Opinion
No. 1 CA-JV 20-0391
04-29-2021
IN RE DIEGO B.
COUNSEL The Law Offices of Kevin Breger, Scottsdale By Kevin Breger Counsel for Appellant Maricopa County Attorney's Office, Phoenix By Daniel Strange Counsel for Appellee
NOTICE: NOT FOR OFFICIAL PUBLICATION. UNDER ARIZONA RULE OF THE SUPREME COURT 111(c), THIS DECISION IS NOT PRECEDENTIAL AND MAY BE CITED ONLY AS AUTHORIZED BY RULE.
Appeal from the Superior Court in Maricopa County
No. JV597594
The Honorable Jennifer E. Green, Judge
REVERSED
COUNSEL
The Law Offices of Kevin Breger, Scottsdale
By Kevin Breger
Counsel for Appellant
Maricopa County Attorney's Office, Phoenix
By Daniel Strange
Counsel for Appellee
MEMORANDUM DECISION
Presiding Judge Jennifer M. Perkins delivered the decision of the Court, in which Judge Randall M. Howe and Judge Maria Elena Cruz joined.
PERKINS, Judge:
¶1 In this case we address the juvenile court's lack of jurisdiction over Diego B. after his eighteenth birthday. On November 12, 2020, the juvenile court held a telephonic status hearing and ordered Diego to register as a sex offender. On November 18, 2020, Diego turned eighteen. On November 19, 2020, the clerk filed a signed minute entry affirming the juvenile court's order that Diego register as a sex offender. On November 30, 2020, the clerk filed a signed minute entry from the telephonic hearing on November 12. Diego B. timely appealed. We have jurisdiction under A.R.S. § 12-120.21(A)(1).
¶2 "The final order shall be by minute entry or separate written order." Ariz. R. P. Juv. Ct. 104(A). A juvenile court order is not final until it is signed by the judge and filed by the clerk of the court. See In re Michelle G., 217 Ariz. 340, 344, ¶ 14 (App. 2008). With limited exceptions—none of which apply in this case—a juvenile court's jurisdiction over a delinquent juvenile ends when the juvenile becomes eighteen years of age. A.R.S. § 8-202(G); see also State v. Espinoza, 229 Ariz. 421, 427, ¶ 24 (App. 2012). An order is void if the court entering it lacked jurisdiction. State v. Cramer, 192 Ariz. 150, 153, ¶ 16 (App. 1998).
¶3 The juvenile court's order that Diego register as a sex offender became final when the judge signed the order in written form and the clerk filed it. See Michelle G., 217 Ariz. at 344, ¶ 14. This did not occur until after Diego turned eighteen. Because the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction when Diego became an adult, the court's orders after November 18, 2020, are void. We therefore vacate the juvenile court's order directing Diego to register as a sex offender.