In re J.F.M.

607 S.E.2d 304, 168 N.C. App. 143, 2005 N.C. App. LEXIS 166
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedJanuary 18, 2005
DocketNo. COA04-183
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 607 S.E.2d 304 (In re J.F.M.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re J.F.M., 607 S.E.2d 304, 168 N.C. App. 143, 2005 N.C. App. LEXIS 166 (N.C. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

McCullough, Judge.

Arising from the same contended facts and circumstances, sisters J.F.M. (“JM”) and T.J.B. (“TB”) (collectively “juveniles”) were adjudicated delinquent on petitions alleging resisting, delaying, and obstructing a public officer and assault on a public officer. Both adjudications were rendered 26 July 2003. On 21 July 2003, the juveniles’ disposition orders placed each on twelve (12) months’ probation with varying terms and conditions.

The State’s evidence tended to show the following: On the day of 15 May 2003, JM was aged 15 and TB was aged 13. That day, Deputy S.L. Barr (“Deputy Barr”) of the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Department, and the Kennedy Learning Center’s (the “Center”) resource officer, [145]*145was investigating an affray involving TB and another student. The affray occurred at around 2:00 p.m, and while not observing the affray, Deputy Barr had observed a group of students circled outside on the Center’s grounds. Later, he saw TB leaving the grounds and gave her three commands to stop which she ignored. Continuing his investigation, he spoke with a school administrator who told him that TB had been in the affray and was leaving campus.

Later, at approximately 3:00 p.m., Deputy Barr was leaving the Center when he saw TB at the bus stop on the comer of Highland and Martin Luther King Boulevard, which was on the Center’s grounds. He was still on duty. Stopping his vehicle, he approached TB and told her that she needed to come back to the Center to talk to the school administrator about the affray, and see whether she was going to be suspended. He himself did not plan on questioning her. TB told the Deputy, “I’m not going with you anywhere,” and Deputy Barr responded by grabbing her arm and telling her she needed to come with him. At that point, JM pushed Deputy Barr and told him to “get [his] D hands off her sister, and told [TB] to run.” Deputy Barr told JM that she was under arrest for resisting and delaying an officer, and grabbed her arms when she tried to run. As she stmggled against his attempt to handcuff her, she bit him on the right arm. TB returned and struck Deputy Barr with an umbrella. He let go of JM and the two sisters ran down the street. Deputy Barr called for assistance, and then chased after the two girls. The two sisters were soon apprehended. The sisters were so violent that they had to be placed in handcuffs and leg restraints to be placed into patrol cars.

At the close of the State’s evidence, the juveniles’ motion for dismissal was denied.

By way of their testimony, the juveniles’ case tended to allege the following: TB had been in a fight on 15 May 2004, and having discussed the matter with the school administrator was authorized to leave the Center. At the bus stop, Deputy Barr pulled up and told TB to come with him. JM, also at the bus stop, asked Deputy Barr, “why you want her to go with you.” TB told the Deputy she was not going anywhere with him. While they began walking away, Deputy Barr spoke on his walkie-talkie. He then grabbed JM’s hair and put his right arm around her neck. It was then that JM bit his arm. TB began hitting him with the umbrella, and after JM was freed, both fled.

At the close of the juveniles’ evidence, they again moved for dismissal and were denied.

[146]*146In their separate briefs on appeal the juveniles argue common issues of error by the trial court, and TB raises additional errors. The common issues are all founded on the contention that the trial court erred in finding Deputy Barr had authority to detain TB. TB’s additional issues contend that the trial court was without jurisdiction to hear this matter where the petitions for TB were fatally deficient. Based on the analysis herein, we find no error by the trial court’s adjudication and disposition orders of the juveniles.

Common Issues — Motions to Dismiss

The juveniles contend Deputy Barr was without legal authority to detain TB at the bus stop, amounting to an unlawful arrest, and therefore their resistance to Deputy Barr was lawful. Thus, they allege the court erred when it denied their motions to dismiss. We do not agree.

In cases where the juvenile moves to dismiss, the trial court must determine “whether there is substantial evidence (1) of each essential element of the offense charged, . . . and (2) of [juvenile’s] being the perpetrator of such offense.” In re Heil, 145 N.C. App. 24, 28, 550 S.E.2d 815, 819 (2001) (quoting State v. Powell, 299 N.C. 95, 98, 261 S.E.2d 114, 117 (1980) (citations omitted)). If the evidence raises merely “suspicion or conjecture” as to the offense’s commission, or the identity of the juvenile as its perpetrator, the motion should be allowed. Id. “In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of evidence, it is not our duty to weigh the evidence, but to determine whether there was substantial evidence to support the adjudication, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, and giving it the benefit of all reasonable inferences.” Id. at 29, 261 S.E.2d at 819. However, because juveniles in no way deny the events which took place subsequent to Deputy Barr’s detention of TB, the sufficiency of the evidence is not in question. Rather, it is the legal framework in which those events fell that is before us. Thus, we apply the evidence, viewed in a favorable light to the State, to what we hold below to be the proper legal framework.

In New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325, 83 L. Ed. 2d 720 (1985), the United States Supreme Court determined that a search of a student’s purse, conducted by a school official, and with some level of suspicion that the purse contained contraband, did not require that level of suspicion be probable cause. The Court, expounding on the principles of its seminal decision in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20, 20 L. Ed. 2d 889, 905 (1968), reasoned:

[147]*147Where a careful balancing of governmental and private interests suggests that the public interest is best served by a Fourth Amendment standard of reasonableness that stops short of probable cause, we have not hesitated to adopt such a standard.

New Jersey, 469 U.S. at 341, 83 L. Ed. 2d 734. Pursuant thereto, the Court adopted a looser reasonableness standard for school searches by school administrators, applying a twofold inquiry as to whether this standard has been met:

[T]he accommodation of the privacy interests of school children with the substantial need of teachers and administrators for freedom to maintain order in the schools does not require strict adherence to the requirement that searches be based on probable cause to believe that the subject of the search has violated or is violating the law. Rather, the legality of a search of a student should depend simply on the reasonableness, under all the circumstances, of the search.

Id. at 341, 83 L. Ed. 2d at 734. Recently, the Fourth Circuit extended T.L.O.’s reasonableness standard to the context of detainment of a student, tantamount to seizure under the Fourth Amendment, stating that:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re: J.A.D.
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2022
In re T.A.S.
213 N.C. App. 273 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2011)
In re D.L.D.
694 S.E.2d 395 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2010)
In re M.S.
199 N.C. App. 260 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2009)
In Matter of Kh
674 S.E.2d 479 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2009)
In re S.D.R.
664 S.E.2d 414 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2008)
In the Matter of Kjh
652 S.E.2d 71 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2007)
In re B.D.N.
649 S.E.2d 913 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2007)
T.S. v. State
863 N.E.2d 362 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2007)
In re S.R.S.
636 S.E.2d 277 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2006)
In re B.D.W.
625 S.E.2d 558 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2006)
In re R.P.M.
616 S.E.2d 627 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2005)
In re S.W.
614 S.E.2d 424 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2005)
In Re JFM
607 S.E.2d 304 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
607 S.E.2d 304, 168 N.C. App. 143, 2005 N.C. App. LEXIS 166, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-jfm-ncctapp-2005.