In Re the Welfare of T.S.E.

379 N.W.2d 99, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4788
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedDecember 10, 1985
DocketC1-85-933
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 379 N.W.2d 99 (In Re the Welfare of T.S.E.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re the Welfare of T.S.E., 379 N.W.2d 99, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4788 (Mich. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION

LANSING, Judge.

The State brought three motions to refer T.S.E. for prosecution as an adult: one based on a delinquency petition from Clay County alleging second-degree assault, another based on a Stearns County petition alleging unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and fleeing a peace officer, and the third based on a Douglas County petition alleging another charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and fleeing a peace officer. The three motions were consolidated. The trial court ruled that T.S.E. rebutted the State’s prima facie case under Minn.Stat. § 280.125, subd. 3(6), because the felony admissions had been obtained without full compliance with Minn.R.P.Juv. Cts. 21.03. The State appeals this ruling. The trial court also ruled that there was probable cause to believe T.S.E. had committed the offenses alleged in the delinquency petitions and that the State had shown by clear and convincing evidence that T.S.E. was not amenable to treatment in the juvenile system. T.S.E. appeals that ruling. We reverse as to the first ruling and affirm as to the second.

FACTS

T.S.E. is a 17-year-old boy from Bagley, Minnesota. The present charges against him arose from two attempts in January 1985 to run from correctional facilities where he was being detained for other offenses. In support of its motion to refer T.S.E. for prosecution as an adult, the State first offered evidence to establish a prima facie case under Minn.Stat. § 260.-125, subd. 3(6), by showing that T.S.E. had admitted at least three felony offenses within 24 months. T.S.E.’s attorney objected to use of the admissions, claiming the trial court had accepted them without following the requirements of Rule 21.03 of the Rules of Procedure for Juvenile Courts. Rule 21.03 parallels the procedure for accepting an adult’s guilty plea by requiring the court to advise the child of certain rights and to establish a factual basis for the plea.

On the basis of this objection, the trial court continued the hearing to obtain records of the prior admissions. On March 25, the State produced records of proceedings in which T.S.E. admitted to five charges of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and one charge of second-degree burglary. The records show that T.S.E. was represented by counsel at all relevant times and that the trial court did not fully comply with Rule 21.03 in accepting any of the admissions.

On April 11 the State proceeded to establish under Minn.Stat. § 260.125, subd. 2, that reference was proper because there was “clear and convincing evidence that the child is not suitable to treatment or that the public safety is not served” by keeping the child in the juvenile system. Id.

William Frey, the assistant director of the Northwest Juvenile Training Center, testified that T.S.E. was there from May 1982 through June 1983. T.S.E. ran from the center two or three times. Frey said staff members requested that T.S.E. be placed elsewhere because they could do nothing more for him.

Thomas Meierhofer is a senior social worker at the adolescent treatment unit at Willmar State Hospital. T.S.E. was there from June 1983 through December 1983, when he ran away. T.S.E.’s diagnosis was “conduct disorder, under socialized, aggressive.” Because of T.S.E.’s lack of effort and progress, the staff felt that he would *102 be better served in a more “correctional oriented facility.” Meierhofer said T.S.E. has done well academically, especially in math, and also has athletic and creative abilities. He said T.S.E. “had a lot of promise, [and] needed to find some way to channel himself but * * * was not doing that in our program.”

Steven Donnay supervised T.S.E. at the Sauk Centre correctional facility. T.S.E. was there from January through September 1984. Donnay did not dispute that T.S.E. was suitable for treatment there until September 1984, when he was paroled. T.S.E. stayed in the Lockrem Group Home in Park Rapids from September 1984 until late October.

Ernie Clubb, the director of the Jack Pine Boys Home in Blackduck, Minnesota, testified that T.S.E. arrived there on October 21, 1984. The next day he was admitted to the hospital in Bemidji because he complained of abdominal pain; he ran away from the hospital in the middle of the night. He was sent to Sauk Centre on November 2. He remained there until November 20, when he was returned to the Jack Pine Boys Home, where he stayed for ten days. In Clubb’s opinion T.S.E. needs secure, adult chemical dependency treatment.

Reynold Ellingson, the assistant director of the drug dependency rehabilitation center at Fergus Falls State Hospital, testified that T.S.E. was admitted to the open adult unit on December 4, 1984, and ran away on December 18. Testing showed that T.S.E. is emotionally immature, has little self-esteem, and has little ability to cope with stress.

T.S.E. was returned again to Sauk Cen-tre on January 11, 1985, and has remained there ever since, except for the attempts to run on which the pending charges are based. The most significant reason Don-nay believes T.S.E. is no longer suitable for treatment at Sauk Centre is the most recent escape attempt, which indicates to Donnay that “nothing’s changed” in the year T.S.E. spent there.

Finally, James Schroeder testified that he has been T.S.E.’s probation officer since April 1982. Schroeder tried to find a foster home for T.S.E., but none of the 14 licensed homes in Clearwater County would accept him. He said none of T.S.E.’s relatives would accept him until he could demonstrate “that he had his bead on straight.”

Karel Knutson, T.S.E.’s grandfather, testified that the family thinks T.S.E. exhibits symptoms of hyperkinesia.

The trial court filed identical findings and conclusions on the three petitions. It found probable cause to believe the charged offenses had occurred and that within the past two years T.S.E. had admitted to or been found guilty of six offenses which would have been felonies if committed by an adult. In addition, the court found:

In all delinquency proceedings within the past twenty-four months ⅜ * * the juvenile has been represented by counsel. Upon the admission of the above felony offenses, counsel has, either on the record, waived the rights of the juvenile, or in one instance, the juvenile but not the attorney, signed a waiver of rights. In another instance the Court advised the juvenile of all his rights with the exception that the finding of the delinquency could lead to adult prosecution and on one occasion the court did specifically advise the juvenile that the admissions or findings of guilt could lead in the future to prosecution as an adult. On no occasion were all of the requirements of Rule [21.03] of the Rules of Juvenile Procedure followed.
The juvenile’s attorney who had represented him on the previous matters stipulated that even though he had waived the juvenile’s rights, that he never completely discussed these rights as set out in Rule [21.03] with the juvenile. The juvenile also stipulated that his counsel did not discuss these rights with him.
The child has a recent history of criminal behavior and a consistent defiance and lack of cooperation with authorities. * * * None of the placements were successful because, among other things, the child resisted authority, was uncooperative and ran away or escaped from the program.

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Related

In Re the Welfare of E.Y.W.
496 N.W.2d 847 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1993)

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Bluebook (online)
379 N.W.2d 99, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4788, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-welfare-of-tse-minnctapp-1985.