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In The Interest Of: C. H., A Child

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
Docket No.A12A1752
DecidedDecember 11, 2012
JudgesCourt of Appeals of Georgia
Tags
CriminalCriminal ProcedureSentencingDue ProcessStatutory InterpretationFamily LawVacaturRemand
Case Summary

Seventeen-year-old C. H. admitted public indecency and a purported probation violation in juvenile court. The court imposed concurrent probation terms and ordered 30 days in a youth development center, treating the confinement as part of the delinquency disposition. The Georgia Court of Appeals held that the confinement exceeded the juvenile court’s statutory authority. Public indecency is a misdemeanor, not a felony or a high-and-aggravated misdemeanor involving bodily injury or a substantial likelihood of it, so OCGA § 15-11-66 did not authorize youth-development-center confinement on that count. The Court also held that the juvenile court could not treat the delinquency petition as a probation-revocation petition because the State had not filed a petition seeking revocation. Due process required a specific revocation petition before confinement could be imposed for violating probation. The unauthorized sentence was therefore void. The Court vacated the disposition order and remanded for entry of a lawful disposition.

Opinion

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In The Interest Of: C. H., A Child — The Atlanta Gleaner