify a disposition under Subsection (f) that is based on an adjudication that the child engaged in delinquent conduct that violates a penal law of the grade of misdemean- or if:
(1) the child has been adjudicated as having engaged in delinquent conduct violating a penal law of the grade of felony or misdemeanor on at least one previous occasion before the adjudication that prompted the disposition that is being modified; and
(2) the conduct that was the basis of the adjudication that prompted the disposition that is being modified occurred after the date of the previous adjudication.4

We will refer to the amended version of the statute as section 54.05 (2003).

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In re E.C., 216 S.W.3d 424 (Tex. Ct. App. 2006).

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