MATTER OF ZAC McV.

964 P.2d 144, 125 N.M. 583
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 11, 1998
Docket18755
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 964 P.2d 144 (MATTER OF ZAC McV.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
MATTER OF ZAC McV., 964 P.2d 144, 125 N.M. 583 (N.M. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

964 P.2d 144 (1998)
125 N.M. 583
1998-NMCA-114

In the Matter of ZAC McV., a Child, Child-Appellant.

No. 18755.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

June 11, 1998.
Certiorari Denied August 13, 1998.

*145 Phyllis H. Subin, Chief Public Defender, Lisabeth L. Occhialino, Assistant Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, for Appellant.

Tom Udall, Attorney General, M. Victoria Wilson, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, for Appellee.

OPINION

DONNELLY, Judge.

{1} This case poses the issue of whether the children's court has jurisdiction to modify a prior disposition and commitment, pursuant to a motion filed by the Child several months after the court had found the child to be delinquent and had transferred his custody to the Children, Youth, and Families Department (the CYFD). We conclude that under the circumstances presented here, the children's court is without authority to modify its prior disposition and commitment, and thus, affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL POSTURE

{2} In a prior proceeding, the Child admitted to the delinquent act of carrying a firearm onto school property. See NMSA 1978, § 30-7-2.1(A), (C) (1994) (designated as a fourth-degree felony); NMSA 1978, § 32A-2-3(A)(1)(k) (1996) ("delinquent act" includes all felony offenses). On May 8, 1996, the children's court by judgment and disposition found the Child to be delinquent, committed the Child to the New Mexico Youth Diagnostic and Development Center for one year, but suspended the commitment and placed the Child on supervised probation for two years. On February 27, 1997, the Child tested positive for the use of marijuana and cocaine and, on March 11, 1997, the Child was arrested for shoplifting two packs of cigarettes while violating house arrest.

{3} The State moved to revoke the Child's probation, and following a hearing the Child admitted violating probation. On April 8, 1997, the children's court entered its judgment and disposition (corrected by amendment on June 9, 1997), found that the Child needed care or rehabilitation, transferred his legal and physical custody to the CYFD, and ordered that the Child be committed to the New Mexico Boys' School for an indeterminate period not to exceed two years.

{4} On August 4, 1997, the Child filed a motion for the children's court to reconsider the commitment because he alleged that he had been victimized and abused at the Springer facility. The Child also asserted that the commitment was too harsh a penalty for the probation violation of shoplifting. The children's court concluded that it had no jurisdiction over the matter because the Child's motion to modify was filed beyond the thirty-day period specified in NMSA 1978, § 32A-2-23(G) (1995) (Subsection G), and consequently it denied the motion.

DISCUSSION

{5} We review the ruling of the children's court de novo to determine whether as a matter of law the Delinquency Act provisions, NMSA 1978, §§ 32A-2-1 to -32 (1993, as amended through 1996), contained in the Children's Code (the Code), NMSA 1978, §§ 32A-1-1 to -21-7 (1993, as amended through 1997), invest the children's court *146 with the authority to grant the requested relief. See State v. Rowell, 121 N.M. 111, 114, 908 P.2d 1379, 1382 (1995) (statutory construction presents question of law); see also State v. Carlos A., 1996-NMCA-082, ¶ 6, 122 N.M. 241, 923 P.2d 608 (construing the Code de novo).

{6} The Child maintains that the children's court is invested with jurisdiction under the provisions of Section 32A-2-23(F) (Subsection F) to reconsider its original disposition even after the expiration of the thirty-day period for filing an appeal or moving for reconsideration. See Rule 10-230(C) NMRA 1998; Rule 12-201(A) NMRA 1998. Section 32A-2-23 provides, in pertinent part:

A. A judgment transferring legal custody of an adjudicated delinquent child to an agency responsible for the care and rehabilitation of delinquent children divests the court of jurisdiction at the time of transfer of custody, unless the transfer of legal custody is for a commitment not exceeding fifteen days pursuant to the provisions of Section 32A-2-19[(B)(4)]....
....
D. Prior to the expiration of a long-term commitment, as provided for in Section 32A-2-19 NMSA 1978, the court may extend the judgment for additional periods of one year until the child reaches the age of twenty-one if the court finds that the extension is necessary to safeguard the welfare of the child or the public interest.
....
F. The court may dismiss a motion if it finds after preliminary investigation that the motion is without substance. If the court is of the opinion that the matter should be reviewed, it may, upon notice to all necessary parties, proceed to a hearing in the manner provided for hearings on petitions alleging delinquency. The court may terminate a judgment if it finds that the child is no longer in need of care, supervision or rehabilitation or it may enter a judgment extending or modifying the original judgment if it finds that action necessary to safeguard the child or the public interest.
G. A child may make a motion to modify a children's court or adult disposition within thirty days of the judge's decision. If the court is of the opinion that the matter should be reviewed, it may, upon notice to all necessary parties, proceed to a hearing in the manner provided for hearings on petitions alleging delinquency.

{7} The Child also contends that the meaning of Subsection F is ambiguous, necessitating that we discern the legislative intent underlying the enactment of this provision. See Rowell, 121 N.M. at 114, 908 P.2d at 1382 (to give effect to intent of Legislature, courts look to objectives of statute and wrong sought to be remedied). As provided in Section 32A-2-2(A), the purpose of the Delinquency Act is to protect "the public interest, to remove from children committing delinquent acts the adult consequences of criminal behavior, but to still hold children ... accountable for their actions to the extent of the child's age, education, mental and physical condition, background and all other relevant factors, and to provide a program of supervision, care and rehabilitation...." Additionally, the Act is intended "to provide effective deterrents to acts of juvenile delinquency[.]" Section 32A-2-2(B).

{8} The Child maintains that in enacting Subsection F, the Legislature intended that the children's court retain jurisdiction over delinquent children placed in the custody of the CYFD in order to monitor whether such children are being provided with an appropriate program of supervision, care, and rehabilitation. See § 32A-2-2(A); State v. Jonathan M., 109 N.M. 789, 790, 791 P.2d 64, 65 (1990). In advancing this argument, the Child argues that Subsection F was intended to permit the children's court to modify or terminate a commitment if such action is consistent with the goal of rehabilitating children previously adjudicated as delinquent. The Child posits that consistent with the objectives of the Code, Subsection F is an exception to Subsections A and G which places express limits on the children's court's jurisdiction.

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Bluebook (online)
964 P.2d 144, 125 N.M. 583, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matter-of-zac-mcv-nmctapp-1998.