Opinion ID: 2340438
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Superior Court Retained Jurisdiction To Sentence Posey

Text: ¶ 20 A jury convicted Posey of two counts of rape in the second degree. Posey I, 161 Wash.2d at 641, 167 P.3d 560. Second degree rape is a felony offense. RCW 9A.44.050(2). The Yakima County Superior Court has jurisdiction over felony offenses. WASH. CONST. art. IV, § 6. Therefore, the Yakima County Superior Court possessed jurisdiction to sentence Posey. ¶ 21 Posey argues that no court had jurisdiction to sentence him. He contends that because the jury found him not guilty of the first degree assault charge, the superior court lacked jurisdiction. As authority for this point, he cites this court's previous opinion in this case. See Posey I, 161 Wash.2d at 647, 167 P.3d 560. Posey further contends that the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction over him due to RCW 13.40.300(3), which states that [i]n no event may the juvenile court have authority to extend jurisdiction over any juvenile offender beyond the juvenile offender's twenty-first birthday. ¶ 22 This argument fails. The superior court always retains its jurisdiction over felony offenses. This jurisdiction derives directly from the constitution. See WASH. CONST. art. IV, § 6. The legislature by statute cannot alter the constitutional jurisdiction of the superior courts. Werner, 129 Wash.2d at 496, 918 P.2d 916. ¶ 23 Posey's argument wrongly assumes that the juvenile court and the superior court are different courts with different jurisdictional requirements. Juvenile courts are not separate and distinct from superior courts. Properly understood, the superior court, sitting in juvenile court `session,' grants to prosecuting officials the `authority to proceed,' in an appropriate case, with the criminal prosecution of a child under 18 years of age. Dillenburg, 70 Wash.2d at 353, 413 P.2d 940, 422 P.2d 783. If a particular judge receives the designation of `juvenile court judge,' the other departments of the superior court in that county do not lose jurisdiction in . . . juvenile court matters. Campbell, 34 Wash.2d at 775, 210 P.2d 123. [U]nder Article IV, § 6, the Legislature has not vested jurisdiction exclusively in some court other than the superior court by enacting RCW 13.04.030 because the juvenile court is a division of the superior court, not a separate court. Werner, 129 Wash.2d at 493, 918 P.2d 916. ¶ 24 Long established precedents from this court recognize that juvenile courts are simply departments (or divisions) of the superior courts. See Campbell, 34 Wash.2d at 775, 210 P.2d 123; Dillenburg, 70 Wash.2d at 352-53, 413 P.2d 940, 422 P.2d 783; Werner, 129 Wash.2d at 492, 918 P.2d 916; Boot, 130 Wash.2d at 561 n. 4, 925 P.2d 964. The legislature has acknowledged this. See RCW 13.04.021(1) (The juvenile court shall be a division of the superior court.). ¶ 25 The constitution grants the superior courts original jurisdiction in all criminal cases amounting to felony. . . . Wash. Const. art. IV, § 6. The legislature cannot rescind this constitutional jurisdiction or vest it exclusively in another court. Werner, 129 Wash.2d at 496, 918 P.2d 916. Because the superior court's jurisdiction derives from the constitution, and the juvenile session lacked statutory authority to act in Posey's case, the superior court retained jurisdiction to sentence him for his crimes.