Moon v. Texas

The Court of Criminal Appeals granted the State’s petition for discretionary review in this case to address several questions related to the appellate review of a juvenile court’s waiver of its otherwise exclusive jurisdiction over a person alleged to have committed a murder at the age of sixteen. In 2008, the State filed a petition alleging that the appellant engaged in delinquent conduct by committing an intentional or knowing murder. On the same date, the State also filed a motion for the juvenile court to waive its exclusive jurisdiction and transfer the appellant to criminal district court for prosecution as an adult, alleging as grounds for the transfer that, because of the seriousness of the offense alleged, ensuring the welfare of the community required waiver of juvenile jurisdiction. The juvenile court granted the State’s request for a hearing on the motion and, pursuant to Section 54.02(d) of the Juvenile Justice Code in the Texas Family Code, ordered that the Chief Juvenile Probation Officer obtain a complete diagnostic study, social evaluation, and full investigation of the appellant’s background and the circumstances of the alleged offenses. The juvenile court also ordered the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County to conduct an examination and file its report. The juvenile court ultimately waived jurisdiction thereby transferring the case to the jurisdiction of the district court where appellant was tried as an adult for first-degree felony murder. The jury convicted, and sentenced appellant to thirty years' confinement. On appeal, appellant argued that the juvenile court’s stated “reasons for waiver” were supported by insufficient evidence and that the juvenile court therefore abused its discretion by waiving jurisdiction over the appellant. In a published opinion, the court of appeals agreed with appellant that the evidence supported neither the juvenile court’s “sophistication-and-maturity” finding nor its “adequate-protection-of-the-public-and-likelihood-of-rehabilitation” finding. The court of appeals vacated the district court’s judgment of conviction, dismissed the criminal proceedings, and declared the case to be still “pending in the juvenile court. The State appealed. The Court of Criminal Appeals concluded after its review that court of appeals did not err to undertake a factual-sufficiency review of the evidence underlying the juvenile court’s waiver of jurisdiction over the appellant. But because the juvenile court made no case-specific findings of fact with respect to the seriousness of the offense, the Court agreed with the court of appeals that the evidence failed to support this as a valid reason for waiving juvenile-court jurisdiction and affirmed the court of appeals. View "Moon v. Texas" on Justia Law