Present: All the Justices
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
PER CURIAM
v. Record No. 982102 June 11, 1999
JERAMIE MICHAEL BAKER
FROM THE COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
In this appeal, the Court reviews a judgment of the Court
of Appeals declaring the transfer of jurisdiction from a
juvenile and domestic relations district court to a circuit
court ineffectual and the subsequent convictions void. Baker v.
Commonwealth, 28 Va. App. 306, 504 S.E.2d 394 (1998).
Central to the decision below was the interpretation of
Code § 16.1-263(A), which provides, in part, that after a
juvenile petition is filed, the court shall direct summonses "to
the parents" of the juvenile. Here, even though the juvenile's
mother received notice, the juvenile's biological father was not
notified, there was no attempt to give him notice, and the
circuit court made no certification on the record that the
identity of the father was not reasonably ascertainable.
Parenthetically, we note the statute has been amended
effective July 1, 1999 to provide for notice to "at least one
parent." Acts 1999, ch. 952.
For the reasons set forth in the opinion of the Court of
Appeals, we will affirm the court's judgment.
Furthermore, we decline the Attorney General's request that
we apply this judgment prospectively only; retrospective
application is mandated by Gogley v. Peyton, 208 Va. 679, 160
S.E.2d 746 (1968).
Affirmed.
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