In re S.R.S.

636 S.E.2d 277, 180 N.C. App. 151
Court of Appeals of North Carolina·Decided November 7, 2006·No. No. COA06-47.·Published·Cited by 38 cases

Opinion

JACKSON, Judge.

On 21 April 2005, Cindy Walker ("Walker"), a teacher at Hopewell Elementary School in Trinity, North Carolina, was walking down the hall of the school when she heard a commotion coming from one of the classrooms. As she neared the classroom, Walker saw S.R.S. ("juvenile") standing in the doorway of the room, being prevented from entering the hallway by a teacher. The juvenile proceeded to shout at Walker, stating that "I'm going to kill your fucking daughter," and "I'm going to bring a gun to school tomorrow and kill your fucking daughter." Walker testified that she knew the juvenile was talking to her, as he was looking directly at her. Walker stated that she took the juvenile seriously based on past incidents between the juvenile and Walker's daughter. Walker reported the threats to school officials, who in turn reported the threats to the School Resource Officer.

On 22 April 2005, a Juvenile Petition was filed alleging the juvenile had committed the misdemeanor offense of communicating threats. The juvenile was found delinquent following a 19 September 2005 adjudication hearing, and was placed on twelve months of supervised probation following a disposition hearing on the same date. The juvenile appeals from the adjudication and disposition.

We begin by noting that the juvenile presents arguments as to only three of his eight assignments of error listed in the record on appeal. Therefore, the five assignments of error for which no argument has been presented are deemed abandoned. N.C. R.App. P. 28(b)(6) (2006).

The juvenile contends the juvenile petition charging him with communicating threats was fatally defective, in that it failed to properly allege all of the essential elements of the offense charged. The State contends that our review of this issue should be for plain error only, as the juvenile failed to raise this issue before the lower court. However, it is well established that fatal defects in an indictment or a juvenile petition are jurisdictional, and thus may be raised at any time. See State v. Sturdivant, 304 N.C. 293, 308, 283 S.E.2d 719, 729 (1981); In re R.P.M., 172 N.C.App. 782, 787, 616 S.E.2d *280627, 631 (2005). Therefore, we review the juvenile's argument on this issue to determine if the juvenile petition was in fact fatally defective.

In a juvenile delinquency action, the juvenile petition "serves essentially the same function as an indictment in a felony prosecution and is subject to the same requirement that it aver every element of a criminal offense, with sufficient specificity that the accused is clearly apprised of the conduct for which he is being charged." In re Griffin, 162 N.C.App. 487, 493, 592 S.E.2d 12, 16 (2004). "`When a petition is fatally deficient, it is inoperative and fails to evoke the jurisdiction of the court.'" In re B.D.W., ___ N.C.App. ___, ___, 625 S.E.2d 558, 560 (2006) (quoting In re J.F.M. & T.J.B., 168 N.C.App. 143, 150, 607 S.E.2d 304, 309, appeal dismissed and disc. review denied, 359 N.C. 411, 612 S.E.2d 320 (2005)); R.P.M., 172 N.C.App. at 787-88, 616 S.E.2d at 631. "`Because juvenile petitions are generally held to the standards of a criminal indictment, we consider the requirements of the indictments of the offenses at issue.'" B.D.W., ___ N.C.App. at ___, 625 S.E.2d at 560.

Although an indictment must give a defendant notice of every element of the crime charged, the indictment need not track the precise language of the statute. "[A]n indictment which avers facts which constitute every element of an offense does not have to be couched in the language of the statute." State v. Hicks, 86 N.C.App. 36, 40, 356 S.E.2d 595, 597 (1987). An indictment need not even state every element of a charge so long as it states facts supporting every element of the crime charged. State v. Jordan, 75 N.C.App. 637, 639, 331 S.E.2d 232, 233 (1985). North Carolina General Statutes, section 15A-924(a)(5) (2005) requires that a criminal pleading set forth "[a] plain and concise factual statement in each count which, without allegations of an evidentiary nature, asserts facts supporting every element of a criminal offense and the defendant's commission thereof with sufficient precision clearly to apprise the defendant or defendants of the conduct which is the subject of the accusation." Id.

Our courts have recognized that while an indictment should give a defendant sufficient notice of the charges against him, it should not be subjected to hyper technical scrutiny with respect to form.

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In re S.R.S., 636 S.E.2d 277, 180 N.C. App. 151 (N.C. Ct. App. 2006).

636 S.E.2d 277 (In re S.R.S.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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