Court Opinion

ID: 9800881
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 08:38:30.95211+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:48:56.817845
License: Public Domain

French, J.,
concurring in judgment only.
(¶ 19} I agree that it was proper for the juvenile court to hold a classification hearing at the time of I.A.’s disposition. I write separately, however, to disavow the notion — as stated in the court of appeals’ opinion, 2012-Ohio-4973, ¶ 15, and as suggested by the majority at ¶ 14 and 17 — that the juvenile court could have also held a second R.C. 2152.83(B) hearing at the time of I.A.’s release. R.C. 2152.83(B) authorizes only a single hearing. A juvenile court may choose to hold that hearing either at the juvenile’s disposition or at the time of the juvenile’s release, but not at both.
*209Mathias H. Heck Jr., Montgomery County Prosecuting Attorney, and Andrew T. French and Matthew T. Crawford, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for appellee.
Timothy Young, State Public Defender, and Amanda J. Powell, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.
{¶ 20} R.C. 2152.83(B)(1) provides that a juvenile court “may conduct at the time of disposition of the child or, if the court commits the child for the delinquent act to the custody of a secure facility, may conduct at the time of the child’s release from the secure facility a hearing.” (Emphasis added.) Although the statute unambiguously provides a court with two options, the connector “or” separates them, indicating distinct alternatives. Pizza v. Sunset Fireworks Co., Inc., 25 Ohio St.3d 1, 4-5, 494 N.E.2d 1115 (1986). A juvenile court may choose option one (a hearing at disposition) or option two (a hearing at release), but it cannot choose both.
{¶ 21} Indeed, R.C. 2152.83(B)(2) authorizes only a single hearing. (“A judge shall conduct a hearing under division (B)(1) of this section * * * ”). And the remainder of the statute unambiguously refers to the R.C. 2152.83(B) hearing as a one-time event. See R.C. 2152.83(B)(1) (juvenile court “may conduct * * * a hearing” [emphasis added]), 2152.83(B)(2) (“The judge may conduct the hearing”-, “If the judge conducts the hearing”-, “upon completion of the hearing” [emphasis added]), and 2152.83(C)(1) (referring to “the hearing under division (B) of this section” [emphasis added]).
{¶ 22} Given the consistent, plain language of the statute, I cannot support the idea that “a court ‘may’ choose to conduct a hearing at both times.” 2012-Ohio-4973, ¶ 15. A juvenile court has discretion over the timing of its R.C. 2152.83(B) hearing, but there can be only one hearing.