Opinion
No. P-79-643.
December 6, 1979.
Cary W. Clark, Asst. Dist. Atty., Tulsa County, for respondent.
John Dratz, Jr., Asst. Public Defender, Tulsa County, for petitioner.
OPINION
By a petition seeking an order prohibiting the Honorable Joe Jennings from conducting a further dispositional hearing in Tulsa County District Court Juvenile Division, Case No. JFJ-79-425, the Petitioner, J.L.D., has raised the issue of the appellate jurisdiction of this Court in juvenile matters. If we have jurisdiction to entertain an appeal from a dispositional order after the adjudicatory determination of delinquency has become final, then we may consider on its merits the issue of the authority of the Judge to conduct a further dispositional hearing.
This precise question has not been previously considered, nor do we find In the Matter of J.L.M., Okla. Cr. 598 P.2d 243 (1979) relied on by Petitioner, to be in point or persuasive. In J.L.M., supra, the trial court denied the juvenile's request for a jury trial in an adjudicatory proceeding and we accordingly exercised appellate jurisdiction under the provisions of 10 O.S.Supp. 1977 § 1123[ 10-1123]. In the instant case, no appeal was taken from the adjudicatory proceeding but rather the Judge of the Juvenile Court has determined that a further dispositional hearing may be conducted without the intervention of a jury.
The only authority for this Court to entertain an appeal in juvenile cases is found in the provisions of 10 O.S.Supp. 1977 § 1123[ 10-1123], subsection A of which provides:
"Any interested party aggrieved by any order or decree may appeal to the Supreme Court in the same manner as other appeals are taken to the Supreme Court of this state; provided, however, that appeals taken from a trial court's decision in a proceeding for an adjudication of juvenile delinquency or in a proceeding certifying a juvenile to stand trial as an adult or denying such certification shall be taken to the Court of Criminal Appeals in the same manner as other appeals are taken to the Court of Criminal Appeals of this state, and provided further that an order either certifying a juvenile to stand trial as an adult or denying such certification shall be a final order, appealable when entered." [Emphasis Added].
That this Court has no appellate jurisdiction over dispositional orders entered after the adjudication of delinquency is abundantly clear when one considers the provisions of subsections B and C of § 1123 which provide as follows:
"The record on appeal of an order certifying or denying certification of a juvenile to stand trial as an adult shall be completed and the appeal perfected within sixty (60) days after the date of the order."
"The pendency of an appeal thus taken shall not suspend the order of the district court regarding a child, nor shall it discharge the child from the custody of that court or of the person, institution or agency to whose care such child has been committed, unless the Supreme Court or the Court of Criminal Appeals shall so order. The pendency of an appeal from an order of adjudication shall not prevent the district court from holding a dispositional hearing unless the appellate court shall so order. The pendency of an appeal from an order certifying a juvenile to stand trial as an adult shall not prevent the commencement of criminal proceedings against the juvenile unless stayed by the judge who issued the order of certification or by the appellate court. If the Supreme Court or the Court of Criminal Appeals does not dismiss the proceedings and discharge the child, it shall affirm or modify the order of the district court and remand the child to the jurisdiction of that court for supervision and care; and thereafter the child shall be and remain under the jurisdiction of the district court in the same manner as if such court had made such order without an appeal having been taken." [Emphasis Added].
Subsection B and the emphasized language of subsection C were included by amendment in 1977, Laws 1977, C. 79 § 4.
Our appellate jurisdiction is limited to a consideration of the record of the adjudicatory hearing and does not include the record of the dispositional hearing. The dispositional hearing may be conducted during the pendency of the appeal from the adjudicatory order in this Court, unless stayed by this Court, or the trial Judge may conduct such a dispositional hearing or hearings after the adjudicatory order has been affirmed.
We hold that neither the Constitution nor the Statutes of the State of Oklahoma confer appellate jurisdiction on this Court to review dispositional orders entered after the adjudication of delinquency. Prohibition may issue only in aid of our appellate jurisdiction and therefore the writ prayed for is DENIED.
For recent discussion of the limited and special nature of the jurisdiction of this Court, see Carder v. Court of Criminal Appeals, Okla., 595 P.2d 416 (1978), and Hale v. Board of County Commissioners, Okla., 603 P.2d 761 (1979), (50 OBAJ 2531).
CORNISH, P.J., and BRETT, J., concur.