STATE of New Mexico, Petitioner, v. John DOE, Respondent.
No. 15083.
Supreme Court of New Mexico.
Dec. 21, 1983.
Rehearing Denied Jan. 11, 1984.
674 P.2d 1109 | 100 N.M. 649
OPINION
RIORDAN, Justice.
Respondent John Doe (Doe) was charged in the children‘s court division of the district court (children‘s court), with committing the delinquent acts of aggravated battery,
The issue presented for review is whether the children‘s court may transfer a child to district court pursuant to Section 32-1-30, when there is evidence that the child may be amenable to treatment in available facilities.
We will not recite the testimony of the expert witnesses called at the hearing. The testimony as well as the existing case law is adequately discussed in the Court of Appeals opinion in this case. The parties agree that the only dispute in this appeal is whether there has been compliance with Subsection 32-1-30(A)(4). Subsection 32-1-30(A)(4) (emphasis added), provides that:
A. Notwithstanding the provisions of
Section 32-1-29 NMSA 1978 , after a petition has been filed alleging a delinquent act, the court may, before hearing the petition on its merits, transfer the matter for prosecution in the district court if:* * * * * *
(4) the [children‘s] court has considered whether the child is amenable to treatment or rehabilitation as a child through available facilities.
Section 32-1-30 was enacted in 1975, some three years after the Children‘s Code,
The State claims that the Court of Appeals opinion added two requirements to Section 32-1-30, that the Legislature did not intend, when they remanded the case to children‘s court with instructions to make the following specific factual determinations: (1) whether the current facilities and treatment options are inadequate, considering Doe‘s mental condition and his needs, and (2) whether the implementation of an adequate treatment program is not feasible within the time restraints placed upon juvenile authorities to accomplish the rehabilitation. Although these determinations may appropriately be made by the Children‘s Court to show whether it “has considered” whether the child is amenable to treatment or rehabilitation as a child through available facilities, they are not mandatory nor exclusive under the statute. We therefore determine that these added two requirements are not required in a transfer hearing under Section 32-1-30 and the Children‘s Court does not need to make specific findings on those subjects.
The evidence in this case, although from only two witnesses, points out the treatment problems with Doe, whether he is transferred to district court or handled in children‘s court. The children‘s court properly considered whether the transfer should take place and decided that it should. Having reviewed the record, we determine that the children‘s court did not abuse its discretion.
The Court of Appeals is reversed. This case is remanded to the district court for trial, pursuant to the March 15, 1983 Order on the alleged delinquent acts.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
PAYNE, FEDERICI, and STOWERS, JJ., concur.
DAN SOSA, Jr., Senior Justice, respectfully dissenting.
DAN SOSA, Jr., Senior Justice, dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
Under the majority view, any findings or conclusions of the children‘s court need not be supported by specific reasons or findings, but only a cursory statement that the court “considered” evidence leading to its conclusion. This ruling will preclude any meaningful inquiry as to the specific findings or reasoning of the court that were paramount to its decision. The amenability of a child to treatment or rehabilitation as a child through available facilities is an evidentiary question. See State v. Doe, 93 N.M. 481, 601 P.2d 451 (Ct. App. 1979). The majority‘s holding would make it impossible for this Court to even consider a possible abuse of discretion by the children‘s court. Findings and conclusions not on the record cannot be scrutinized. The majority should not so readily abdicate any portion of the power to review the proceedings of the children‘s court that was vested in this Court by the New Mexico Constitution.
When a court orders the disposition of a child, be it for confinement in an institution, for treatment and rehabilitation, or for transfer to the district court, we should, at the very least, require delineation of those specific findings and conclusions the court “considered” when arriving at its decision. Is this Court willing to say we owe a child less due process in this serious matter than an adult?
The effect of today‘s holding is to remove abuse of discretion as a basis for an appeal from a children‘s proceeding. This Court has a duty to zealously guard every party‘s
It is well established that due process and fair treatment are essential in the proceedings of the children‘s court. Application of Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 87 S. Ct. 1428, 18 L. Ed. 2d 527 (1967); Kent v. United States, 383 U.S. 541, 86 S. Ct. 1045, 16 L. Ed. 2d 84 (1966). The Supreme Court in Kent dealt with the minimum requirements for transfer from children‘s court to district court. It held the children‘s court did not have complete latitude to transfer the child because the transfer process carries the necessary requirements of due process, fairness and full investigation. The Court recognized some degree of discretion was given to the children‘s court as to factual considerations, their weight, and conclusions reached, but it determined that discretion “does not confer upon the Juvenile Court a license for arbitrary procedure.” Kent, 383 U.S. at 553, 86 S. Ct. at 1053. The Court further stated, “there is no place in our system of law for reaching a result of such tremendous consequences * * * without a statement of reasons. It is inconceivable that a court of justice dealing with adults, with respect to a similar issue, would proceed in this manner.” Id. at 554, 86 S. Ct. at 1053 (emphasis added). The holding of the majority is contrary to both the holding in Kent and our own Criminal Procedure Rule 38(d).
The law in the Tenth Circuit is that among those interests of children that need protection is the right not to be confined unnecessarily. Interpreting Application of Gault, the court in Milonas v. Williams stated, “[c]hildren as well as adults, have substantial liberty interests that are protected from state action by the fourteenth amendment.” Milonas v. Williams, 691 F.2d 931, 943 (10th Cir. 1982) cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1069, 103 S. Ct. 1524, 75 L. Ed. 2d 947 (1983).
A statement of reasons can insure that the transfer of a child to the district court was not premised on misinformation or inaccuracies in the materials before the court. It is a powerful safeguard and prevents rash or arbitrary decisions. The Second Circuit has stated, “A Sphinx-like silence on the court‘s part precludes anyone (including the parties, the judge, and an appellate tribunal) from learning whether he acted in error.” United States v. Brown, 479 F.2d 1170, 1173 (2nd Cir. 1973). In Brown, this concept was reaffirmed as to sentencing, but it applies equally to a transfer involving serious implications of being tried as an adult as is the case here. A sentence (or transfer) will generally be upheld “unless the sentencing judge relied on improper or unreliable information in exercising his or her discretion or failed to exercise any discretion at all in imposing the sentence.” United States v. Zylstra, 713 F.2d 1332, 1340 (7th Cir. 1983).
This Court has carefully followed the tenets expressed in Gault and Kent by stating, “When a juvenile is transferred to district court for criminal proceedings * * * all of the rights and safeguards in such cases required by law and the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of New Mexico must be accorded him.” Williams v. Sanders, 80 N.M. 619, 621, 459 P.2d 145, 147 (1969) (emphasis added); see Neller v. State, 79 N.M. 528, 445 P.2d 949 (1968); Peyton v. Nord, 78 N.M. 717, 437 P.2d 716 (1968) The transfer process marks the beginning of jeopardy in the judicial proceeding for punishment as an adult.
I align myself with those learned Justices of this Court, who have spoken out before me for the rights of the child. In Peyton v. Nord, where we stated a child had a right to a trial by jury, Justice Moise, writing for the majority concluded: “We are impressed with the continuing validity of the statement of Justice Bickley in his dissent in In re Santillanes, where [regarding the accused child] he said, ‘The rights of the individual guaranteed by the constitution cannot be determined by the criterion of whether we think them useful or otherwise.‘” Peyton v. Nord, 78 N.M. 717, 727, 437 P.2d 716, 726 (1968) (quoting In re Santillanes, 47 N.M. 140, 169, 138 P.2d 503, 521 (1943)).
In State v. Doe, 98 N.M. 567, 650 P.2d 851 (Ct. App.), cert. denied, 98 N.M. 590, 651 P.2d 636 (1982), a juvenile appealed from an order transferring his case to district court. There the trial court entered findings which the appeals court could ascertain were based on the evidence presented. In that case both psychologists agreed the child had not responded to previous psychological treatment and both said he was not amenable to treatment within available facilities. That case is distinguishable from the instant case in that here there is agreement among the psychologists that the juvenile is amenable to treatment. In addition there is conflicting testimony concerning whether the treatment necessary can be obtained within available facilities. It is this conflicting testimony that must be resolved by specific findings and conclusions made on the record. Absent these there would be little discernable basis for transfer to the district court. For this reason I am in agreement with opinion of the Court of Appeals ordering remand for further factual determinations, and hereby adopt that opinion as part of my dissent.