### TEXA S C OU R T OF A PPEAL S, THIR D DIST R ICT , AT AU STIN

444444444444444 NO. 03-04-00809- CV

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In the Matte r of

C. J . M.

44444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444 FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF TRAVIS COU NTY, 98TH JUDICIAL DISTRI CT NO. J -22 , 496, HONO RABLE W. JEANNE MEURER, J UDGE PRESIDING

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M E M O R

A N D U M O P I N I O N
C. J . M. appea ls from the j uvenile court’s order committing her to the custody

of the Texas Y outh Commission pursua nt to section 54.04 of the Te x as F amily Code. See Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 54 .0 4 (We st Sup p. 20 05 ). I n he r so le po int of e rr or , C. J. M. c on te nd s th e e vid e nc e is l e g a lly and fa ctually

insufficient to support the trial c ourt’s commitment o rd er . Be cause we f ind that the
e vid e nc e is s uf

fi c ie nt, we a ff

ir m th e tr ia l c ourt ’s or de r c omm itt in g C
. J . M. to the Te xas Y outh Commi ssion. On October 25, 2004, the State filed its orig inal petition a g ainst C. J. M., alleg ing that on or about Oc tober 18, 2004, C. J . M. committed the misdemeanor of fense of evadingarr est. See Te x. Pe n. Cod e Ann. § 38. 04 (We st 200 3)
. At an ad jud ic a tio n he ari ng on Oc tob e r 28, 20 04 , C. J. M. pleade d “true ” to the State’s a lleg at i o n s that she eva ded ar rest. At a disposition hear ing on November

1, the cour

t hear d evidenc e conc erningthe appr opriate disposition.2 C. J . M.’s probation off

icer testified and the court, upon consent of both c ounsel, took jud ic ia l no tic e of

the pr ob a tio n re po rt de sc ri bin g C. J. M .’ s p re vio us inv olv e me nt w iththe juv e nil e justice sy stem. I n s i x prior re fer rals to the juvenile c ourt that included a ssault, violation of court order s, evadingdetention, and f ailure to identify , the repor t r efle cted that five of the re fer rals re sulted in dispositions in which C. J. M. was place d on probation or the pr obation was modified. The rec ord ref lects that C. J . M. was orig inally place d on probation on Marc h 12, 2003, for an assault occ urring on October

28, 2002. She was place d on probation ag ain in A pril 2004 for evading arr est on Marc h 19 , 2 00 4. At

the tim e of

he r c ur re nt ar re st, sh e wa s on pro batio n unti l Apr il 8, 2 00 5. Ac c or din g to the re port, one re fer

ral of violation of a

court orde r wa s di s m i s s ed . The re port also stated that C. J . M. was elig ible to be commit ted to the Texas Youth Commi ssion if she was a djudicated e ither
on a mot ion to modify her curre nt probation or on a new offe nse. Ne ither counse l objected to any
a sp e c t of the re po rt . On appe al, C. J . M. challeng es the commit ment order , claiming that the evidenc e wa s insufficient to show she ha d any prior adjudications and was ther efor e eligible for commitment. She urg es that t h e t ri al court abused its discretion in committi ng her to the Te x as Youth Commissi on beca use it was not a per

missibl e option. See Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 54.04. We disag ree . After a revie w of the r ecor d, we c onclude that the c ommitm ent orde r satisfies the statutory criter ia. Th e fa mil y c od e pr ov ide s that a disp os iti on may be ma de by c omm itt ing a c hil d to the Texas Youth Commi ssion if there is evide nce sh o wi n g t h at the child eng ag ed in delinquent conduct c onstitut ing a

felony offe nse or ha s succe ssive misdemeanor a djudications. Id
.3

§ 54.04(d)( 2), (s), ( t). Section 54.04(s) provides that the court may commit the child to the Texas Youth Commi ssion for conduc t that violates a pena l law of the g rade of misdemeanor if: (1) the child has b e e n

a d ju d ic ated a s having eng ag ed in delinquent conduc t violating a pe na l la w o f t he g ra de of

mis de me ano r o n at le a st two pr ior oc c a sio ns ; (2) of the pre vious adjudications , t h e conduct that was the basis for one of the adjudications occ urre d afte r the date of a nother pre vious adjudication; and (3 ) the c on du c t tha t is the ba sis of the c ur re nt ad jud ic a tio n oc c ur

re d af te r the date of a t le a st two pr e vio us a dju dic a tio ns . Id
. § 54.04(s). Thus, the family code limi ts when a juvenile who eng ag es i n misdemeanor de linquent conduct, a s here , may

be commit ted to the Texas Youth Commi ssion. For the c ommissi on of a misdemeanor to r esult in commitm ent, the juvenile must have two e arlier misdemeanor adjudications, the c onduct on which a later adjudication is based must have oc curr ed af ter a n ear lier adjudication, and the conduct that is the basis for the c urre nt adjudication must have oc curr ed af ter the date of

two prior adjudica

tions. Id
. I n the cur rent proce eding , C. J. M. wa s adjudicate d delinquent on Octobe r 28, 2004, for the misdeme anor offe nse of evading arr est, which occur red on O ctober

18, 2004. See Tex. P en. Code Ann. § 38.04. B eca use (i) C. J . M. had bee n adjudicate d delinquent on at lea st two previous
occa sions for offe nses at least at the misdemeanor level befor e the curr ent adjudication, (ii) of the previous adjudica

tions, the conduct of a

later of fense clea rly occur red a fter a previous adjudication, and (iii) the c onduct that is the basis of the c urre nt adjudication occurre d afte r t he date s of two prior adjudications, the statutory criter ia ar e satisfied. See Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 54.04( s).4 We overrule C. J
. M.’s sole point of err or and a ffirm the or der of the juvenile cour

t committing C. J . M. to the car e, custody and contr ol of the Texas Youth Commis sion.

__________________________________________ J an P. Patterson, J ustice Be fore J ustices B . A. Smith, P atterson a nd Pury ear Affir med Filed: January

12, 2006