29 S.E.2d 155 | W. Va. | 1944
Pursuant to a hearing held at Ripley, a vacation order was entered by the Circuit Court of Roane County sitting as a juvenile court on the fifth day of April, 1943, in the matter of Mrs. Russell C. Newman against Kathryn *503 Wright, committing the defendant to the West Virginia Industrial Home for Girls at Salem for an indefinite period. This appeal was granted upon the petition of Kathryn Wright.
According to the averments of the petition, the infant respondent, Kathryn Wright, was born on the nineteenth day of October, 1925, in Roane County, so that the hearing preceded her eighteenth birthday by six months and fourteen days. The defendant resisted the commitment and was represented by counsel of her own selection who, after proof had been taken and prior to commitment, moved to dismiss the proceeding, first, because it had not been shown that the defendant was a delinquent child; second no case had been made against her as a neglected child; third no jury trial had been granted upon the defendant's demand; and fourth no guardian ad litem had been appointed to represent the infant.
An additional question is advanced in this Court to the effect that it is not alleged nor shown in any way that the petitioner is a reputable person as is required by Code,
Counsel for the petitioner or appellee raises the question of whether an appeal to this Court from an order of a juvenile court will lie, since it is not provided for in Code,
Another question that we believe should be dealt with, although not raised of record, is the power of the circuit judge of the Fifth Circuit including the counties of Jackson and Roane, to hold a hearing in Jackson County *504
upon the question of whether an infant residing in Roane County is to be adjudged a delinquent or neglected child under Chapter 49. Since Code,
Due to the fact that the record upon which this review was granted does not include a transcript of the evidence nor a narrative statement thereof, the only questions that we can decide are those that are shown by the sufficiency or insufficiency of the petition and the answer, and those which appear from the face of the orders entered in the Juvenile Court of Roane County.
Dealing with the first two assignments of error as a whole, we regard it as necessary to state only that the petition sufficiently avers that Kathryn Wright is both delinquent and neglected, and the court's finding being that she was then a delinquent child whose delinquency consisted, in part, of associating with immoral persons for immoral purposes, charged in the petition and denied in the answer, the act providing that the answer shall not *505 be given greater weight than the petition, without the proof before us we cannot determine that the finding of the Juvenile Court of Roane County was not amply supported by evidence. The presumption, of course, is that it was.
The third ground of error involving a question upon which it appears the juvenile court acted, is the fact that the motion of the respondent that she be granted a jury trial was overruled. Since Code,
The fourth ground of assigned error considered by the juvenile court was the failure to appoint a guardian ad litem. We regard that as being entirely unnecessary in a proceeding of this nature, Code,
For the foregoing reasons the order of commitment entered by the Roane County Juvenile Court on the fifth day of April, 1943, is set aside, and the case remanded for a trial by jury in Roane County.
Reversed and remanded.