Opinion ID: 1644479
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: E.A.R.'s Juvenile Offenses

Text: E.A.R., the juvenile offender involved in this case, is currently a seventeen-year-old held in State custody. He was somewhat younger at the time he committed the offenses that led to his eventual placement in a high-risk DJJ residential-commitment program. E.A.R. committed the first relevant offense, trespass to a structure (a second-degree misdemeanor if prosecuted as an adult), [6] between October 7 and 12, 2005. At that time, he and another male juvenile entered the home of an individual who was vacationing abroad. Once inside, the boys damaged the interior and fixtures of the home and then fled. E.A.R. was fourteen at the time he committed this offense. Later, on November 5, 2005, E.A.R. committed the second relevant offense, burglary of an unoccupied conveyance while unarmed (a third-degree felony if prosecuted as an adult). [7] He and a male accomplice attempted to break into a parked automobile. E.A.R. stood as a lookout while his accomplice unsuccessfully attempted to gain access to the interior of the automobile. The victim did not report any missing items or damage to the vehicle. E.A.R. was one day short of his fifteenth birthday when he committed this offense. On August 15, 2006, E.A.R. pled guilty to these two offenses in exchange for withheld adjudication and juvenile probation. As part of this plea bargain, E.A.R. agreed to testify against his accomplice(s). On January 29, 2007, E.A.R.'s probation officer and an assistant state attorney filed an affidavit and petition for violation of probation alleging that E.A.R. failed to comply with the requirements of his probation by missing school, breaking curfew, disobeying his legal guardian, and changing his residence without his probation officer's permission. Contemporaneously, during late January of 2007, E.A.R. stole his legal guardian's checkbook and ran away from home. On the afternoon of January 30, 2007, E.A.R. committed the third relevant offense, uttering a forged instrument (a third-degree felony if prosecuted as an adult), [8] by entering a check-cashing business and attempting to exchange one of the stolen checks for $400. E.A.R. was taken into custody and placed in secure detention [9] pending his adjudication [10] and disposition. On February 8, 2007, the State amended its petition for violation of probation to include E.A.R.'s new law violation.