In Re Mathis

537 P.2d 148
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJune 23, 1975
StatusPublished

This text of 537 P.2d 148 (In Re Mathis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Mathis, 537 P.2d 148 (Or. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

537 P.2d 148 (1975)

In the matter of Rickey Dale MATHIS, a Child.
State ex rel. Juvenile Department of Douglas County, Respondent,
v.
Rickey Dale Mathis, a Child, Appellant.

Court of Appeals of Oregon.

Argued and Submitted May 20, 1975.
Decided June 23, 1975.

Bruce Tower, Public Defender, Roseburg, argued the cause and filed the brief for appellant.

Scott McAlister, Asst. Atty. Gen., Salem, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Lee Johnson, Atty. Gen., and W. Michael Gillette, Sol. Gen., Salem.

Before SCHWAB, C.J., and LANGTRY and FORT, JJ.

LANGTRY, Judge.

This is a proceeding in which the district attorney of Douglas County moved that Mathis, age 16, be remanded to adult court. Mathis was then the subject of a juvenile court petition because of an alleged murder and robbery committed by him. The juvenile court ordered the remand and the juvenile appeals.

We can make no better a summary statement of the evidence than that in the following excerpts from the trial judge's findings with only one exception which will be noted later:

"Rickey Dale Mathis is 16 years of age. His birthdate was August 21, 1958. It is to be assumed as a fact Mathis committed the acts charged. (State v. Zauner, 250 Or. 101, 441 P.2d 83 (1968). These assumed facts would therefore be that decedent persuaded Mathis to engage in sexual perversity, in the midst of which Mathis set upon decedent stabbing him a number of times, attempting to beat him with a small hammer, and beating him with a skillet or frying pan, causing decedent's death. Mathis is also alleged to have robbed decedent of money and property (a car).
"* * *
"* * * Mathis has had, from the beginning of formal schooling, a continuing inability to progress in school in what shall be arbitrarily denominated a normal manner. His principal problem appears to be an inability to master reading, and perhaps spelling * * *.
"Mathis has had many advantages. It appears material needs (and at least all reasonable wants) have been more than adequately provided. On the other hand, he is the last of four children in a household wherein the parents and the other three children apparently succeeded easily in the areas he finds troublesome.
*149 "Mathis has not previously been referred to juvenile authorities. He has, however, experimented with some drugs, has drank [sic] alcoholics, he smokes, and uses profane and obscene language. He has on numerous occasions been a truant and a school discipline problem. He has been suspended and was transferred from a `progressive' school setting to a `more conventional' school. He has twice been a runaway, the last time ending in the present charge.
"Mathis' problems at schools caused him to be transferred as mentioned and also to be referred for psychiatric help. He received evaluation and treatment by counseling on a weekly basis for about seven or eight months immediately prior to the offense alleged. This psychiatric therapy was given by an experienced doctor who appears to be eminently qualified in his field. The immediate and actual cause of the last runaway is not apparent. Another psychiatrist, engaged on behalf of Mathis, found him not to be mentally ill; however, found, in addition to the aforementioned school problems, that Mathis had a progressive history of temper tantrums, depressions, runaway, truancy, lying, swearing and resistance to authority.
"Paradoxically, Mathis was an active Boy Scout, excelling in achievement and scouting ability * * *.
"* * *
"Mathis has been an exemplary inmate during his confinement in detention. He is reported to have acted with maturity in matters involving custodial problems of other juvenile inmates with whom he has been associated during his confinement. He has been detained in jail areas reserved for juveniles. There is no evidence of association with adult jail inmates.
"Both psychiatrists who testified estimate Mathis will need counseling for three or four years.
"Testimony has been received from Mathis' parents, treating psychiatrist, teachers and other associates. Most of these witnesses favor retention of juvenile court jurisdiction. * * * [I]t appears the fact, that if kept in juvenile court jurisdiction and wardship established, commitment to State Children's Services Division (MacLaren) is, without doubt, the only available and appropriate placement."

The trial judge concluded:

"In the opinion of the court, the motion to remand should and must be granted. The movant's evidence was that which supports the offenses alleged. Almost all other witnesses favored retention of juvenile court jurisdiction * * *.
"It is urged on Mathis' behalf that he has not previously been adjudicated delinquent nor received the services available though [sic] counseling. His behavior pattern, however, is a familiar one. It seems most unlikely that any lack of prior juvenile court counseling service is of any persuasive significance in view of the extended efforts by schools to assist him, as well as the weekly psychiatric counseling he received over at least a seven months['] period of time. In this regard, Mathis' reaction to `crisis' (the truth of the charge being assumed) was of a kind and character weighing against retention of jevenile [sic] jurisdiction.
"Mathis is at the threshhold [sic] of maturity. He was a juvenile heretofore; he will not be hereafter. He would, if retained in juvenile court, enter the only facility available to him above the average age of other inmates. From the testimony, it is unlikely he would be retained beyond his 19th year, or, any more than three years. A longer period for any re-adjustment as well as a subsequent period of continued supervision seems clearly indicated. The public's interest cannot be otherwise reasonably recognized. On the other hand, he *150 would, if convicted and sentenced to incarceration in adult court, enter an institution at the lowest age level. The former consideration outweighs the latter.
"There are other considerations. The factual circumstances which would be relied upon for conviction involve the decedent's reputation. Moreover, the offense chargeable carries lesser included offenses so that mens rea, that is, state of mind is very significant. Indeed, one of the possible alternative results of proceedings in adult court is exoneration.
"For all the foregoing reasons, the court is of the opinion that the best interests of Mathis and the public can be most properly served by granting the motion to remand." (Emphasis supplied.)

Mr. Graham, a program director at MacLaren School for Boys, testified. He supervises about one-third of the boys committed to that institution. He stated that he had four students in his unit who were there because of homicides they had committed. One of them had been "administratively transferred" from Oregon Correctional Institution to MacLaren.

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

Related

Kent v. United States
383 U.S. 541 (Supreme Court, 1966)
In Re GAULT
387 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1967)
McKeiver v. Pennsylvania
403 U.S. 528 (Supreme Court, 1971)
Breed v. Jones
421 U.S. 519 (Supreme Court, 1975)
State v. Weidner
487 P.2d 1385 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1971)
State v. Little
407 P.2d 627 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1965)
State v. Zauner
441 P.2d 85 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1968)
State v. Zauner
441 P.2d 83 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1968)
State Ex Rel. Juvenile Department of Washington County v. Slack
520 P.2d 905 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1974)
Bouge v. Reed
459 P.2d 869 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1969)
State ex rel. Benton County Juvenile Department v. Cardiel
523 P.2d 1057 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1974)
State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. Mathis
537 P.2d 148 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1975)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
537 P.2d 148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-mathis-orctapp-1975.