Court Opinion

ID: 9553856
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:36:07.984462+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:32:24.918686
License: Public Domain

CLARK, J.
I dissent. “[T]he applicable due process standard in juvenile proceedings, as developed by Gault and Winship, is fundamental fairness. As that standard was applied in those two cases, we have an emphasis on factfinding procedures.” (McKeiver v.Pennsylvania (1971) 403 U.S. 528, 543 [29 L.Ed.2d 647, 659, 91 S.Ct. 1976] (plurality opinion).) Since the only real issue here was whom to believe, the facts could be found fairly without formal argument. To make summation a matter of right in such *257a case unduly restricts the judge’s discretion, moving the juvenile court process one step closer to an adversary proceeding indistinguishable from a criminal trial.
The judgment should be affirmed.