Opinion ID: 354327
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the absence of juvenile court proceedings

Text: 12 At the time of Schmidt's arrest and trial, the Juvenile Court of Allegheny County had jurisdiction over all crimes . . . whatsoever . . . wherein the person charged is a child under eighteen years of age. 11 P.S. § 269-202(f). 2 Schmidt never appeared before that court. The Commonwealth argues that the Court of Oyer and Terminer has discretion under 11 P.S. § 269-413 to retain jurisdiction over juveniles between sixteen and eighteen charged with murder. The difficulty with this argument is that the state court record contains no evidence of a hearing on the question of transfer. If transfer to juvenile court could have conferred on Schmidt any substantial benefit, then a transfer hearing would be constitutionally required. Kent v. United States, 383 U.S. 541, 86 S.Ct. 1045, 16 L.Ed.2d 84 (1966). 13 The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania did not, however, rest its rejection of Schmidt's juvenile claim on the discretion, exercised without a hearing, of the Court of Oyer and Terminer. Instead, construing the Juvenile Court Law of Allegheny County consistently with the general Juvenile Court Law, 11 P.S. §§ 243 et seq., it held that the sole responsibility of a juvenile court in a murder case is to determine whether the Commonwealth has made out a prima facie case. If it is determined that the Commonwealth has borne its burden, then the defendant must be held for indictment and trial in the regular criminal courts. In Schmidt's case the same determination of probable cause was made in a coroner's inquest, at which he was represented by counsel. Commonwealth v. Schmidt, 452 Pa. at 203, 299 A.2d at 264. Thus, all he lost by the failure of the Court of Oyer and Terminer to transfer his case was the determination of probable cause by a juvenile court judge, rather than by a coroner's jury. 14 We are bound by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's interpretation of the Commonwealth's statutes. If the role of a juvenile court judge in a murder case is so circumscribed, then we must agree that transfer to the juvenile court would have afforded Schmidt no significant benefit. We must therefore agree that the absence of a hearing on transfer did him no prejudice. It is, nonetheless, a circumstance, among many others, bearing upon the length of his interrogation and therefore, ultimately, upon the voluntariness of his confession.