Opinion ID: 2428052
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Juvenile court Statute

Text: Walker relies on Ark.Code Ann. § 9-27-318 (Supp.1991) which provides in pertinent part: (a) Waiver of juvenile court jurisdiction and transfer to a circuit court is not available when a case involves a juvenile:  (3) Age fourteen (14) years or age fifteen (15) years and the alleged act, if committed by an adult, would constitute a misdemeanor or a felony, other than those felonies specifically enumerated in subdivision (b)(1) of this section. (b)(1) When a case involves a juvenile age fourteen (14) or fifteen (15) at the time the alleged delinquent act occurred, the prosecuting attorney has the discretion to file charges in circuit court for an alleged act which constitutes capital murder, murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, kidnapping in the first degree, aggravated robbery, rape, or battery in the first degree. The Statute clearly prohibits charging a juvenile with a non-enumerated offense in a circuit court. In Banks v. State, 306 Ark. 273, 813 S.W.2d 256 (1991), the prosecutor charged a juvenile with three nonenumerated offenses in a circuit court. We held charges of offenses not listed in § 9-27-318(b)(1) should have been dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. In this case the prosecutor filed a first degree murder charge against Walker in the Circuit Court as permitted by the Statute. We must decide whether the Circuit Court lost jurisdiction when the jury failed to convict Walker of an offense which the Statute authorized to be charged in the Circuit Court.