Case Title: In Re Houston

Citation: 428 S.W.2d 303

Docket Number: 

State: tennessee

Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

Date: 1968-05-17T00:00:00Z

Document:
428 S.W.2d 303 (1968) In re James Eddie Lee HOUSTON. Supreme Court of Tennessee. May 17, 1968. *304 Walter L. Bailey, Jr., Memphis, for plaintiff in error. Arthur J. Shea, Asst. City Atty., Memphis, for the City. BURNETT, Chief Justice. The sole question involved in this case is whether or not, a minor, seventeen years of age, may appeal to the Circuit Court of Shelby County from a judgment of the Juvenile Court of that county holding the plaintiff in error, having been charged with three counts of assault with intent to commit murder and disorderly conduct, should be remanded to the Criminal Court of Shelby County, Tennessee, to be tried as an adult in compliance with T.C.A. § 37-264. The trial judge held against the plaintiff in error and in favor of the City and dismissed the appeal because he was of the opinion that the order of a Juvenile Court waiving its rights to hear this case and remanding the juvenile to the Criminal Court was not a final order and was thus not appealable. To this order of the Circuit Court, denying the right of an appeal, the juvenile excepted, prayed an appeal and assigned error to the order. The Legislature of Tennessee by Chapter 58 of the Public Acts of 1911 passed an act to "define and regulate the treatment and control of * * * delinquent children". This act was repealed and superseded by Chapter 177 of the Public Acts of 1955, and is now codified in the Supplement to the Code under Title 37, "Juveniles", beginning at T.C.A. § 37-242 et seq. The act in question now governs how a juvenile is dealt with in this State, and particularly one who is charged with a crime. Among other provisions in this act is T.C.A. § 37-264, which in part says: In this case the Juvenile Court had a hearing, and, pursuant to the statute quoted above, waived jurisdiction and remanded the plaintiff in error to the Criminal Court of Shelby County to be tried as an adult. As said in the outset an appeal was prayed to the Circuit Court pursuant to T.C.A. § 37-273, which provides: As said above, the trial judge herein felt under this act when the juvenile was sent pursuant to the statute (T.C.A. § 37-264) to the Criminal Court that this was not a final order in the case and thus there was no appeal from such an order. This Court under the 1911 act, which has been superseded by the present law, held that the determination of a Juvenile Court and its finding that an infant is incorrigible is a determination solely for the Juvenile Court and its finding is binding upon the Criminal Court and subject to review only by the Circuit Court on certiorari. Wiggins v. State, 154 Tenn. 83, 289 S.W. 498. The 1911 act though did not contain any provision for an appeal, and this being true this Court held that a case could only get into a court of record from the Juvenile Court by way of certiorari. In 1956 this question came before this Court in Norrod v. State, 201 Tenn. 577, 300 S.W.2d 926, wherein this Court speaking by the late Mr. Justice Tomlinson said: The cases referred to in the quotation last above have reference to different parts of the 1911 juvenile act. In our investigation of the questions here involved we have found a very enlightening and well written article which covers the statute here in question in full and various other juvenile statutes and cases over the United States. The title to this article is "Problem of Age and Jurisdiction in the Juvenile Court", 19 Vanderbilt Law Review, page 833. The reading of this article is rather illuminating on questions here involved and others pertaining to the disposition of juveniles in related cases, and many questions not now before this Court are interestingly discussed in this article. The question of waiver of jurisdiction by the Juvenile Court to the Criminal Court is discussed at some length and the author says: Then the author goes on and discusses the question of whether or not the Criminal Court can refuse the waiver after the child has been sent to that court by the Juvenile Court, and he says this: Thus we have this writer's interpretation of the language of the Code to the effect that unquestionably from the order of the Juvenile Court finding the child incorrigible, or the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court waived over the child and the child transferred to the Criminal Court, the juvenile does have the right to an appeal. We think this language of the writer makes sense and we adopt it as the view of this Court when a Juvenile Court makes this determination under T.C.A. § 37-264 that the Juvenile Court's jurisdiction should be waived and the child transferred to the Criminal Court and a final order of the Juvenile Court is handed down to this effect, that from this final order the child has an appeal to the Circuit Court where the question shall be heard de novo and a determination made by the Circuit Judge and his findings on the question are to be made by him so that if the case is further appealed the question is of very little doubt. The case would go from the trial court to the Court of Appeals where the hearing would be de novo with a presumption of the correctness of the trial court's finding. We hold that this order of the Juvenile Court after this hearing and its waiver to the Criminal Court was a final order as far as the Juvenile Court is concerned. The Supreme Court of Oregon in the Matter of Little, etc., as reported in 241 Or. 557, 407 P.2d 627, certiorari denied by the Supreme Court of the United States, 385 U.S. 902, 87 S. Ct. 208, 17 L. Ed. 2d 133, is absolutely on all fours with the question here presented. That court said this: As far as we can find there has only been one case appealed since the present statute went into effect, that is, Lokey v. Griffin, 45 Tenn. App. 236, 322 S.W.2d 239. There were a number of questions involved in this reported case and some of them relate to the questions here involved. That court says that after reading T.C.A. § 37-273 it "was of the opinion that upon an appeal from the action of the Juvenile Court the Circuit Court was required to make an independent adjudication of the custody or disposition of said children and that it appeared to this court that His Honor the Trial Judge had failed to do so * * *." In other words, that court held that it was the duty of the Circuit Judge to make a finding in the case. We denied certiorari in this case, Lokey v. Griffin, supra, because we felt that the conclusions reached and the reasoning for them were correct. That court among other things said, insofar as it affects related questions now before us, that: Lastly, we come to Kent v. United States, 383 U.S. 541, 86 S. Ct. 1045, 16 L. Ed. 2d 84, wherein among other things it was held that the Juvenile Court was not authorized to waive jurisdiction over a minor without a hearing and the minor was entitled to effective assistance of counsel and after the hearing and the waiver of jurisdiction of the child from the Juvenile Court to the Criminal Court or the Circuit Court in that instance that the child must have a statement of reasons for it. This decision was not given retroactive effect. Many things are said in relation to a similar act with that involved in the present case, and we quote at length from this opinion because we feel that it is absolutely applicable to our determination of these questions when a juvenile is involved. That court said very aptly that whether or not a Juvenile Court should waive its jurisdiction over a child was not that the court had a license for an arbitrary procedure in doing so but that the court should have considerable latitude to determine the question of whether or not the child should be thus treated. The court further said: It is further said: We have quoted these things as excellent guidelines for trial courts to follow in the adjudication of juvenile rights. The adjudication of waiver, that is a transfer from the Juvenile Court to the Criminal Court, is indeed a very serious proposition because it contemplates criminal sanctions. After having given the matter full consideration and making an independent investigation along with the excellent briefs filed herein, we are of the opinion that the juvenile under such conditions is entitled to an appeal and is entitled to have his appeal heard de novo to determine the questions here involved. The case is reversed and remanded to the Circuit Court for a hearing in line with what is said herein.