Opinion ID: 1169834
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Waiver of Juvenile Jurisdiction

Text: Larios argued in his brief that, because this Court in Larios I determined that Larios was once again under the jurisdiction of the YRA when he pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and the district court accepted this plea, the district court was precluded from considering the State's motion to waive jurisdiction under the YRA. Essentially, Larios asserted that this Court's determination was synonymous to an order finding that he was within the purview of the YRA. In oral argument, however, Larios' counsel argued that the district court's mere acceptance of Larios' plea of guilty to the lesser offense constituted an order finding that Larios was within the purview of the YRA. When reviewing a district court's ruling on a motion for waiver of jurisdiction under the YRA, this Court applies the abuse of discretion standard. State v. Christensen, 100 Idaho 631, 603 P.2d 586 (1979). Therefore, this Court must determine whether the district court's findings are based on substantial competent evidence. Id. at 634, 603 P.2d at 589. Furthermore, when evaluating whether the district court abused its discretion, this Court must determine: (1) whether the district court correctly perceived the issue as one of discretion; (2) whether the district court acted within the outer boundaries of its discretion and consistently with the legal standards applicable to the specific choices available to it; and (3) whether the district court reached its decision by an exercise of reason. Sun Valley Shopping Ctr. v. Idaho Power Co., 119 Idaho 87, 94, 803 P.2d 993, 1000 (1991) (citing State v. Hedger, 115 Idaho 598, 768 P.2d 1331 (1989)). With respect to Larios' argument contained in his brief, we certainly do not believe that any of this Court's findings in Larios I should be considered an order. Additionally, as counsel recognized in oral argument, we would have to overrule Larios I if we accepted Larios' contention that accepting a plea, alone, was sufficient to put Larios within the purview of the YRA, because such a conclusion would be inconsistent with this Court's decision in Larios I. We are not inclined to overrule Larios I. In that case, we were quite clear that, even though the offense to which Larios entered a plea was an offense within the juvenile act, there had been no order or decree finding Larios within the purview of the act. Larios I, 125 Idaho at 729, 874 P.2d at 540. Additionally, we found that Larios was to be treated as a juvenile until the district court made a determination waiving jurisdiction, and we specifically concluded that the district court was responsible for making that determination. Id. at 730, 874 P.2d at 541. Moreover, we believe that a guilty plea or accepting a plea is nothing more than that, unless the court specifically enters an order or decree finding the juvenile within the purview of the YRA. No such order or decree was entered, and, thus, nothing precludes a later hearing to determine whether juvenile jurisdiction ought to be waived. Therefore, we conclude that the district court correctly followed our instructions in Larios I and, therefore, did not abuse its discretion when it determined to waive juvenile jurisdiction.