Court Opinion

ID: 9456596
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:57:28.192784+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:02.309001
License: Public Domain

GANEY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
This case is one of first impression and concerns the question of whether § 33, 4 V.I. Code,1 is Constitutional. The' legal question here involves a fourteen-year-old boy convicted, under § 1084, 14 V.I. Code,2 under the circumstances largely set forth in the majority opinion, with the additional fact that the appellant voluntarily went with *325the alleged victim and his companion to the police station- and enroute told them he had gotten the money from two other boys, which he repeated at the police station in the presence of his uncle. This fact reveals no pressure, promise' or coercion whatsoever and, while this happening was previous to Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478 (1964) and Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), nevertheless, the statements were voluntarily made and were, in no wise, harmful to the defendant and, as a matter of fact, they constituted his defense and were, if. anything, beneficial to him.
The majority opinion holds in one portion, as follows: “We therefore conclude that it was a denial of the equal protection of the laws to deny to defendant the right of review accorded to adults.” It would therefore seem that at this point the majority holds the statute unconstitutional on an ad hoc basis; that it is applicable only to the circumstances involving this defendant. However, after further discussion of the problem, the majority concludes: “We hold, accordingly, that § 33 of Title 4 of the V.I. Code is invalid to the extent that it requires a juvenile to obtain the special allowance of the District Court for an appeal from the Municipal Court in a case in which the decision of the Municipal Court imposes a restraint upon his liberty.” The finality of this holding renders the statute unconstitutional, as to all juveniles where their liberty is restrained and only to that extent. This leads to no little confusion. If the statute, in the first instance, is unconstitutional as to this defendant by reason of the denial of a right to a full appeal by him which is granted to an adult, then it seems to me that there is a conflict when, finally, the holding makes the statute unconstitutional to the extent that it imposes a restraint upon a juvenile’s liberty — any juvenile. Here it should be noted that the statute per se is not unconstitutional, but only to the extent that it imposes *326a restraint upon a juvenile’s liberty, and this, in turn, would eviscerate § 33 because in all the instances which the majority sets forth in § 172, the Municipal Court can find a juvenile not guilty, guilty and place him in custody or put him on probation, as set forth in 5 V.I. Code, § 2506, and in any case, whether it be a criminal offense or any of the minor matters set forth in that section, such as delinquency, etc., the probation always contains a restriction on the juvenile’s liberty. This, at least, would open Pandora’s Box to every judgment by the Municipal Court which, of necessity, must restrain his liberty and flood the District Court with trifling appeals, such as the instant one, or at most, really render that portion of § 33, as to the discretion vested in the District Court in granting special allowance to juveniles, worthless.
I hold § 33 to be Constitutional. As I stated at the outset, this was a case of first impression for the reason that this Section has served the Virgin Islands well and has stood firm through many revisions since its inception in the Code of 1921, including a complete revision by an Advisory Commission, created by the Secretary of the Interior in 1955, and this is its first challenge in the Courts in half a century. While I do not hold that age lends sanctity to any law, no matter how hoary, serious fault should be shown before it is struck down, in the face of the circumstances here shown.
The differentiation expressed in the statute, in my judgment, is a proper exercise of a legislative function by the local Legislature. This differentiation is a reasonable one and not arbitrary or frivolous, and is compelled by the very statute itself differentiating between separate and disparate systems of court procedure, one aimed at correction and rehabilitation, and the other, punitive. Here, the Legislature invested jurisdiction in the juvenile courts to be dispensed in an informal and relaxed atmosphere, unin*327hibited by strict rules of evidence, where a study of the whole individual is made, his life background and parental status, his economic situation, his moral environment, and thus a court dealing with these characteristics of juveniles and concerned wholly with them, gave the Legislature, in my judgment, warrant to place some degree of finality in the exercise of its expertise, to be checked only by the District Court in a screening for special allowance for appeals where unreasonable or arbitrary dispositions are made by the Municipal Court.
The majority cites Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12 (1956) and Douglas v. California, 372 U.S. 353 (1963), in support of their position, but, in my judgment, their factual situations are not comparable to the instant case. These cases concern adults, whose right to appeal was dependent upon their ability to pay the necessary fees, in the former case for a transcript on appeal, and in the latter, for the courts to conform with a Rule of Civil Procedure wherein it was required to make an ex-parte examination of the record to determine whether the appointment of counsel for petitioner would or would not be of advantage to the defendant or helpful to the appellate court. In both instances, there was broad discrimination between the rich and the poor.
However, the majority’s main reliance is on In Re Gault, 387 U.S. 1 (1967), with repeated references thereto, and in one instance, quoting from In Re Winship, 397 U.S. 358 (1970), a portion from In Re Gault, supra, which portion has reference only to the adjudicatory stage of the proceeding. In Re Gault has nothing whatsoever to do with appellate procedures and speaks directly to it in precise, crystal-clear language, at page 13, where the Court states: “We do not in this opinion consider the impact of these constitutional provisions upon the totality of the relationship of the juvenile and the state. We do not even consider *328the entire process relating to juvenile ‘delinquents.’ For example, we are not here concerned with the procedures or constitutional rights applicable to the prejudicial stages of the juvenile process, nor do we direct our attention to the post-adjudicative or dispositional process. See note 48, infra. We consider only the problems presented to us by this ease. These relate to the proceedings by which a determination is made as to whether a juvenile is a ‘delinquent’ as a result of alleged misconduct on his part, with the consequence that he may be committed to a state institution.” Note 48, which concerns the National Crime Commission Report, states, inter alia, “The problems of pre-adjudication treatment of juveniles, and of post-adjudication disposition, are unique to the juvenile process; hence what we hold in this opinion with regard to the precedural requirements at the adjudicatory stage has no necessary applicability to other steps of the juvenile process.” Again, on page 58, the Court states: “This Court has not held that a State is required by the Federal Constitution ‘tn provide appellate courts or a right to appellate review at all.’ In view of the fact that we must reverse the Supreme Court of Arizona’s affirmance of the dismissal of the writ of habeas corpus for other reasons, we need not rule on this question in the present case or upon the failure to provide a transcript or recording of the hearings — or, indeed, the failure of the Juvenile Judge to state the grounds for his conclusion.” It is thus apparent that In Re Gault supra, has, indeed, no relevancy to the question posed here.
The statutory violation here was a rather trifling offense, petit larceny — the taking of $12 — and to subject a fourteen-year-old to custody for four years, thus depriving him of his liberty and freedom of action during the most formative part of his early life, is a truly harsh sentence, especially when the record shows no previous delinquency or aggravating circumstances surrounding the occurrence, *329which called for such severe punishment. Sentences in the Juvenile Court should comport with its correctional and rehabilitative aims and objectives of the system as it is structured, which has long envisioned the guiding helpful hand, rather than punitive sanctions or retribution. While this sentence — a commitment for four years to the Department of Social Welfare — was not asserted by counsel for the juvenile as one of his alleged complaints, nor mentioned by the majority as a reason for remand were it not for its alleged unconstitutionality of § 33, I feel strongly its mitigation should warrant the attention of this court.
It is to be remembered that an able and experienced Judge of this Court, on two different occasions denied the right of appeal. On the first occasion there was argued to him the insufficiency of the evidence and the failure of the court to give the defendant the benefit of the doctrine of reasonable doubt. An examination of the record would support the denial of the right of appeal, as much of the record discloses sufficient evidence of the finding of the judgment of conviction and, as can be seen from the colloquy between the court and counsel, the question of reasonable doubt was presented to the court to be used as a guideline in the determination of the defendant’s guilt and by the court agreeing therewith by saying, “I would think so.”, fair inference can be made that the court used the doctrine of reasonable doubt in the determination of his guilt. On the second petition for appeal, In Re Gault, supra, was brought to the attention of the court and it again denied the petition after argument.
However, while I hold the statute Constitutional, I am constrained to further hold that the District Court abused its discretion in this instance as to this defendant in respect to the sentence which was imposed by the Municipal Court
*330Therefore, I would vacate the judgment of the lower court and direct a remand of the case to the Municipal Court for the imposition of sentence, and if custody under the Department of Social Welfare is imposed under one year, an accompanying statement of the reason therefor should be filed; and if custody for a year or more is imposed by reason of the juvenile’s repeated violation of. any of the offenses contained in § 172, which would require a longer period for his rehabilitation, a more detailed finding of specific facts and the conclusions drawn therefrom should be made, showing that the period of rehabilitation for the juvenile’s correction is required, and should be filed with the judgment.

 This section reads as follows: “The District Court has appellate jurisdiction to review the judgments and orders of the Municipal Court in all civil cases, in all juvenile and domestic relations cases, and in all criminal cases in. which the defendant has been convicted, other than on a plea of guilty. Appeals in civil, juvenile and domestic relations cases may be taken by the party aggrieved by the judgment or order appealed from, but in juvenile and domestic relations cases they may be taken only if specially allowed by the district court.”

 This section reads as follows: “Petit larceny. Whoever commits larceny under any other circumstances is guilty of petit larceny and shall be fined not more than $200 or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.”