State v. Tai N.

127 Wash. App. 733
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedMay 31, 2005
DocketNo. 54595-7-I
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 127 Wash. App. 733 (State v. Tai N.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Tai N., 127 Wash. App. 733 (Wash. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

¶1 Appellant Tai N., arrested near the Canadian border while carrying 108 pounds of marijuana in his car, was found guilty of possession with intent to deliver. The primary issue is whether recent decisions by the United States Supreme Court imply a right to jury trial for juvenile offenses. We conclude they do not. Nor do they require alteration in the burden of proof governing manifest injustice dispositions. Washington’s juvenile justice code already requires the factual predicate for a manifest injustice disposition to be proved by clear and convincing evidence, a standard that in juvenile sentencing is equivalent to beyond a reasonable doubt.

Becker, J. —

¶2 The juvenile court in this case imposed a manifest injustice disposition based on the large amount of marijuana and also to discourage drug dealers from hiring [737]*737juveniles as “mules.” Because the stated reasons do not clearly and convincingly prove that the standard range sentence for this juvenile offender presents a serious and clear danger to society, we reverse the manifest injustice disposition.

FACTS

¶3 Henry Qualey, a federal border patrol agent, saw 17-year-old Tai N. park a car just south of the Canadian border in Blaine very late on December 24, 2003. When Tai drove off, Agent Qualey followed. He stopped Tai’s car a short time later on Interstate 5. Upon searching the car, officers discovered three large hockey bags containing 76 vacuum sealed pouches of marijuana, a total of 108 pounds.

¶4 The State charged Tai in juvenile court with one count of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. A court commissioner denied Tai’s motion to suppress the marijuana. Based on stipulated evidence, the commissioner then found Tai guilty as charged.

¶5 The standard range sentence for Tai, who had no prior criminal history, was 0-30 days. The commissioner found that the offense was a major violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, chapter 69.50 RCW, because it involved a quantity substantially larger than for personal use. The commissioner also found that the standard range disposition would pose a danger to society because it was too short to discourage drug dealers from hiring juveniles as “mules” to carry illegal drugs. Based on these findings, the commissioner imposed a manifest injustice disposition of 20-24 weeks. The superior court adopted the commissioner’s findings and reasons and denied Tai’s motions to revise.

TRIAL BY JURY

¶6 Tai first contends that under the Sixth Amendment and the Washington Constitution, all juveniles charged with an offense are entitled to trial by jury. Courts [738]*738have repeatedly rejected this contention in a long line of cases, but Tai argues that such cases have been undermined by Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S. Ct. 2531, 159 L. Ed. 2d 403 (2004); Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S. Ct. 2348, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435 (2000); and Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S. Ct. 1354, 158 L. Ed. 2d 177 (2004).

¶7 Blakely, Apprendi and Crawford do not discuss the subject of jury trials for juveniles. But in each of these cases, the Supreme Court examined in great detail the historical foundation of the constitutional provision at issue in order to determine its meaning. Tai contends a similar analysis establishes that the Sixth Amendment does not distinguish between adults and juveniles for purposes of the right to a jury trial.

¶8 Juvenile adjudicatory proceedings have never been equated with a “criminal prosecution” for purposes of the Sixth Amendment. McKeiver v. Pennsylvania, 403 U.S. 528, 541, 91 S. Ct. 1976, 29 L. Ed. 2d 647 (1971). In McKeiver, a plurality of the Supreme Court considered and rejected an argument that the due process clause requires jury trials for juveniles. As the Supreme Court later observed,

the Constitution does not mandate elimination of all differences in the treatment of juveniles. . . . We have tried, therefore, to strike a balance — to respect the “informality” and “flexibility” that characterize juvenile proceedings, and yet to ensure that such proceedings comport with the “fundamental fairness” demanded by the Due Process Clause.

Schall v. Martin, 467 U.S. 253, 263, 104 S. Ct. 2403, 81 L. Ed. 2d 207 (1984) (citation omitted).

¶9 Washington courts have also consistently held that juvenile offenders do not have a right to jury trials under the Washington Constitution. See, e.g., State v. Schaaf, 109 Wn.2d 1, 743 P.2d 240 (1987); see also Monroe v. Soliz, 132 Wn.2d 414, 939 P.2d 205 (1997); State v. Lawley, 91 Wn.2d 654, 591 P.2d 772 (1979). This court recently reaffirmed that holding in State v. J.H., 96 Wn. App. 167, 978 P.2d 1121 [739]*739(1999). Notwithstanding the adoption in 1997 of amendments to the juvenile justice code that tended to make it more punitive, we recognized the “unique rehabilitative nature of juvenile proceedings” as a continuing rationale for having judges, not juries, decide cases involving juvenile offenders. We concluded that “the juvenile justice provisions as amended still retain significant differences from the adult criminal justice system and still afford juveniles special protections not offered to adults.” J.H., 96 Wn. App. at 186-87.

¶10 Our recent decision in State v. Diaz-Cardona, 123 Wn. App. 477, 98 P.3d 136 (2004), should not be interpreted as an indication that we are ready to reassess that issue. The question there was whether a juvenile sex offender has a Fifth Amendment right to refuse to participate in an evaluation ordered by the court for the purpose of selecting an appropriate disposition. The State argued that the difference between the rehabilitative goals of the juvenile system, as compared to the punitive goals of the adult system, would justify holding that a juvenile’s right against self-incrimination does not extend to dispositional proceedings. We said that “in recent years, this argument has lost traction” because it is now well-recognized that juvenile courts function to punish as well to rehabilitate. Diaz-Cardona, 123 Wn. App. at 485.

¶11 In using the phrase “recent years,” we were not referring to the five years that had passed since we decided J.H. We were referring to the original purposes of our juvenile code, as stated in the 1977 act that created it, as well as to the punishment-oriented amendments adopted in 1997. Having considered these same punitive aspects of juvenile justice in State v. J.H., we nonetheless concluded that “even after the 1997 amendments to the juvenile justice provisions, the state constitution still does not guarantee to juveniles the right to trial by jury.” J.H., 96 Wn. App. at 185.

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Bluebook (online)
127 Wash. App. 733, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tai-n-washctapp-2005.