Court Opinion

ID: 9838945
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-08 21:06:15.84114+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:04:55.955446
License: Public Domain

Circuit Court for Prince George’s County
  Case No. JA-22-0183

  Argued: September 8, 2023
                                                                       IN THE SUPREME COURT

                                                                           OF MARYLAND*

                                                                                 No. 3

                                                                          September Term, 2023
                                                                ______________________________________

                                                                              IN RE: M.P.
                                                                ______________________________________

                                                                          Fader, C.J.
                                                                          Watts
                                                                          Hotten
                                                                          Booth
                                                                          Biran
                                                                          Gould
                                                                          Eaves,

                                                                                JJ.
                                                                ______________________________________

                                                                         PER CURIAM ORDER
                                                                ______________________________________

                                                                          Filed: September 8, 2023
Pursuant to the Maryland Uniform Electronic Legal Materials
Act (§§ 10-1601 et seq. of the State Government Article) this
document is authentic.

                2023-09-08 16:35-04:00

Gregory Hilton, Clerk

*At the November 8, 2022 general election, the voters of Maryland ratified a constitutional
amendment changing the name of the Court of Appeals of Maryland to the Supreme Court
of Maryland. The name change took effect on December 14, 2022.
                                                   *      IN THE

                                                   *      SUPREME COURT
IN RE: M.P.
                                                   *      OF MARYLAND

                                                   *      No. 3

                                                   *      September Term, 2023

                                  PER CURIAM ORDER

          Upon consideration of the opening brief of M.P., Petitioner, the motion to dismiss

and brief of the State of Maryland, Respondent, the opposition to the motion to dismiss and

reply brief of M.P., filed in the above-captioned case, and oral argument conducted on

September 8, 2023, and having noted that M.P. was the subject of a juvenile delinquency

petition in Case No. JA-22-0183 alleging that he committed motor vehicle theft and that

he was 12 years old on the date of the alleged offense, for reasons to be stated later in an

opinion to be filed, it is this 8th day of September 2023, by the Supreme Court of Maryland,

a majority of the Court concurring,

          ORDERED, that the State’s motion to dismiss the appeal is DENIED; and it is

further

          ORDERED, that, under the common law collateral order doctrine, see In re O.P.,

470 Md. 225, 250-51, 235 A.3d 4055 (2020), an interlocutory appeal of the August 8, 2022

ruling of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, sitting as a juvenile court, denying

M.P.’s motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction is permitted; and it is further
       ORDERED, that the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, sitting as a juvenile

court, was required to grant M.P.’s motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction because Md.

Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 3-8A-03, a part of the Maryland Juvenile Justice Reform

Act (“JJRA”), effective on June 1, 2022, removed the juvenile court’s jurisdiction over

juvenile delinquency proceedings against children under 13 years of age with the exception

of those aged 10 to 12 years old who are alleged to have committed an act that, if committed

by an adult, would constitute a crime of violence as defined in Md. Code Ann., Crim. Law

§ 14-101; and it is further

       ORDERED, that the August 8, 2022 ruling of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s

County, sitting as a juvenile court, is hereby REVERSED; and it is further

       ORDERED, that the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, sitting as a juvenile

court, does not have jurisdiction over M.P. in Case No. JA-22-0183, a case that was

pending when the JJRA became effective and that involved the alleged theft of a motor

vehicle that occurred when M.P. was 12 years old; and it is further

       ORDERED, that costs are to be paid by Prince George’s County and the mandate is

to issue forthwith.

                                                  /s/ Matthew J. Fader
                                                       Chief Justice

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