In re R.A.

465 S.W.3d 728, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 4405, 2015 WL 1956882
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 30, 2015
DocketNO. 14-11-00570-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 465 S.W.3d 728 (In re R.A.) 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 R.A., 465 S.W.3d 728, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 4405, 2015 WL 1956882 (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

Kem Thompson Frost, Chief Justice

This case involves an appeal from a juvenile court’s order requiring a person who had been found to have committed aggravated sexual assault as a juvenile to privately register as a sex offender under article 62.352(b)(2) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. We affirm the trial court’s order requiring private registration. We conclude that we lack appellate jurisdiction over a subsequent order of the trial court.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

Appellant R.A. was alleged to have engaged in delinquent conduct by committing the offenses of aggravated sexual assault and indecency with a child. At the time of these offenses, R.A. was fourteen years old and the victim was six years old. R.A. stipulated to the truth of the allegations in the petition. In March 2008, when R.A. was fifteen years old, the trial court, sitting as a juvenile court (hereinafter the “Juvenile Court”), signed an adjudication order in which it found that R.A. had engaged in delinquent conduct. On the same day, after a disposition hearing, the trial court signed a disposition order in which the Juvenile Court found that R.A. was in need of rehabilitation and that the protection of the public and of R.A. required a disposition to be made. The Juvenile Court placed R.A. on probation for two years, subject to various conditions.

On the same day the Juvenile Court signed the disposition order, the Juvenile Court also signed an “Order Deferring Sex Offender Registration:” In this order, the Juvenile Court deferred its decision as to whether R.A. should be required to register as a sex offender under Chapter 62 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.1 The Juvenile Court stated that the period of deferment would expire upon R.A.’s completion of probation or release or parole by the Texas Youth Commission.2 The record indicates that R.A.’s probation ended in March 2010, when he was seventeen years old.

. In October 2010, the State filed a motion in which it requested that the Juvenile Court order R.A. to register as a sex offender pursuant to subchapter H of Chapter 62. The State asserted that registration protects the public and that any potential increase in protection of the public resulting from registration of R.A. is not clearly outweighed by the anticipated substantial harm to R.A. and R.A.’s family resulting from registration. R.A. objected [732]*732to and opposed the State’s motion, asserting that the Juvenile Court’s jurisdiction over R.A. ended when he completed probation in March 2010, and that the State waived its right to request registration by failing to request an order requiring registration until seven and a half months after R.A. completed probation.

The Juvenile Court held a hearing on the State’s motion in February 2011. At the hearing, the State called as witnesses R.A.’s probation officer, the probation department’s psychology supervisor, and a therapist who ran a treatment group that R.A. attended. The probation department recommended that R.A. be required to register. R.A. called as witnesses his mother, grandmother, grandfather, and his private therapist. His relatives testified that he had made marked improvements in his behavior and that registration would be harmful. His therapist testified that R.A. had made lots of changes and that he was not a threat to society. His therapist recommended that he not be required to register.

In June 2011, when R.A. was eighteen years old, the Juvenile Court signed an order in which it found as follows:

• The protection of the public would be increased by R.A. registering under Chapter 62;
• Any potential increase in protection of the public resulting from registration of R.A. is not clearly outweighed by any anticipated substantial harm to R.A. and R.A.’s family that would result from registration under Chapter 62;
• R.A. did not successfully participate in or complete the required sex-offender-treatment program; and
• The interests of the public require R.A. to register as a sex offender under Chapter 62.

The Juvenile Court ordered that R.A. register as a sex offender under Chapter 62 and that this sex-offender registration be private. In addition, the trial court ordered that “said registration shall be reconsidered by this Court 12 months from the date of this Order.” R.A. appealed this order (the “First Order”), generating this appeal.3

While R.A.’s appeal was pending in this court, the trial court, acting sua sponte, held a hearing to consider whether it should change the registration requirement in the First Order. The second hearing occurred in March 2013, twenty months after the Juvenile Court signed the First Order. In April 2013, when R.A. was twenty years old, the Juvenile Court signed an order (the “Second Order”) in which the court ordered R.A. to continue to register privately as a sex offender. R.A. has not filed a notice of appeal from the Second Order.

Before the Juvenile Court issued the Second Order, this court granted the State and R.A.’s request that this appeal be abated pending the trial court’s second hearing and order, given that the Second Order might moot this appeal. After the trial court signed the Second Order, this appeal was reinstated. The State and R.A. have filed supplemental briefing. In his supplemental briefing, R.A. continues to assert his prior challenges to the First Order. In addition, R.A. challenges the Second Order, arguing that the Juvenile Court abused its discretion in admitting certain evidence at the second hearing and in ordering that R.A. continue with the private sex-offender registration.

[733]*733I. Jurisdiction

Before addressing R.A.’s issues, we first must address this court’s jurisdiction over the appeal. R.A. filed a notice of appeal in June 2011. Two days later, the trial court signed the First Order. In that order, the trial court stated that in twelve months it would reconsider its order requiring private registration by R.A. Consistent with this statement, the trial court, acting sua sponte, held a hearing in March 2013, to consider whether it should change the registration requirement in the First Order. In April 2013, the trial court signed the Second Order, declining to change the registration requirement in the 'First Order. Neither R.A. nor the State filed a notice of appeal from the Second Order.

A. Appellate Jurisdiction over the First Order

R.A. asserts that the Juvenile Court lacked jurisdiction over the First Order. If the Juvenile Court lacked jurisdiction over the First Order, this court lacks jurisdiction over this appeal from the First Order. See Curry v. Harris County Appraisal District, 434 S.W.3d 815, 820 & n. 2 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2014, no pet.). A juvenile adjudicated of delinquent conduct based on the offense of aggravated sexual assault or the offense of indecency with a child generally is required to register as a sex offender. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. arts. 62.001(5), 62.051 (West, Westlaw through 2013 3d C.S.).

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465 S.W.3d 728, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 4405, 2015 WL 1956882, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-ra-texapp-2015.