Opinion
No. COA08-1154.
Filed May 5, 2009.
Mecklenburg County No. 08 JB 107.
Appeal by the juvenile from orders entered 28 and 30 May 2008 by Judge Hugh B. Lewis in Mecklenburg County District Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 27 April 2009.
Attorney General Roy A. Cooper, III, by Assistant Attorney General Lisa G. Corbett, for the State. Geeta Kapur, for the juvenile.
J.R.C. ("the juvenile") appeals her adjudication and subsequent disposition for simple assault. For the following reasons, we vacate.
On 7 December 2007, the juvenile went to Ranson Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina to pick up a younger brother and while there punched another minor child in her face. On 17 January 2008, the Mecklenburg County Court Counselor's office received a complaint regarding the juvenile. The State filed a juvenile petition for misdemeanor assault on or about 20 February 2008, alleging the juvenile had assaulted another minor child by pushing her and hitting her with a closed fist. The trial court held an adjudicatory hearing in this matter on 28 May 2006. On 28 May 2008, the trial court entered an adjudication order finding the State had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the juvenile had committed the offense of simple assault. The trial court entered its dispositional order on 30 May 2008, sentencing the juvenile as a Level 1 offender to six months supervised probation. The juvenile appeals.
The juvenile argues, and the State concedes, that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over this case because the juvenile petition was not filed in a timely manner. The North Carolina Juvenile Code provides that "[t]he juvenile court counselor shall complete evaluation of a complaint within 15 days of receipt of the complaint, with an extension for a maximum of 15 additional days at the discretion of the chief court counselor." N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7B-1703(a) (2007). Upon making a determination that a complaint should be filed as a juvenile petition, the juvenile court counselor "shall file the petition as soon as practicable, but in any event within 15 days after the complaint is received, with an extension for a maximum of 15 additional days at the discretion of the chief court counselor." N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7B-1703(b) (2007). "Failure to comply with the requirements of this statute divests the trial court of jurisdiction, and thus any order of disposition entered following a violation of the requirements of section 7B-1703 must be vacated." In re K.W., ___ N.C. App. ___, ___, 664 S.E.2d 66, 68 (2008) (citing In re J.B., 186 N.C. App. 301, 303, 650 S.E.2d 457, 458 (2007)). Here, the juvenile court counselor received the petition on 17 January 2008, and approved the petition for filing on 8 February 2008. The petition was filed in the office of the clerk of superior court on 20 February 2008. Although the juvenile court counselor made a timely determination that a petition should be filed, the petition was filed more than thirty days after receipt of the complaint on 17 January 2008. Accordingly, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to decide this matter and we must vacate the adjudication and disposition orders entered. Because we vacate the trial court's orders on this ground, we need not address the juvenile's other arguments.
Vacated.
Judges Robert C. HUNTER and STEELMAN concur.