Opinion
2 CA-JV 2023-0121
11-17-2023
In re Delinquency of D.K.
Megan Page, Pima County Public Defender By Erin K. Sutherland, Assistant Public Defender, Tucson Counsel for Appellant
Not for Publication - Rule 111(c), Rules of the Arizona Supreme Court
Appeal from the Superior Court in Pima County No. JV20220286 The Honorable Joan L. Wagener, Judge
Megan Page, Pima County Public Defender By Erin K. Sutherland, Assistant Public Defender, Tucson Counsel for Appellant
Vice Chief Judge Staring authored the decision of the Court, in which Judge Sklar and Judge O'Neil concurred.
MEMORANDUM DECISION
STARING, VICE CHIEF JUDGE
¶1 D.K., born December 2005, appeals from the juvenile court's order adjudicating her delinquent in July 2023 after she admitted she had committed an unlawful liquor act in violation of A.R.S. § 4-244(41) (prohibiting person under age of twenty-one from having spiritous liquor in his or her body). We affirm.
¶2 Counsel has filed a brief pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), and In re Maricopa Cnty. Juv. Action No. JV-117258 , 163 Ariz. 484, 485-87 (App. 1989) (applying Anders procedure to juvenile delinquency matters). Consistent with State v. Clark, 196 Ariz. 530, ¶ 30 (App. 1999), counsel has provided "a detailed factual and procedural history of the case, with citations to the record." Avowing she has searched the record but found no arguably meritorious issue to raise on appeal, she asks us to review the record for error. Counsel also requested that we provide D.K. the opportunity to file a supplemental brief. We denied that request. This court has limited the application of Anders in delinquency appeals to the requirement that we review the record for fundamental error; a minor is not permitted to file a supplemental brief. See In re Cochise Cnty. Juv. Action No. DL88-00037 , 164 Ariz. 417, 419-20 (App. 1990).
Although counsel pointed out a potential issue, because she concluded it worked to the detriment of D.K., she elected not to raise it. See State v. Smith, 171 Ariz. 501, 505 (App. 1992).
¶3 D.K. was adjudicated delinquent in February 2023 when she admitted, pursuant to two delinquency petitions, driving after drinking in violation of § 4-244(34), and driving with an illegal drug or metabolite in her body, in violation of A.R.S. § 28-1381(A)(3). In June 2023, the instant delinquency proceeding was initiated and D.K. admitted to an unlawful liquor act. The juvenile court placed D.K. on probation until her eighteenth birthday and ordered that a copy of the disposition minute entry be provided to the Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) of the Arizona Department of Transportation.
The juvenile court later granted D.K.'s Motion to Correct Record and Amend Minute Entry, vacating its previous order that a copy of the disposition minute entry/abstract be sent to the MVD in connection with the June 2023 delinquency petition.
¶4 The record supports the juvenile court's findings that D.K.'s admission was knowing, voluntary, and intelligent and there was an adequate factual basis to support it. See Ariz. R. P. Juv. Ct. 220(b), (c). Specifically, D.K. admitted that in May 2023, when she was seventeen years old, she had liquor in her body in violation of § 4-244(41), a class one misdemeanor. We have found no error with respect to the court's disposition. See A.R.S. § 8-341; In re John G., 191 Ariz. 205, ¶ 8 (App. 1998) ("We will not disturb a juvenile court's disposition order absent an abuse of discretion.").
¶5 Consistent with Anders, we have searched the record for fundamental, reversible error and have found none. Therefore, we affirm the juvenile court's delinquency adjudication and disposition.