In the Interest of D.M.Y.

892 S.W.2d 792, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 167, 1995 WL 40346
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 2, 1995
DocketNo. 19615
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 892 S.W.2d 792 (In the Interest of D.M.Y.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri 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 the Interest of D.M.Y., 892 S.W.2d 792, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 167, 1995 WL 40346 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

PARRISH, Judge.

D.M.Y. appeals a judgment of the Juvenile Division of the Circuit Court of St. Clair County (the juvenile court). The juvenile court adjudicated D.M.Y. guilty of delinquent conduct as established by § 211.031.1(3)1 and determined that no suitable community based treatment service existed; and that existing community based treatment service had failed to meet the child’s needs. D.M.Y. was committed to the custody of the Division of Youth Services as permitted by § 219.021. This court affirms.

D.M.Y.’s date of birth is September 23, 1977. A petition was filed pursuant to § 211.091 and Rule 114.01 alleging conduct by D.M.Y. that violated state law. It alleged that on or about March 28, 1994, D.M.Y. committed acts denominated by § 566.120, RSMo Supp.1992, as sexual abuse in the third degree; that D.M.Y. subjected T.B. to sexual contact2 by grabbing “her breasts and crotch area with his hands all without her consent.”3

For purposes of review, this court views the facts presented in evidence and the reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the trial court’s judgment. In Interest of L.W., 830 S.W.2d 885, 886 (Mo.App.1992).

Appellate review of juvenile proceedings is in the nature of appellate review of court-tried civil cases. C.R.K. v. H.J.K., 672 S.W.2d 696, 698 (Mo.App.1984). The trial court’s order is the judgment from which this appeal was taken. Section [794]*794211.261, RSMo 1986; Rule 120.01. As such, it “will be sustained ... unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, unless it is against the weight of the evidence, unless it erroneously declares the law, or unless it erroneously applies the law.” Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo. banc 1976).

Id.

D.M.Y. had a history of school behavioral difficulties including being disrespectful to teachers, being involved in altercations at school and destroying property of others. He was placed in a homebound education program. Students in the homebound education program are segregated from the general school population.

T.B. is a certified teacher. She was D.M.Y.’s homebound teacher at a secondary school in St. Clair County, Missouri, during the 1993-94 school year. Her professional training includes a masters degree in special education. T.B. tutored D.M.Y. at the school from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Regular school classes were dismissed at 3:20 p.m. A school bus driver would bring D.M.Y. to the homebound school. D.M.Y. would arrive early, before 3:30. He was supposed to wait in the office until time for his homebound class, but he usually went directly to T.B.’s classroom.

On the day the incident occurred that is the subject of this appeal, T.B. had bus duty. D.M.Y. arrived at the classroom before she did. She got there about 3:30 or 3:35 p.m.

D.M.Y. had received his grades from the school counselor. He was displeased with a physics grade — an assignment had not been completed. D.M.Y. argued that T.B. had given him the assignment late; that he had not done the assignment because he had not received it when he should. After T.B. explained that he had received the assignment at the proper time, D.M.Y. continued to complain. He was told that the matter would not be discussed further. T.B. described him as “getting angrier and angrier.”

D.M.Y. had asked permission to take some completed art assignments home to show his mother. The assignments, pictures, were kept by another teacher. T.B. told D.M.Y. she would photocopy the pictures and keep the photocopies in the school files; that he could take the assignments home. She left the classroom to get the pictures and make the photocopies. When she returned, she discovered that D.M.Y. had broken some Easter decorations that were in the room— decorated eggs that T.B. had purchased in Germany. He had punched holes in the eggs.

T.B. sat down at her desk. D.M.Y. asked her if she wanted a car key returned that had been taken from her desk three weeks earlier. He gave her the key. She put it on the desk and continued working. D.M.Y. then put his arm around her shoulder and tried to kiss her. She pushed him away. After T.B. reprimanded him, D.M.Y. walked to the classroom door as if he were leaving. T.B. got up from behind her desk. She explained, “And I got up from behind my desk because, because I really felt kind of trapped, in the way my desk sits. And then he turned around and came back towards me and umm, I really don’t remember what he said. He grabbed me with both hands. He grabbed my breast.”

T.B. was asked the following questions and gave the following answers:

Q. [By the attorney for the juvenile officer] Did he make contact with anything?
A. Yes, he did. He grabbed ahold of my breast and he grabbed ahold of me.
Q. His hands were directly against your clothing that cover [sic] your breast. Is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And the other hand, where was it?
A. Between my legs.
Q. Did it make contact with your body, albeit through your clothes?
A. Yes, it did; it hurt.

A hearing on a juvenile court petition is bifurcated. The first part of the hearing is directed to allegations in the petition that must be proven to establish jurisdiction. Rule 119.02(a)(7). The allegations in this case were that D.M.Y. violated a state law; [795]*795that he committed acts that constituted the criminal offense of sexual abuse in the third degree. § 211.031.1(3).

The second part of a juvenile court hearing is directed to the case disposition. If the juvenile court determines it has jurisdiction, and that the acts alleged were committed by the child, it receives evidence regarding appropriate treatment. Rule 119.02(a)(9). The juvenile court then enters judgment directing what action should be taken with respect to the juvenile. § 211.181; Rules 119.02(a)(10) and 119.06.

D.M.Y. presents two points on appeal, one directed to the adjudicatory phase of the hearing and one directed to the dispositional phase. Point II is directed to the adjudicatory phase; Point I to the dispositional phase.

Point II alleges that the juvenile court erred in finding it had jurisdiction because the evidence was not sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that D.M.Y. did the acts of which he was accused. Because the acts D.M.Y. was alleged to have committed would be a crime if committed by an adult, that conduct must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. In Interest of P.A.M., 606 S.W.2d 449, 452 (Mo.App.1980); In Interest of J.L.P., 600 S.W.2d 47, 50 (Mo.App.1980); Rule 117.05(a).

The juvenile court found, beyond a reasonable doubt, that D.M.Y. committed acts that constituted the criminal offense of sexual abuse in the third degree. That finding is equivalent to a jury verdict. P.A.M., supra, at 453.

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Bluebook (online)
892 S.W.2d 792, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 167, 1995 WL 40346, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-dmy-moctapp-1995.