Court Opinion

ID: 9730951
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:29:16.572553+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:11.472428
License: Public Domain

GRAY, Justice,
concurring.
The majority concludes that the separation-of-powers doctrine has been violated because the legislature has impermissibly interfered with our ability to review a trial court’s jurisdiction. The majority seems to recognize that the legislature can preclude us from having jurisdiction to review certain types of cases, but refuses to allow the legislature the latitude to impose certain restrictions that must be complied with before we can review an issue on direct appeal.
I have no problem in recognizing that the legislature has the authority under the constitution to set certain procedural hurdles that must be overcome before a particular issue may be reviewed by us on direct appeal. If the legislature chooses to require a certain type of preservation for jurisdictional issues at the trial court level in criminal cases before we have jurisdiction for appellate review, that is within their province.
In this particular case, it means that if Rushing wants to challenge the trial court’s jurisdiction, it must be done by some other procedure, presumably an application for writ of habeas corpus, not by direct appeal. This makes a lot of sense in this context. If the trial court had refused to order the record supplemented with the records of the juvenile proceeding, we would be unable to determine if the trial *734court’s jurisdiction had been properly invoked as it pertains to a juvenile. But if challenged by application for writ of habe-as corpus, an appropriate record could be made, showing that the juvenile court had in fact relinquished exclusive jurisdiction and that the case had properly proceeded to trial on the indictment in the criminal district court.
I would recognize that the legislature may limit the procedural manner in which an issue must be presented for us to have jurisdiction to review it, even if it involves the trial court’s jurisdiction. Because the majority holds otherwise, I respectfully note my disagreement with that portion of the opinion. Because the majority reaches the same result by concluding that the record supports the fact that the juvenile court waived jurisdiction and that it was accepted by the criminal district court, I concur in the result.
One further note. As I view it, the holding of the majority is very narrow. The only issue is whether the legislature may prevent us from reviewing a challenge to a trial court’s jurisdiction by imposing a preservation requirement. The holding should be strictly limited to these facts.