In re J.L.H.

58 S.W.3d 242, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 6320
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 13, 2001
DocketNo. 08-00-00548-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 58 S.W.3d 242 (In re J.L.H.) 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 J.L.H., 58 S.W.3d 242, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 6320 (Tex. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

LARSEN, Justice.

J.L.H. appeals her adjudication of delinquency by committing the offense of burglary of a habitation. In two points for review, she challenges the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence to support the adjudication. We affirm.

Standard of Review

Consistent with due process requirements, no person may be convicted of a criminal offense and denied his or her liberty unless criminal responsibility for the offense is proved beyond a reasonable doubt.1 This due process requirement applies to suits alleging a juvenile has engaged in delinquent conduct.2

In reviewing the legal sufficiency of evidence supporting a finding that a juvenile committed an offense which constitutes delinquent conduct, we apply the [245]*245Jackson v. Virginia3 standard.4 Under this standard, we review all evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.5

In reviewing the factual sufficiency of evidence supporting a finding that a juvenile committed an offense which constitutes delinquent conduct, we again review all the evidence in determining whether the State met its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, but not in the light most favorable to the verdict.6 Only if the verdict is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust will we conclude that there is factually insufficient evidence.7

Waiver of factual sufficiency challenges

Initially, we note that the State contends J.L.H. waived her factual sufficiency challenges by failing to file a motion for new trial. Indeed, the Texas Supreme Court held in 1993 that Tex.R. Civ. P. 324(b), requiring a motion for new trial be filed in order to complain of factual sufficiency on appeal, applies to juvenile proceedings.8 Our sister court has recently confirmed that holding.9 Nevertheless, for the reasons set out here, we conclude that the Supreme Court’s pronouncement on the issue has since been superceded by developments in our current juvenile system.

At one time, the safeguards afforded adults in criminal proceedings did not apply to juvenile proceedings.10 The juvenile system was originally created for treatment and rehabilitation of children, and focused on the best interest of the child. This distinguished the juvenile courts from adult criminal courts, which direct their efforts primarily toward punishment.11 Because of this difference in purpose, juveniles were denied many rights, both procedural and substantive, that were routinely afforded adults.12

The juvenile system’s philosophy of treatment and rehabilitation has metamorphosed, however, into one much focused on punishment that is in many ways barely distinguishable from our adult criminal system. Three of the purposes expressed in the Juvenile Justice Code are to provide for the protection of the public and public safety, to promote the concept of punishment for criminal acts, and to protect the welfare of the community and to control the commission of unlawful acts by children.13 The “grim reality” of today’s juvenile system is a far cry from the days of its creation as a “system wherein juveniles were rehabilitated rather than incarcerated, protected rather than punished— the very antithesis of the adult criminal [246]*246system.”14 We believe this change has eroded the original logic for denying juveniles the same procedural protections as adults.15 We therefore recognize that the juvenile system is, in many ways, more closely related to criminal than civil proceedings and it follows that most advocates practicing in the juvenile system will possess greater expertise in criminal than civil procedure.

Moreover, we note that in 1993 when the Supreme Court found a motion for new trial must be filed to preserve factual sufficiency in a juvenile case, there was no general factual sufficiency review in adult criminal cases. Only in 1996, with Clewis v. State,16 did the Court of Criminal Appeals acknowledge a right to factual sufficiency review of a conviction. Following Clewis, this Court, in Davila v. State,17 held that a factual sufficiency challenge need not be preserved by a motion for new trial in a criminal case.18 In discussing that question (which at the time was one of first impression) we stated:

Withoút question, in the civil context, a motion for new trial is required to preserve a challenge to the factual sufficiency of the evidence to support a jury finding. This requirement has been applied in the quasi-criminal hybrid of juvenile proceedings. Although juveniles are prosecuted for criminal offenses, the Texas Family Code mandates that an appeal from an order of a juvenile court is to be predicated upon the civil standards. As a result, we have previously determined that a juvenile who complains on appeal of the factual sufficiency of the evidence must preserve the complaint in a motion for new trial.19

We think the time has come, however, to acknowledge that juvenile law is much more criminal than civil in nature. In examining the drift of juvenile law from its civil roots to its criminal present, we conclude it makes no sense to require procedural hurdles of juveniles which adults need not meet in parallel circumstances. If anything, juveniles should be afforded more opportunity for appellate review of their claims, consistent with the stated purpose of the Juvenile Justice Code that it be construed:

[T]o provide a simple judicial procedure through which the provisions of this title are executed and enforced and in which the parties are assured a fair hearing and their constitutional and other legal rights recognized and enforced.20

We therefore conclude that a juvenile need not file a motion for new trial raising factual sufficiency of the evidence in order to raise that issue on appeal. Having reached that conclusion, we will address both J.L.H.’s points for review.

Facts

The State presented two witnesses at trial; the juvenile presented no evidence. The State called Francine Morrison and her mother Antonia Morrison. Both women live at 10308 Dyer Street, Space 304, El Paso, Texas. Antonia Morrison leases the trailer, and is required to list all persons [247]*247living in the trailer on her lease, one of whom is Franeine. Also living there are Francine’s two daughters, two years old and two months old, and Francine’s younger sister, Joanna Morrison, age fifteen (also Antonia’s daughter).

On October 27, 2000, all five residents of the trader were home. Franeine was in her bedroom with the toddler. Antonia, Joanna, and the baby were watching television in the living room. Someone threw a brick through the window of the bedroom, almost hitting Francine’s child. Immediately thereafter, J.L.H. and her companion, G., came into the trailer.

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Bluebook (online)
58 S.W.3d 242, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 6320, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-jlh-texapp-2001.