In Re JBJ

86 S.W.3d 810, 2002 WL 31126821
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 26, 2002
Docket09-01-382 CV
StatusPublished

This text of 86 S.W.3d 810 (In Re JBJ) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re JBJ, 86 S.W.3d 810, 2002 WL 31126821 (Tex. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

86 S.W.3d 810 (2002)

In the Matter of J.B.J., a Juvenile.

No. 09-01-382 CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Beaumont.

Submitted June 25, 2002.
Decided September 26, 2002.

*811 Jarrod L. Walker, Riley, Walker, Dornburg, Little & Wham, Conroe, for appellant.

David K. Walker, County Atty., William L. Pattillo III, Asst. County Atty., Conroe, for appellee.

Before WALKER, C.J., BURGESS, and GAULTNEY, JJ.

OPINION

DAVID B. GAULTNEY, Justice.

The trial court adjudicated a fourteen year old juvenile as having engaged in delinquent conduct—the second degree felony offense of indecency with a child—and sentenced him to probation until the age of eighteen. See Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 21.11(a), (d) (Vernon Supp.2002). On appeal, appellant ("JBJ") contends the trial court erred in failing to suppress a confession he made while in custody. The issue in this case is whether the parents of the juvenile were promptly notified after he was taken into custody as required by Section 52.02(b)(1) of the Texas Family Code.

FACTS

Detective Page of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department testified that on November 22, 2000, she received a report containing allegations of criminal conduct by JBJ, a juvenile, against a five year old child ("SW"). On January 8, 2001, Detective Page, along with another detective from the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department, went to the school security office and asked to speak with JBJ. School officials called JBJ to the school's police office. Detective Page testified she then told JBJ she had a report of his involvement in inappropriate touching of SW and asked him if he would come with her because she wanted to speak with him. JBJ responded "yes." Officer Tammy *812 Trott, an employee of the Conroe Independent School District Police, testified that Detective Page's interview of JBJ at the school's security office was "very brief because basically he confessed to what she asked."

Upon leaving the school, the two Sheriff Department detectives transported JBJ by car to the office of Judge Spikes, a justice of the peace. Judge Spikes provided JBJ his juvenile warnings pursuant to the requirements of the Family Code. See Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 51.095 (Vernon Supp. 2002). After the initial warnings were given, Detective Page took JBJ to an empty office at the detective bureau and spoke with him. It was then that JBJ made a written confession. Once the written statement was completed, Page took JBJ back to Judge Spikes. With only himself and JBJ in the room, Judge Spikes completed the statutory warnings required for the admissibility of a statement of a juvenile. See Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 51.095(a)(1)(B) (Vernon Supp.2002). Detective Page testified that she then took JBJ to the ID Division and had him fingerprinted. At that point, he was taken to the juvenile facility and released to the authorities there.

Officer Trott described the efforts made to contact JBJ's parents. She explained that the school has phone numbers in the computer system—both residence and work numbers. Trott told Detective Page she would try to contact JBJ's mother. JBJ gave Trott a residence number and told her that his mother would be out. Trott began making phone calls to try to reach the mother. Before the detectives left the school with JBJ, Trott told Detective Page that she (Trott) would continue her efforts to reach a parent until contact was made. For approximately an hour, Trott made six attempts to call the mother but was unable to reach her. Since the mother had not returned home, Trott then tried the father's work number. She reached a secretary, who indicated she would have the father call back. JBJ's father returned Trott's call in five or ten minutes, and Trott explained to him why his son had been taken into custody. Later that afternoon, the mother, who was very upset, contacted Trott and told Trott never to speak to JBJ again.

The State filed a petition asking that JBJ be adjudicated as a child engaged in delinquent conduct. Appellant filed a motion to suppress all oral and written statements he had made in reference to the case. At the suppression hearing, there was, in addition to the evidence recounted above, testimony regarding the following time chronology surrounding the making of the written statement:

(1) Detective Page picked JBJ up at school at 10:40 a.m. and arrived at the sheriff's department a couple of minutes before 11 a.m.
(2) Judge Spikes gave JBJ the first warnings at 11:05 a.m.
(3) Page took JBJ to her office (across the hall from Judge Spikes' office), where JBJ completed his statement by 12:30 p.m.
(4) At approximately 12:22 p.m., while Page was in the interview with JBJ, a phone call came for Page from JBJ's mother. However, Page did not know of the mother's call until after the interview and statement were completed.
(5) JBJ was taken to the juvenile facility around 1:15 p.m.
(6) Around 1:30 p.m. Page learned the mother had telephoned, and at that time Page returned her call and informed her of the allegations against JBJ and his confession.

From the record as a whole, it appears there was an approximate one and one-half *813 hour time period between the juvenile's being taken into custody and the notification of the father.

The trial court denied the motion to suppress, and, based on an agreed statement of facts and stipulation of evidence, ultimately adjudicated JBJ as having engaged in delinquent conduct by committing the offense of indecency with a child. Pursuant to Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 56.01(n)(2) (Vernon Supp.2002), the juvenile has a statutory right under certain circumstances to appeal the denial of the motion to suppress, regardless of his subsequent stipulation.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

As with a motion to suppress in an adult criminal case, we review a motion to suppress in a juvenile delinquency proceeding under an abuse of discretion standard. See In the Matter of R.J.H., 79 S.W.3d 1, 6-7, 45 Tex. Sup.Ct. J. 732 (2002). When there are no findings of fact, an appellate court reviews the record in the light most favorable to the trial judge's ruling. Id. A reviewing court defers to the trial court's findings of historical fact but, considering all of the surrounding circumstances, determines de novo the application of law to the facts. See id.

REQUIREMENTS OF TEXAS FAMILY CODE

Under Texas law, a person taking a child into custody must promptly notify the child's parent, guardian, or custodian of that fact and of the reason for taking the child into custody. See Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 52.02(b)(1) (Vernon Supp.2002). JBJ contends the officers took him into custody upon leaving the school, which the State concedes, and failed to promptly notify a parent, a point that the State challenges.

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Bluebook (online)
86 S.W.3d 810, 2002 WL 31126821, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-jbj-texapp-2002.