Court Opinion

ID: 9885479
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 13:03:17.517214+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:54.104136
License: Public Domain

CONCURRING OPINION
FINCH, Judge.
I have concluded to concur in the principal opinion herein. It does not hold that anything disclosed as a result of an examination of the juvenile court file is admissible and may be used against the defendant. That issue very carefully and explicitly is reserved until such time as there is an attempt to offer in evidence against defendant any of the information contained in said file or obtained as a result of inspection of that file.
To rule otherwise would be to conclude that § 211.271(3), RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S., creates an absolute privilege in favor of the juvenile with respect to juvenile court files in his case and with reference to any witnesses used against him in the juvenile court. This seems to be the contention of defendant and the philosophy expressed in the dissenting opinion herein.
I cannot agree that the statute creates such an absolute privilege. In the first place, the statute authorizes the juvenile court, by order, to open the file to interested persons. This, in and of itself, shows that the file is not absolutely privileged. Furthermore, although the statute says that evidence given in the juvenile proceedings is not lawful or proper evidence against the child for any purpose whatsoever, that does not necessarily mean, in my judgment, that the lips of one who testified in the juvenile proceeding are sealed so that he may not be a witness in a subsequent criminal proceeding.
*379Likewise, the statute does not necessarily mean that any statement given by the juvenile himself may not be used against him in a criminal proceeding. If, for example, a juvenile is given all of the constitutional rights required by Gault,* and he voluntarily and knowingly makes a confession, the fact that such information was used in the juvenile proceeding would not necessarily mean that evidence of such confession could not be offered in a criminal trial. Certainly, constitutional standards would have been complied with in such a situation.
The test in each case will be whether the particular evidence offered is or is not admissible, considering constitutional standards as well as the provisions of the Juvenile Code. These questions properly are left open under the majority opinion, to be determined in the light of the particular facts at that time presented.
Dissenting Opinion
I respectfully dissent. It seems to me that the effect of the majority opinion is that the state can have its cake and eat it, too, which I do not think was the intention of the legislature in adopting the juvenile code. In this case, the state, through the juvenile court, prior to transfer of the juvenile, obtains information from him at a time when a non-adversary type of relationship exists between it and the juvenile, where the juvenile is being held in custody not as a criminal, but as a juvenile, primarily for purposes of reform and rehabilitation, if possible, rather than for punishment.1 The statute, § 211.271, subd. 3, RSMo 1959, states “Evidence given in cases under [the juvenile code] is not lawful or proper evidence against the child for any purpose whatever in a civil, criminal or other proceeding * * * ” (emphasis supplied). Relator offered to prove at the hearing before respondent that the attorney who was appointed to represent relator in juvenile court did not advise relator not to communicate or speak with the juvenile officers because the attorney was of the opinion that whatever was said by the juvenile to the juvenile officers could not be used against him in any other place. It now turns out that the prosecuting authorities are to be furnished this information to use against him. Entirely aside from the constitutional questions involved in using evidence obtained from the juvenile under these circumstances against him in a criminal prosecution, it seems to me that § 211.271, subd. 3, supra, gives the juvenile a substantive right not to have such evidence used against him “for any purpose whatever in a civil, criminal or other proceeding”, and we cannot change the substantive law by our rule 25.19, see Art. V, § 5, 1945 Constitution.2
*380Also, we should consider the effect which the use we are permitting to he made of our court-made rule 25.19 will have on the work of the juvenile court in what has been described as “the specialized field of handling neglected and delinquent children in modern times” and what it will do to the techniques which have been worked out for handling juveniles.3 Gone, it seems to me, will be the opportunity to establish in the juvenile a feeling of trust and confidence in the juvenile court authorities and a willingness by the juvenile based on this trust and confidence to make a full disclosure of the facts, especially when to do so may involve him in a crime or put him in a bad light. Anyone who has had any experience with children knows how important it is to corrective action to get at the truth and to have the confidence and respect of the child.4 Henceforth, however, any adviser of a juvenile who knows of this decision— lawyer, minister, relative, teacher, friend, or whoever it may be — will advise a juvenile that no matter what assurances he receives from the juvenile authorities he cannot safely tell them the truth if it involves him in a criminal act, because it may well turn out that what he tells them will wind up in the hands of the prosecuting authorities “for'¡the purpose of inspection, copying and for use in the preparation of trial” against him. This decision delivers a further blow to the rehabilitative aspect of juvenile court work. It will keep juveniles from speaking freely. Admittedly the present case is a difficult one, because the record in the first trial, State v. Arbeiter (Mo.Sup.) 408 S.W.2d 26, shows that this particular defendant made outright statements of his guilt to the police and there is a natural reaction that he should not escape punishment if in fact he is guilty, but this does not change the juvenile code or its application.
Nor does it seem the fact mentioned in the majority opinion that it is public knowledge that this juvenile is involved in a murder charge and has made incriminating statements (which came about because of error in the first trial in admitting statements made to the police and corrected on appeal in State v. Arbeiter, supra) is material, because there is nothing in the opinion which limits its operation to cases where the aura of confidentiality surrounding juvenile matters has already been lost, or which will keep it from operating against future juveniles indiscriminately.
For the foregoing reasons I believe the provisional rule herein should be made absolute.
Turning now to- the objection raised by relator that rule 25.19 is not to be used as a rule of discovery, the court has many times said categorically that the rule is not so to be used.5 Here the entire purpose of *381the state is discovery. What the state is seeking here are statements or admissions of the relator, if any, and the names of juvenile personnel who took or witnessed such statements. This is precisely what the state’s motion for the subpoena duces tecum asks for. The state argues in its brief that these are necessary as a part of its case against relator on the criminal charge. Respondent ordered production of the records to be turned over to the circuit attorney “for the purpose of inspection, copying and for use in the preparation of trial.” The circuit attorney, in his brief for respondent, states “The issuing of the subpoena is for the purpose of discovery”.
It is not actually known by respondent or the circuit attorney whether there are any such documents or material in existence. At the hearing before respondent the juvenile officer, who was the only witness who knew anything about the records, testified he had not personally reviewed the file. There was no testimony that the records actually contained a statement by relator. The contents of the records were not shown to anyone at the hearing. What the juvenile officer testified to was what was usually done with a juvenile and what information and summary were usually prepared. The circuit attorney wants to see everything in the file and use whatever he finds which is helpful. This is understandable on his part, but it is nevertheless discovery, pure and simple, just as much as inspecting hospital records for whatever is useful to a defendant in a defense of a damage suit is discovery.
There is no contention here that there is in existence a burdensome mass of documents, such as numerous cancelled checks, or invoices, or receipts of the kind to be expected, for example, in a criminal prosecution involving a good deal of paper work, where it would expedite the trial if these could be assembled, sorted out, and marked as exhibits ahead of time. This is an illustration of what I have understood the prior decisions to say rule 25.19 should be used for, because thereby “the trial of the case will be expedited” (“Expedite” means to execute promptly or to hasten; it does not mean to locate or turn up.). The same type of procedure is frequently used to shorten the length of civil trials. The other use of rule 25.19 which the courts have mentioned is to obtain a subpoena to insure that if some person has a designated document or object which either the state or the defendant wants to be certain remains subject to the jurisdiction of the court or which will be produced only under compulsion of process, a subpoena duces tecum under rule 25.19 can be served on such person to be sure that he and the particular document or object are on hand for the trial date. The witness and the object are “put under subpoena”. But in the present case the court is going much beyond what has heretofore been permitted. And it may well be that discovery in criminal cases should be expanded,'6 but if rule 25.19 is to be used for “fishing expedition” purposes, as is being permitted here, then I think we should plainly say so and overrule those portions of the cases cited in footnote 5 which hold to the contrary.

 Application of Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 18 L.Ed.2d 527.

. The juvenile officer testified that the practice was never to advise the juvenile that whatever he said to the juvenile officer would be used against him in a criminal action; that “for us to be effective”, it “would be a necessary thing, yes”, for the juvenile to be at ease, to be able to communicate and give information to the juvenile officer; that “they were not advised of their constitutional rights” ; that the juvenile was ordinarily advised that what he says is for the purpose of the hearing at the juvenile court, not beyond that.

. It is true the majority opinion carefully reserves the matter of the admissibility against relator at the trial of any statements made to the juvenile court. However, this gets into the trial practice field and depends upon the right objection being made by counsel at the right time, a matter which is not entirely in the control of the defendant, as illustrated by State v. Price, (Mo.Sup.) 422 S.W.2d 286, 289, where a valid ground existed, but was lost because of an insufficient objection. The statute does not say that the evidence cannot be used against the juvenile if proper objection is made to its use. It states flatly that such evidence is not “lawful” or “proper” against him in a criminal proceeding. If it is not lawful or proper evidence, it is difficult to see how it should be produced against him in the first place. Nor do I see anything in the portions of the juvenile code giving the juvenile court authority to open the records to *380inspection “to persons having a legitimate interest therein” which diminishes the force of § 211.271, subd. 3. The majority opinion says the records could have been released to the circuit attorney either before or after transfer. Perhaps so, but it would seem a prosecuting attorney would be in conflicting positions if he were inspecting the records with a view to helping the court handle the juvenile as a juvenile, yet at the same time getting ready to use the records to prosecute him as an adult.
See State v. Crockett (Mo.Sup.) 419 S.W.2d 22, 29.

. “It was felt that confession and self-examination embodied important therapeutic values: ‘the youth should be encouraged to speak openly both about himself and the offense’; ‘in order to rehabilitate a child, he must first admit his crime and so be aware that he is in need of rehabilitation’ * * *." 67 Columbia Law Review, supra, at 331. “ * * * The rehabilitative devices of the adjudication stage — dismissal, continuance and qualification — are all predicated upon a youth’s willingness to discuss freely his offense and social condition. * * * ” Id. at 332.

. Unquestionably the assurance heretofore provided by § 211.271, subd. 3 has been an important factor in getting the cooperation of the juvenile and his advisers.

. State v. Blevins (Mo.Sup.) 421 S.W.2d 263, 268; State v. Spica (Mo.Sup.) 389 S.W.2d 35, 51; State v. Aubuchon (Bio. *381Sup.) 381 S.W.2d 807; State v. Engberg (Mo.Sup.) 377 S.W.26 282, 286; State v. Simon (Mo.Sup. banc) 375 S.W.2d 102, 104; State v. Kelton (Mo.Sup.) 299 S.W.2d 493, 497; State ex rel. Phelps v. McQueen (Mo.Sup. banc), 296 S.W.2d 85, 89.

. See the interesting article, “Criminal Discovery in Missouri”, Rabbitt, St. Louis Bar Journal, Spring 1966, pp. 11-29.