Matter of ADD

974 S.W.2d 299, 1998 Tex. App. LEXIS 2989, 1998 WL 251663
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 20, 1998
Docket04-96-01014-CV
StatusPublished

This text of 974 S.W.2d 299 (Matter of ADD) 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
Matter of ADD, 974 S.W.2d 299, 1998 Tex. App. LEXIS 2989, 1998 WL 251663 (Tex. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

974 S.W.2d 299 (1998)

In the Matter of A.D.D.

No. 04-96-01014-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, San Antonio.

May 20, 1998.

*301 Marsha Lynn Merrill, San Antonio, for appellant.

Angela Moore, Asst. Criminal Dist. Atty., San Antonio, for appellee.

Before STONE, GREEN and DUNCAN, JJ.

OPINION

DUNCAN, Justice.

The trial court found A.D.D. engaged in delinquent conduct by committing the offense of possession of less than one gram of cocaine and placed him on probation. A.D.D. appeals, contending the State failed to invoke the trial court's juvenile jurisdiction because it failed to prove his age at the adjudication hearing, and the trial court committed fundamental error in failing to admonish him in accordance with section 54.03(b) of the Texas Family Code. A.D.D. also argues the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence of the cocaine because it was the product of an unconstitutional search.

We hold the trial court properly exercised its juvenile jurisdiction in this case because the State pleaded the requisite jurisdictional facts, A.D.D. was in fact a juvenile at the time of the adjudication hearing, and the defect in the State's proof of A.D.D.'s age was curable and cured before the trial court rendered its judgment. However, because the trial court erred in denying A.D.D.'s motion to suppress, we reverse its judgment and remand the case for further proceedings. We therefore do not need to reach, and do not decide, the admonishments issue.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On the evening of July 6, 1995, Officers Booth and Kurtz received a radio call dispatching them to an address at which an unidentified informant stated a group of black teenagers was smoking crack cocaine. When the officers arrived, they saw three young men, one of whom was A.D.D., sitting in front of a garage. As the officers walked up the driveway, Booth saw one of the young men look at him in surprise and then lean back quickly while putting something inside the garage wall. Officer Booth told the three *302 young men to put their hands in plain view and then frisked them for weapons. Finding none, Booth looked inside the garage wall and found what appeared to be crack cocaine. He then arrested and handcuffed the person he had seen place the cocaine in the garage. Officer Booth then patted down A.D.D. a second time. During this second search, Booth found a small plastic bag containing what was later identified as crack cocaine in A.D.D.'s back pocket. A.D.D. was then arrested and taken to the juvenile detention center.

The State filed a petition alleging A.D.D. engaged in delinquent conduct by committing the offense of possession of less than one gram of cocaine. In response, A.D.D. filed a motion to suppress, arguing the cocaine was the fruit of an unconstitutional search. At the subsequent suppression hearing, the trial court explained the nature of the proceeding to A.D.D. and admonished him regarding his right to remain silent and his right to counsel. Based on the evidence presented, the trial court denied A.D.D.'s motion to suppress.

At the beginning of the adjudication hearing, the trial judge fully explained to A.D.D. the charge against him and the nature and possible consequences of the proceedings, including the law relating to the admissibility of the record of a juvenile court adjudication in a criminal proceeding. The judge also admonished A.D.D. about his right to a trial by jury and satisfied himself that A.D.D. knowingly and voluntarily was waiving that right; but he did not admonish A.D.D. he had a right to remain silent, a right to a trial and to confront the witnesses who would testify against him, or the right to an attorney. However, the record affirmatively establishes A.D.D. exercised each of these rights—he did not testify, he participated at trial and cross-examined witnesses, and he was represented by an attorney at all times. The record also establishes A.D.D. did not object at the adjudication hearing either to the trial court's failure to fully admonish him or to the State's failure to prove his age.

At the conclusion of the adjudication hearing, the trial court found A.D.D. engaged in delinquent conduct as alleged in the State's petition. At the disposition hearing that immediately followed, the trial court heard evidence establishing A.D.D.'s birth date and, after listening to the recommendations of A.D.D.'s mother and the probation officer, placed A.D.D. on probation for eighteen months.

JURISDICTION

A.D.D. argues the State failed to invoke the trial court's juvenile jurisdiction because it did not prove his age at the adjudication hearing. We disagree. The record conclusively establishes the trial court possessed subject matter jurisdiction over juvenile cases generally and personal jurisdiction over this juvenile in particular at the time it rendered judgment. No more is required.

Standard of Review

A.D.D.'s jurisdictional argument requires that we interpret Title 3 of the Texas Family Code, a question of law we review de novo. See Mitchell Energy Corp. v. Ashworth, 943 S.W.2d 436, 437 (Tex.1997).

Statutory Construction

Effective January 1, 1996, section 51.042 of the Texas Family Code provides that a juvenile who fails to object at an adjudication hearing to a court's assertion of juvenile jurisdiction over him because of his age waives the complaint. TEX. FAM.CODE ANN. § 51.042(b) (Vernon 1996). However, this provision does not apply in this case because the conduct for which A.D.D. was adjudicated delinquent occurred before January 1, 1996. Act of May 31, 1995, 74th Leg., R.S., ch. 262 § 106, 1995 Tex. Gen. Laws 2517, 2590-91. Accordingly, to determine whether the State was required to prove a juvenile's age at the adjudication hearing to invoke the court's juvenile jurisdiction, we must resort to the guidelines for statutory construction set forth in the Code Construction Act. See TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. §§ 311.001-311.032 (Vernon 1988 & Supp.1998). Of particular importance in this case are the common law principles of civil and juvenile jurisdiction.

*303 Principles of Civil and Juvenile Court Jurisdiction

By statute, the juvenile court designated by the county's juvenile board is vested with "exclusive original jurisdiction" over proceedings involving allegedly delinquent conduct by a "child." TEX. FAM.CODE ANN. § 51.04(a)-(b) (Vernon 1996). A "child" is a person who is "ten years of age or older and under 17 years of age; or ... seventeen years of age or older and under 18 years of age who is alleged or found to have engaged in delinquent conduct ... as a result of acts committed before becoming 17 years of age." Id. § 51.02(2).

Like any other court, therefore, a juvenile court "must possess both subject matter jurisdiction over a case and personal jurisdiction over a party to issue a binding judgment." CSR Ltd. v. Link, 925 S.W.2d 591, 594 (Tex.1996). "[S]ubject matter jurisdiction refers to the court's power to hear a particular type of suit," id., a power that "exists by operation of law only, and cannot be conferred upon any court by consent or waiver." Federal Underwriters Exch. v. Pugh, 141 Tex. 539, 541, 174 S.W.2d 598, 600 (1943).

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