In Re JML

243 S.W.3d 727, 2007 WL 3120814
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 25, 2007
Docket08-06-00015-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 243 S.W.3d 727 (In Re JML) 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 JML, 243 S.W.3d 727, 2007 WL 3120814 (Tex. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

243 S.W.3d 727 (2007)

In the Matter of J.M.L., A Juvenile.

No. 08-06-00015-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, El Paso.

October 25, 2007.

*728 M. Clara Hernandez, El Paso, TX, for Appellant.

Jose R. Rodriguez, County Atty., El Paso, TX, for State.

Before CHEW, C.J., McCLURE, and CARR, JJ.

OPINION

ANN CRAWFORD McCLURE, Justice.

J.M.L., a juvenile, appeals from a disposition order committing him to the Texas Youth Commission. Appellant waived his right to a jury trial and the juvenile court found that Appellant engaged in delinquent conduct by committing the offense of possession of more than five pounds but less than fifty pounds of marihuana. Finding that removal from the home was in Appellant's best interest and that there was no alternative to removal due to his status as a foreign national, the juvenile court committed Appellant to TYC. We affirm.

FACTUAL SUMMARY

On November 8, 2005, sixteen-year-old Appellant waived his right to a jury trial and entered a plea of true to an allegation that he possessed less than fifty pounds but more than five pounds of marihuana. The juvenile court set the disposition hearing for December 8, 2005 and ordered the juvenile probation department to complete a pre-disposition report. A juvenile probation officer, Kim Schumate, conducted an investigation and prepared the pre-disposition report. Schumate recommended that Appellant be removed from the home and committed to TYC because Appellant was not a U.S. citizen, his mother had not established his resident status in the United States, and INS had placed a detainer on him. Schumate testified at the disposition hearing that Appellant's mother is a U.S. citizen but Appellant was born in Mexico. INS advised Schumate that Appellant has a potential claim of derivative U.S. citizenship but it required that his mother initiate the documentation process. If Appellant were a U.S. citizen, Schumate would have considered recommending supervised juvenile probation. The juvenile court questioned Appellant's mother during the disposition hearing regarding her failure to file the appropriate documents with INS to establish derivative citizenship. *729 She claimed that she had filed an application in 1994 but it was lost and she had not re-filed it. She went to INS be: fore the disposition hearing but she had not returned the form they had given her. The juvenile court found that placement outside of the home was in Appellant's best interests, that Appellant's home did not provide the quality of care and level of support and supervision needed to meet the conditions of probation, and that no efforts could be made to prevent or eliminate removal because Appellant is a foreign national and there are no programs or alternatives to prevent removal. Based on these findings, the juvenile court committed Appellant to TYC.

COMMITMENT TO TYC

In his sole issue for review, Appellant contends the juvenile court abused its discretion by committing him to TYC based solely on his citizenship status. He argues that there is an issue of fact regarding his citizenship status and the juvenile court should have resolved the issue before committing Appellant to TYC, even if it required continuing the disposition hearing to a later date.

The Family Code provides that if the juvenile court commits the child to the Texas Youth Commission, the court:

(1) shall include in its order its determination that:
(A) it is in the child's best interests to be placed outside the child's home;
(B) reasonable efforts were made to prevent or eliminate the need for the child's removal from the home and to make it possible for the child to return to the child's home; and
(C) the child, in the child's home, cannot be provided the quality of care and level of support and supervision that the child needs to meet the conditions of probation.

Tex.Fam.Code Ann. § 54.04(i)(1)(Vernon Supp.2006).

In a juvenile case, the trial court possesses broad discretion to determine a suitable disposition of a child who has been adjudicated to have engaged in delinquent conduct. In the Matter of A.S., 954 S.W.2d 855, 861 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1997, no pet.). The juvenile court's findings of fact made pursuant to Section 54.04(i) are reviewable for legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence using the same standards we apply in reviewing the legal or factual sufficiency of the evidence supporting a jury's findings. Id. We do not disturb the juvenile court's disposition order in the absence of an abuse of discretion. Id. In conducting this review, we engage in a two-pronged analysis: (1) Did the trial court have sufficient information upon which to exercise its discretion; and (2) Did the trial court err in its application, of discretion? In the Matter of M.A.C., 999 S.W.2d 442, 446 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1999, no pet.). The traditional sufficiency of the evidence standards of review come into play when considering the first question. Id. We then proceed to determine whether, based on the elicited evidence, the trial court made a reasonable decision or whether it is arbitrary and unreasonable. Id. The question is not whether, in the opinion of the reviewing court, the facts present an appropriate case for the trial court's action, but whether the court acted without reference to any guiding rules and principles. Id., citing Downer v. Aquamarine Operators, Inc., 701 S.W.2d 238, 242 (Tex.1985). The mere fact that a trial judge may decide a matter within his discretionary authority in a different manner than an appellate judge in a similar circumstance does not demonstrate that an abuse of discretion has occurred. Id.

The findings in the disposition order need not be supported by proof beyond *730 a reasonable doubt. Consequently, we apply the traditional legal and factual sufficiency standards of review applicable in civil cases. See A.S., 954 S.W.2d at 858. In considering a "no evidence" legal sufficiency issue, we consider only the evidence and inferences that tend to support the challenged finding and disregard all evidence and inferences to the contrary. See Weirich Weirich, 833 S.W.2d 942, 945 (Tex.1992). If any probative evidence supports the finding, it must be upheld. Sotelo v. Gonzales, 170 S.W.3d 783, 787 (Tex. App.-El Paso 2005, no pet.).

"Insufficient evidence" or factual insufficiency involves a finding that is so against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be manifestly wrong. Sotelo, 170 S.W.3d at 787. In reviewing an issue asserting that a finding is factually insufficient or against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence, we must consider all of the evidence, both the evidence which tends to prove the existence of a vital fact, as well as evidence which tends to disprove its existence. Id. It is for the fact finder to determine the weight to be given to the testimony and to resolve any conflicts in the evidence. Id.

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243 S.W.3d 727, 2007 WL 3120814, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-jml-texapp-2007.