Summary
The Supreme Court of Mississippi held that the State's appeal from a circuit court order transferring a criminal case to youth court was barred after the youth court entered a final adjudication. Relying on the Fifth Amendment and applicable precedent, the court concluded that further adjudicatory proceedings would violate double jeopardy and affirmed the transfer order. A specially concurring opinion expressed concern about the rapid transfer and adjudication shortly before the defendant's eighteenth birthday.
Holdings
- The Fifth Amendment's protection against double jeopardy applies to youth court proceedings, and once the youth court entered a final judgment, the State's appeal of the circuit court's transfer order was barred.
Questions Presented
- Whether the State's appeal from the circuit court's transfer order was barred by the Fifth Amendment's prohibition against double jeopardy after the youth court entered a final adjudication and disposition.
- Whether the State could appeal the circuit court's transfer order under Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-35-103(a).
Disposition
affirmed
Cases Cited (12)
- State v. Hicks, 806 So. 2d 261, 263 (Miss. 2002)(followed)
- State v. U.G., 726 So. 2d 151, 154 (Miss. 1998)(discussed)
- Breed v. Jones, 421 U.S. 519, 95 S. Ct. 1779, 44 L. Ed. 2d 346 (1975)(followed)
- Walls v. State, 326 So. 2d 322, 325 (Miss. 1976)(followed)
- In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 50, 87 S. Ct. 1428, 18 L. Ed. 2d 527 (1967)(followed)
- Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, 420-21, 109 S. Ct. 2533, 105 L. Ed. 2d 342 (1989) (Kennedy, J., concurring)(quoted)
- Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 485, 48 S. Ct. 564, 72 L. Ed. 944 (1928) (Brandeis, J., dissenting)(quoted)
- Wheeler v. State, 560 So. 2d 171, 174 (Miss. 1990) (Robertson, J., dissenting)(quoted)
- Cumberland v. Cumberland, 564 So. 2d 839, 841 (Miss. 1990)(quoted)
- Butler v. Pembroke, 568 So. 2d 296, 299 (Miss. 1990)(quoted)
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