Justia Juvenile Law Opinion Summaries

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 119, 72A permits a juvenile court judge to transfer lesser included offenses when supported by probable cause even where lesser included offenses are not expressly charged.In 2014, juvenile delinquency complaints were issued against Defendant for the crime of rape of a child with force for incidents that occurred when Defendant was sixteen years old. Because Defendant was not “apprehended” until after his nineteenth birthday, the juvenile court judge was faced with discharging Defendant or transferring the charges to adult court. The judge dismissed the offenses charged for lack of probable cause but transferred the lesser included offenses of statutory rape. Defendant filed a petition for relief pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 211, 3. The Supreme Judicial Court held that because the judge in this case did not inform Defendant of her probable cause rulings on the offenses charged or the lesser included offenses until her decision on the transfer itself, Defendant was not given a meaningful opportunity to present evidence and argument why discharge rather than transfer of the statutory rape charges was consistent with protection of the public. Therefore, Defendant was entitled to reopen the transfer hearing in order to present such evidence and argument. View "J.H. v. Commonwealth" on Justia Law

In January 2017, Carlos (born September 2001) and an older male participated in a gang-related Santa Rosa shooting. The 18-year-old victim was standing in a driveway when the two passed in a car, parked, and approached. After a verbal confrontation, they drew firearms and shot five or six times toward the victim, who fled. Carlos admitted to the shooting, claiming the victim had tried to “jump him” a year earlier and that he had “heat for Northerners.” The co-participant drove the car and provided the firearm. The District Attorney filed a petition (Welfare and Institutions Code 602(a)), alleging that Carlos committed attempted murder and assault with a firearm, with firearm and street gang enhancements. Carlos admitted one count and enhancement; the other counts were dismissed. The juvenile court committed Carlos to the Department of Juvenile Facilities (DJF). The court of appeal reversed. Welfare and Institutions Code 7341 provides that no ward of the juvenile court shall be committed to DJF unless the judge is “fully satisfied that the mental and physical condition and qualifications of the ward are such as to render it probable that he will be benefited by the reformatory educational discipline or other treatment provided by” DJF. Because the record contains no specific information regarding DJF programs, no substantial evidence supported the finding of probable benefit. View "In re Carlos J." on Justia Law

In 2011, Barboza was charged with various felonies and enhancement allegations. In 2016, Barboza pleaded guilty to robbery and admitted an armed-with-a-firearm allegation (Pen. Code 12022(a)(1)). The remaining counts and enhancement allegations were dismissed. The information, filed directly in adult court, alleged that at the time of the offense, Barboza was a minor 16 years of age or older, under Welfare and Institutions Code former 707(d)(1).) The court imposed a six-year prison sentence, suspended execution of that sentence, and placed him on formal probation for five years. Barboza did not appeal. Several weeks later, the voters approved Proposition 57, which repealed section 707(d) and requires “a judge, not a prosecutor, to decide whether juveniles should be tried in adult court,” Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016, 707(a)(1).) Barboza unsuccessfully moved to have his case remanded to the juvenile court. The court of appeal affirmed. While the California Supreme Court has recently held that Proposition 57 is retroactive, that holding does not benefit Barboza because the judgment in his case is final. When a trial court imposes a state prison sentence and suspends execution of that sentence during a probationary period, the judgment rendered is a final judgment for the purposes of appeal. View "People v. Barboza" on Justia Law

Grant was 16 years old when he committed crimes that led to his incarceration. He was convicted in 1992 under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and for drug trafficking. The court determined that Grant would never be fit to reenter society and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole (LWOP) for the RICO convictions with a concurrent 40-year term for the drug convictions and a mandatory consecutive five-year term for a gun conviction. In 2012, the Supreme Court decided, in Miller v. Alabama, that only incorrigible juvenile homicide offenders who have no capacity to reform may be sentenced to LWOP and that all non-incorrigible juvenile offenders are entitled to a “meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.” The court resentenced Grant to a term of 65 years without parole. Grant argued that the sentence constitutes de facto LWOP. The Third Circuit vacated Grant’s sentence. A sentence that either meets or exceeds a non-incorrigible juvenile offender’s life expectancy violates the Eighth Amendment; courts must hold evidentiary hearings to determine the non-incorrigible juvenile offender’s life expectancy and must consider as sentencing factors his life expectancy and the national age of retirement, with the section 3553(a) factors, to properly structure a meaningful opportunity for release. View "United States v. Grant" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s denial of Keshaud Hunt’s motion to transfer his case charging him with multiple felonies arising from two armed robberies to juvenile court. Hunt was fifteen years old when he committed the offenses underlying the charges. The Court also affirmed the district court’s denial of Hunt’s request for disposition under the Nebraska Juvenile Code and imposition of consecutive prison sentences. The Court held (1) the district court’s basis for retaining jurisdiction over Hunt was supported by appropriate evidence, and therefore, the court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to transfer the case to juvenile court; and (2) there was no abuse of discretion in the sentences imposed. View "State v. Hunt" on Justia Law

The Court of Appeals affirmed the order of the Appellate Division ruling that Teri W.’s ten-year probation sentence was legal. Teri W. pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse in the first degree, a class D felony sex offense, for an offense she committed when she was seventeen years old. Supreme Court deemed her conviction vacated and replaced by a youthful offender finding and sentenced her to ten years’ probation. On appeal, Teri W. argued that her probation sentence illegally exceeded the five-year maximum for undesignated class E felonies. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the sentence was lawful. View "People v. Teri W." on Justia Law

Sixteen-year-old defendant Adrian Vela and one of his fellow gang members confronted two suspected rival gang members. Vela’s accomplice pulled out a gun and shot the two victims, killing one of them. Charged as an adult, a jury found Vela guilty of murder, attempted murder, and found true the related firearm and gang allegations. Vela made several interrelated claims of instructional error concerning accomplice liability, and Vela raised two constitutional challenges to his 72 years to life sentence. In the unpublished parts of its opinion, the Court of Appeal found no reversible error with respect to the trial court’s jury instructions. Furthermore, the Court found Vela’s sentence did not violate either the equal protection clause or the Eighth Amendment. In the published portion of its opinion, the Court of Appeal conditionally reversed the judgment because of Proposition 57. “Vela is retroactively entitled to a transfer hearing because his case is not yet final on appeal. If, after conducting the hearing, the juvenile court judge determines that Vela’s case should be transferred to a court of criminal jurisdiction, then his convictions will be reinstated. . . . But if the juvenile court determines that Vela is amenable to rehabilitation, and should remain within the juvenile justice system, then his convictions will be deemed juvenile adjudications. The juvenile court is then to impose an appropriate disposition within its discretion under juvenile court law.” View "California v. Vela" on Justia Law

Sixteen-year-old defendant Adrian Vela and one of his fellow gang members confronted two suspected rival gang members. Vela’s accomplice pulled out a gun and shot the two victims, killing one of them. Charged as an adult, a jury found Vela guilty of murder, attempted murder, and found true the related firearm and gang allegations. Vela made several interrelated claims of instructional error concerning accomplice liability, and Vela raised two constitutional challenges to his 72 years to life sentence. In the unpublished parts of its opinion, the Court of Appeal found no reversible error with respect to the trial court’s jury instructions. Furthermore, the Court found Vela’s sentence did not violate either the equal protection clause or the Eighth Amendment. In the published portion of its opinion, the Court of Appeal conditionally reversed the judgment because of Proposition 57. “Vela is retroactively entitled to a transfer hearing because his case is not yet final on appeal. If, after conducting the hearing, the juvenile court judge determines that Vela’s case should be transferred to a court of criminal jurisdiction, then his convictions will be reinstated. . . . But if the juvenile court determines that Vela is amenable to rehabilitation, and should remain within the juvenile justice system, then his convictions will be deemed juvenile adjudications. The juvenile court is then to impose an appropriate disposition within its discretion under juvenile court law.” View "California v. Vela" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the separate juvenile court transferring Steven S.’s case to county court, holding that there was no abuse of discretion in the transfer.The State charged Steven, a juvenile, with escape and simultaneously filed a motion to transfer Steven’s case from juvenile court to county court. The juvenile court concluded that the State had proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the matter should be transferred to county court. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that, upon the Court’s de novo review of the record, the juvenile court did not abuse its discretion in ordering that Steven’s case be transferred to county court. View "In re Interest of Steven S." on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s convictions of two counts of first degree murder and two counts of use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony, holding that Defendant’s assignments of error were without merit.On appeal, Defendant argued that the district court erred by not admitting photographs he claimed supported his defense that another individual committed the murders and that his collective sentence of ninety to 140 years’ imprisonment was the functional equivalent of a sentence of life imprisonment. The Supreme Court disagreed, holding (1) the district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the photographs by reasoning that the small amount of relevance was outweighed by Neb. Evid. R. 403; and (2) Defendant, who was a juvenile at the time the crimes were committed, received the protections required by Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012). View "State v. Trotter" on Justia Law