P.K.M. v. State

780 P.2d 395, 1989 Alas. App. LEXIS 85, 1989 WL 119761
CourtCourt of Appeals of Alaska
DecidedOctober 13, 1989
DocketNo. A-2793
StatusPublished

This text of 780 P.2d 395 (P.K.M. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
P.K.M. v. State, 780 P.2d 395, 1989 Alas. App. LEXIS 85, 1989 WL 119761 (Ala. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

BRYNER, Chief Judge.

P.K.M., a minor, appeals an order entered by Superior Court Judge Jay Hodges waiving juvenile court jurisdiction and directing that P.K.M. be tried as an adult for burglary, robbery, and murder. P.K.M. argues that the evidence presented at his-waiver hearing does not support the superi- or court’s ruling.

On April 1, 1988, P.K.M. and another minor, R.H., burglarized a chiropractor’s office and stole a handgun. They later decided to use the gun to rob a taxicab driver. During the robbery, R.H. shot and killed the driver, Dale Baurick. See R.H. v. State, 777 P.2d 204 (Alaska App.1989).

At the time of the offense, P.K.M. was seventeen years old, four months away from his eighteenth birthday. The state petitioned for waiver of children’s court jurisdiction, alleging that P.K.M. was not amenable to treatment as a minor. See AS 47.10.060. A bifurcated hearing on the petition was conducted before Superior Court Judge Jay Hodges. The first phase of the hearing dealt with the circumstances of the offense. P.K.M. conceded that the evidence established probable cause to support the charges against him, as required under AS 47.10.060(a).

The second phase of the waiver hearing focused on P.K.M.’s amenability to treatment under A 47.10.060(d):

A minor is unamenable to treatment under this chapter if the minor probably cannot be rehabilitated by treatment ... before reaching 20 years of age. In determining whether a minor is unamena-ble to treatment, the court may consider the seriousness of the offense the minor is alleged to have committed, the minor’s history of delinquency, the probable cause of the minor’s delinquent behavior, and the facilities available to the division of youth and adult authority for treating the minor.

The court heard extensive evidence concerning P.K.M.’s background, his psychological makeup, and the juvenile treatment facilities that would be available to him in the two years remaining before his twentieth birthday. The evidence included a comprehensive juvenile intake investigation, as well as reports and testimony from three psychologists and two psychiatrists. At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Hodges decided that P.K.M. was not amenable to treatment as a minor and ordered waiver of children’s court jurisdiction.

P.K.M. argues on appeal that the evidence does not support the superior court’s decision to waive jurisdiction. In advancing this argument, P.K.M. relies on portions of the record that are favorable to him. The trial court, however, was not required to view the evidence in the light most favorable to P.K.M., but was entitled to consider the totality of the evidence and to draw its own conclusions therefrom. The relevant question on appeal is whether the conclusions that the trial court reached are supported by substantial evidence. In re F.S., 586 P.2d 607, 614 (Alaska 1978), reversed on other grounds, State v. F.L.A., 608 P.2d 12 (Alaska 1980).

In determining whether to waive juvenile jurisdiction, the superior court is required to consider four factors: the seriousness of the offense, the minor’s past history of delinquent behavior, the probable cause of the delinquent behavior, and [397]*397the facilities available for the minor’s treatment. AS 47.10.060(d); P.H. v. State, 504 P.2d 837, 845 (Alaska 1972). The state bears the burden of establishing unamena-bility by a preponderance of the evidence. In re F.S., 586 P.2d at 611-12; W.M.F. v. State, 723 P.2d 1298, 1303 (Alaska App. 1986). However, all four of the statutory factors need not be decided against the minor. In re P.H., 504 P.2d at 845. The ultimate issue is whether the minor is probably amenable to rehabilitation by age twenty.

In the present case, Judge Hodges recognized that, despite being almost eighteen years of age, P.K.M. had only a minor history of delinquent behavior. The judge concluded that P.K.M.’s prior delinquent behavior did not in itself indicate a need for waiver.

With respect to the seriousness of the offense, however, Judge Hodges found that P.K.M. had participated in delinquent behavior that involved the most serious of crimes, murder. Although P.K.M. insists on appeal that he played no active role in Baurick’s murder, this argument is contrary to the trial court’s interpretation of the evidence. Judge Hodges’ findings make it plain that, in his view, P.K.M.’s role in the murder was neither minor nor passive:

Subsequent to the burglary, the two boys had further discussions concerning what to do with [the stolen handgun]— whether they would sell it for money or use it to perpetrate a criminal offense. There was discussion initiated by [P.K.M.] to rob a 7-Eleven convenience store. [R.H.] initiated the discussion concerning the robbery of a cab. Ultimately the two boys jointly participated in the robbery of a cab.
The court concludes by a preponderance of the evidence that prior to getting into the cab there was discussion concerning not only the robbery but also a discussion concerning the killing itself. Maybe the boys were not totally serious about the killing at the time they got into the cab, but there was discussion.. Certainly both boys, [P.K.M.] in particular, would have been aware that there was a substantial probability of serious physical injury or even death to the cab driver. [P.K.M.] was a willing participant in the crime itself. The facts leading up to the crime, the facts afterwards in participating in the gains, disposing of the evidence, trading the gun for cocaine, all indicate by a preponderance of the evidence that he was in fact involved with respect to the killing itself.

Based on the evidence concerning the circumstances surrounding the offense, Judge Hodges concluded that “[t]he act itself can be characterized as an act of extreme unprovoked violence on the part of [P.K.M.].... Although [P.K.M.] did not use the weapon, he was there and certainly is as culpable as [R.H.] on the facts before the court.” We find substantial evidence in the record to support the superior court’s findings with respect to the seriousness of P.K.M.’s delinquent behavior.

As to the probable cause of the delinquent behavior, Judge Hodges concluded that P.K.M. did not suffer from any major mental disorder. However, the judge found that P.K.M. had a long-standing problem with alcoholism, and that this problem played a significant role in the offense:

As was testified to by the experts, the effect of alcohol abuse is far greater on a minor, than on an adult. It has prohibited him and prevented him from forming the normal moral values, the normal job skills and the other skills that someone who goes from a teenager into an adult ... needs to have in order to function correctly in society. Although the testimony from all the psychiatrists and psychologists who have testified is that his alcohol disorder is treatable, all feel it would take a substantial period of time.

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Related

P. H. v. State
504 P.2d 837 (Alaska Supreme Court, 1972)
In re F. S.
586 P.2d 607 (Alaska Supreme Court, 1978)
State v. F. L. A.
608 P.2d 12 (Alaska Supreme Court, 1980)
W.M.F. v. State
723 P.2d 1298 (Court of Appeals of Alaska, 1986)
R.H. v. State
777 P.2d 204 (Court of Appeals of Alaska, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
780 P.2d 395, 1989 Alas. App. LEXIS 85, 1989 WL 119761, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pkm-v-state-alaskactapp-1989.