In Re Royal

725 N.E.2d 685, 132 Ohio App. 3d 496, 1999 Ohio App. LEXIS 854
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 1, 1999
DocketCASE NO. 96 CA 45.
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 725 N.E.2d 685 (In Re Royal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Royal, 725 N.E.2d 685, 132 Ohio App. 3d 496, 1999 Ohio App. LEXIS 854 (Ohio Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

Waite, Judge.

This timely appeal arises from a juvenile court adjudication and disposition finding appellant delinquent, revoking his probation, and committing him to the Department of Youth Services. Appellant argues that he was denied due process at adjudication and disposition and that his admission was entered involuntarily and unknowingly. For the following reasons, this court reverses the adjudication and disposition and remands the matter to the lower court.

On September 8, 1995, a complaint was filed against the thirteen-year-old appellant, alleging that he committed misdemeanor assault in violation of R.C. 2903.13(A) and robbery in violation of R.C. 2913.01, an aggravated felony of the second degree if committed by an adult. The October 20, 1995 judgment entry indicated that appellant entered an admission to the robbery offense with his attorney and his mother present. The entry also noted that appellant had been on probation for the past three years with little progress. The court adjudicated appellant delinquent, sentenced him to a suspended commitment to the Department of Youth Services for a minimum period of one year, and placed him in an intensive probationary program. The court dismissed the assault charge.

On December 7, 1995, another complaint was filed against appellant, now age fourteen, charging him with receiving stolen property in violation of R.C. 2913.51, a felony of the third degree if committed by an adult, and failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer in violation of R.C. 2921.331, a misdemeanor of the first degree if committed by an adult. On December 12, 1995, the juvenile court held an adjudication on these charges with the magistrate, appellant, appellant’s mother and appellant’s probation officer present.

The magistrate’s decision and judgment entry issued on December 21, 1995, reflected that the magistrate advised appellant of “ * * * all procedural and constitutional rights, including the right to counsel and a continuance herein * * * ” and that appellant “ * * * asserts said rights and ADMITS the allegations * * * ” of the complaint. The magistrate accepted appellant’s admission to the charges and set a date for the dispositional hearing. The magistrate attached a waiver form to the entry that stated in boilerplate language that the magistrate advised appellant of a list of rights, including the charges, possible dispositions, and the right to counsel and appointed counsel if indigent. The form also contained a statement confirming that the court satisfied itself that the juvenile understood his rights and wished to waive those rights. The magistrate checked an area on this form indicating that appellant waived his right to counsel and waived any service defect, entered a plea of guilty to both counts, and acknowl *501 edged that he received a copy of the complaint. The waiver form contained the signatures of the magistrate, appellant, and appellant’s mother.

The court scheduled a dispositional hearing for January 10, 1996, but continued the hearing due to the absence of appellant’s mother. On January 11, 1996, the court held the disposition with appellant, appellant’s mother, and appellant’s probation officer present. At that time, the court summarily reviewed with appellant the substance of the adjudicatory hearing and appellant’s waiver of rights and admission to the charges. Appellant also indicated that he had no questions or doubts in entering his admission.

On January 17, 1996, the court issued a judgment entry finding that appellant’s admission was voluntarily and intelligently made. The court then imposed a commitment of a minimum period of six months on the receiving stolen property charge. The court also reimposed the previously suspended commitment to the Department of Youth Services for a minimum of one year on the prior robbery charge and ordered the commitments to run consecutively. Appellant filed a timely appeal.

Before addressing appellant’s assignments of error, it should be noted that no transcript of the adjudicatory hearing exists because Juv.R. 37 in effect at the time of the instant case stated that a complete record would be made in all juvenile proceedings upon request of a party or upon the court’s own motion. Neither appellant nor the court requested a record prior to or during the adjudicatory hearing. Effective July 1, 1996, Juv.R. 37 now requires that a record be made in all juvenile adjudicatory and dispositional proceedings without request.

We will address appellant’s first two assignments of error together as they contain a common factual review. Appellant argues:

“Appellant Daniel Royal was denied his right to counsel under the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution, Article I, Section 16 of the Ohio Constitution, R.C. 2151.352, and Ohio Juvenile Rules 4 and 29.

“The trial court erred when it accepted Daniel’s admission to the charges of receiving stolen property and failure to comply because Daniel’s plea was not knowing and voluntary under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Article One, Section Sixteen of the Ohio Constitution, and Juv.R. 29.”

Appellant asserts in his first assignment that the United States Constitution, Juv.R. 4, and Juv.R. 29 entitle juveniles to the same constitutional right to counsel as adults and that the juvenile court must thus undertake the same efforts to ensure that juveniles waive this right voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently and demonstrate this affirmatively on the record. Appellant con *502 tends that neither the judgment entry of adjudication, the dispositional transcript, nor the judgment entry affirmatively shows that he understood and waived the right to counsel in such a manner.

In his second assignment, appellant contends that he entered an involuntary and unknowing admission to the charges before him because the court failed to comply with Juv.R. 29(B) and again failed to affirmatively show on the record that it personally and adequately informed him of his rights and ensured that he made the admission voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently. Appellant argues that the lack of a transcript of the adjudication is insufficient to presume that the waiver and plea were valid.

In the watershed case of In re Gault (1967), 387 U.S. 1, 41, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 1451-1452, 18 L.Ed.2d 527, 553-554, the United States Supreme Court granted juveniles at the adjudicatory stage facing possible commitment many of the constitutional rights enjoyed by their adult counterparts, including the right to counsel and appointed counsel if indigent. Both R.C. 2151.352 and Juv.R. 4(A) provide that a child is entitled to legal counsel in juvenile proceedings. Juv.R. 29(B) mandates that a court advise the juvenile of the following upon commencement of the adjudicatory hearing:

“Advisement and findings at the commencement of the hearing. At the beginning of the hearing, the court shall do all of the following:

“(1) Ascertain whether notice requirements have been complied with and, if not, whether the affected parties waive compliance;

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
725 N.E.2d 685, 132 Ohio App. 3d 496, 1999 Ohio App. LEXIS 854, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-royal-ohioctapp-1999.