Case Title: Lammers v. State

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: arkansas

Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Date: 1996-04-22T00:00:00Z

Document:
Clint LAMMERS v. STATE of Arkansas

95-1264                                            ___ S.W.2d ___

                    Supreme Court of Arkansas
                Opinion delivered April 22, 1996


1.   Juveniles -- juvenile transfer -- burden of proof. -- A
     defendant seeking a transfer has the burden of proof to show
     a transfer is warranted under Ark. Code Ann.  9-27-318(e)
     (Repl. 1993); if he or she meets the burden, then the transfer
     is made unless there is clear and convincing countervailing
     evidence to support a finding that the juvenile should remain
     in circuit court; clear and convincing evidence is that degree
     of proof that will produce in the trier of fact a firm
     conviction regarding the allegation sought to be established.

2.   Juveniles -- juvenile transfer -- trial court not required to
     give equal weight to each statutory factor -- violence
     considered. -- In a juvenile-transfer case, the trial court is
     not required to give equal weight to each of the statutory
     factors; moreover, proof need not be introduced against the
     juvenile on each factor; the serious and violent nature of an
     offense is a sufficient basis for denying a motion to transfer
     and trying a juvenile as an adult; no element of violence
     beyond that required to commit the crime is necessary under
     Ark. Code Ann  9-27-318(e)(1); however, that a crime is
     serious without the use of violence is not a factor sufficient
     in and of itself for a circuit court to retain jurisdiction of
     a juvenile.

3.   Criminal law -- information can constitute sufficient evidence
     that defendant is charged with serious and violent crime. --
     An information can constitute sufficient evidence to establish
     that the defendant is charged with a serious and violent
     crime.

4.   Juveniles -- juvenile transfer -- standard of review. -- The
     supreme court applies the clearly erroneous standard in
     reviewing the trial court's denial of a motion to transfer a
     criminal case to juvenile court.

5.   Appeal & error -- argument not made to trial court cannot be
     raised on appeal. -- An argument not made to the trial court
     cannot be raised on appeal.

6.   Criminal law -- accomplices -- accomplice is responsible for
     activities of his cohort. -- An accomplice, even of minor age,
     is responsible for the activities of his cohort.

7.   Juveniles -- juvenile transfer -- introduction of evidence of
     each statutory factor not required -- serious and violent
     nature of crime sufficient to deny transfer. -- It was neither
     necessary for the State to introduce evidence of each factor
     under Ark. Code Ann.  9-27-318(e) nor necessary for the trial
     court to give equal weight to each factor; the serious and
     violent nature of the crime charged was sufficient, in and of
     itself, for the trial court to deny the motion to transfer.


     Appeal from Arkansas Circuit Court; Russell Rogers, Judge;
affirmed.
     Green, Henry & Green, by: J. Bradley Green, for appellant.
     Winston Bryant, Att'y Gen., by:  Sandy Moll, Asst. Att'y Gen.,
for appellee.

     Robert H. Dudley, Justice.April 22, 1996   *ADVREP4*





CLINT LAMMERS,
                    APPELLANT,

V.

STATE OF ARKANSAS,
                    APPELLEE.



95-1264


APPEAL FROM THE ARKANSAS COUNTY
CIRCUIT COURT,
NO. 94-274,
HON. RUSSELL ROGERS, JUDGE,




AFFIRMED.



                   Robert H. Dudley, Justice.


     This is another in the series of interlocutory appeals from a
circuit court's refusal to transfer a criminal case to juvenile
court.  Appellant, a seventeen-year-old, is charged with capital
murder.  He has a history of prior adjudications of delinquency in
juvenile court as a result of burglaries and criminal mischief, and
was on probation from juvenile court at the time he allegedly
committed capital murder.  We affirm the order of the circuit court
refusing to transfer the case to juvenile court.       
     The law regarding motions to transfer to juvenile court is
well established:
     A defendant seeking a transfer has the burden of proof to
     show a transfer is warranted under Ark. Code Ann.  9-27-
     318(e).  Ring v. State, 320 Ark. 128,