Opinion ID: 2514450
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: In re Marques B.

Text: The charges against appellant Marques B. stem from the armed robbery of two individuals by two juvenile males in a park. As a result of the park robbery, Marques, who was 17 years old at the time, was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, two counts of robbery with the use of a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm, endangering a person, and possession of a firearm. The State sought to certify Marques for criminal proceedings as an adult by way of a certification petition under NRS 62B.390(2). Marques filed an opposition to the State's petition for certification that included his court-ordered psychological and competency evaluations, a Family and Youth Services Department psychological services report rendered approximately three years prior, a Clark County School District Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team report, and a diagnostic report showing a positive result for the presence of marijuana metabolite in Marques' submitted sample. The juvenile court psychologist diagnosed Marques with cannabis abuse, disruptive behavior disorder (not otherwise specified), a history of learning disorders, a history of communication disorders, adolescent antisocial behavior, and borderline intellectual functioning. It was also noted that Marques had legal, academic, and peer group issues. Marques' psychological evaluation also revealed that Marques has received special education services since kindergarten; he has been classified by the Clark County School District as a child with specific learning disabilities; he has demonstrated weakness in math, listening comprehension, written expression, and basic reading; his last IQ score of 74 falls within the borderline range of intellectual functioning; and he had been identified as being developmentally delayed and having a severe oral language disorder. Marques' competency evaluation concluded that he was borderline competent and just barely able to understand what's going on. The evaluation stated that Marques was unable to state the specific charges against him; he understood the charges were serious; he thought that the worst thing that could happen to him was the judge sending [him] up for two years, and that would be the worst thing because it's a long time; he was unable to describe the role of the prosecutor; he did not know the difference between the judge, the prosecutor, and the defense attorney; his learning disabilities impacted his expressive and receptive language skills; his low level of intellectual functioning needed to be taken into account when using legal terminology; he could not explain what a plea bargain or plea agreement was; and he could not fully appreciate the risks involved in a plea bargain. The competency evaluation concluded that Marques had deficits in his abilities associated with competence to stand trial, but the deficits were not sufficient to have him deemed incompetent by the court. The Family and Youth Services Department report showed Marques reading at a second grade level, scoring below the first percentile for his age. All of the reports submitted with Marques' opposition that included an assessment for violence found that Marques demonstrated a very low risk for violence. A hearing was held to determine whether Marques should be tried as an adult under NRS 62B.390(2). During that hearing, Marques' counsel stipulated to prosecutive merit. Like in William's case, counsel argued that, since Marques denied being present during the alleged incident, the court should accept the hypothetical proposition that if Marques had been at the robbery in the park, his involvement would have been substantially influenced by his substance abuse and emotional and behavioral problems. The court found that the State had established prosecutive merit. Concluding that Marques could not meet his rebuttal burden by establishing a nexus between his substance abuse or his emotional and behavioral issues and the park robbery, as he denied any involvement in the robbery, the court certified Marques for criminal proceedings as an adult. The order certifying Marques as an adult provides that he is not develop mentally or mentally incompetent to understand his situation and the proceedings of the court or to aid his attorney in those proceedings. The order also states that there was not clear and convincing evidence that Marques' actions were substantially the result of his emotional or behavioral problems and that such problems could be treated through the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. Marques appeared in the district court for criminal proceedings and pleaded not guilty to the charges. He then filed his notice of appeal from the order certifying him as an adult. After spending weeks in adult detention, the district court granted Marques house arrest. Marques faces up to 60 years' imprisonment on the charges. Because William's and Marques' appeals raised similar issues regarding the constitutionality of Nevada's presumptive certification provisions, NRS 62B.390(2) and (3), we consolidated the two matters for consideration.