MEMORANDUM DECISION
Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D),
this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED
regarded as precedent or cited before any Mar 13 2020, 10:45 am
court except for the purpose of establishing CLERK
Indiana Supreme Court
the defense of res judicata, collateral Court of Appeals
and Tax Court
estoppel, or the law of the case.
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Mark F. James Curtis T. Hill, Jr.
South Bend, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana
Courtney Staton
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
M.R., A Child Alleged to Be a March 13, 2020
Delinquent, Court of Appeals Case No.
Appellant-Defendant, 19A-JV-2502
Appeal from the St. Joseph Probate
v. Court
The Honorable Jason Cichowicz,
State of Indiana, Judge
Appellee-Plaintiff. Trial Court Cause No.
71J01-1609-JD-272
71J01-1712-JD-456
Tavitas, Judge.
Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-JV-2502 | March 13, 2020 Page 1 of 8
Case Summary
[1] M.R. appeals the juvenile court’s modification of its dispositional order
ordering M.R. to be committed to the Department of Correction (“DOC”). We
affirm.
Issue
[2] The sole issue on appeal is whether the juvenile court abused its discretion
when it committed M.R. to the DOC.
Facts
[3] M.R. was born in December 2005. On September 26, 2016, when M.R. was
eleven years old, the State filed a petition alleging that M.R. committed an
offense, in St. Joseph County, that would constitute disorderly conduct, a Class
B misdemeanor, if committed by an adult. M.R. admitted the allegation on
March 29, 2017. Pursuant to an admission agreement with the State, the
juvenile court placed M.R. on probation. In exchange for M.R.’s admission,
the State agreed to dismiss four juvenile delinquency referrals against M.R. 1
The admission agreement provided, in part, that M.R. should obey the law.
[4] On May 23, 2017, the probation department filed its first modification report
after M.R. committed multiple violations 2 at the Marshall Intermediate School
1
The dismissed causes were M.R’s thirteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth delinquency referrals.
2
M.R. committed these violations between March 31 and May 17 of 2017.
Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-JV-2502 | March 13, 2020 Page 2 of 8
including: (1) threatening to shoot or batter classmates and staff; (2) striking a
teacher; (3) initiating fights and fighting; (4) disrupting classrooms; and (5)
prompting a teacher to remove other students from the classroom for their
safety. M.R. admitted the allegations on June 13, 2017; and the juvenile court
ordered M.R. to continue on probation, complete Cross System Care
Coordination 3 through the Department of Child Services (“DCS”), and serve up
to sixty days of house arrest through Trust House Arrest. 4
[5] On October 18, 2017, the probation department filed its second modification
report alleging that M.R. committed further school violations including: (1)
harassing a classmate; (2) telling his teacher: “You are a b****. Go kill
yourself”; (3) engaging in tumultuous, disruptive, and inappropriate behavior;
(4) battering a teacher; and (5) vandalizing property. Appellant’s App. Vol. II
p. 23. On November 7, 2017, the juvenile court placed M.R. on home
detention in “[the j]uvenile [c]ommunity [c]orrections [p]rogram[.]” Id. at 28.
[6] The probation department filed its third modification report on November 13,
2017, after M.R. violated curfew, flashed a gang sign, and threatened to kill a
student. The next day, the juvenile court conducted an emergency modification
hearing, and M.R. admitted the foregoing allegations. The juvenile court
3
Cross System Care Coordination is a home-based program that “provide[s] a single comprehensive system
of care that allows children and families in the child welfare and/or juvenile probation system(s) with
complex needs to receive culturally competent, coordinated, and uninterrupted care.”
https://www.in.gov/dcs/files/Cross%20System%20Care%20Coordination.pdf (last visited Feb. 27, 2020).
4
Trust House Arrest is a home detention program that is employed by St. Joseph County community
corrections wherein juvenile offenders retain more freedom and are not GPS-monitored.
Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-JV-2502 | March 13, 2020 Page 3 of 8
committed M.R. to the St. Joseph County Juvenile Justice Center for ten days,
suspended, and imposed GPS-monitored home detention.
[7] On December 15, 2017, M.R. was arrested for committing offenses that would
constitute intimidation, a Level 6 felony, and disorderly conduct, a Class B
misdemeanor, if committed by an adult. On January 16, 2018, regarding his
recent arrest, M.R. admitted that he threatened to “air out [his] school bus”; 5
and that he told the arresting officer that he would “blow her brains out [and]
slit her throat[.]” Id. at 55. The juvenile court placed M.R. on strict and
indefinite probation and committed M.R. to the Transitions Academy. 6
[8] On May 21, 2018, the probation department filed its fourth modification report
after M.R. was written up nearly seventy times at the Transitions Academy.
The juvenile court conducted an emergency modification hearing on May 22,
2018, and ordered M.R. to continue with probation and counseling.
[9] On June 12, 2018, the juvenile court ordered M.R. to be placed in the Lakeside
Academy in Michigan. Upon his successful completion of the placement on or
about August 15, 2019, Benchmark Family Services placed M.R. in foster care.
Approximately four days later, M.R. was removed from the foster placement
because M.R. refused to remove a gang sign from his person, rejected his court-
5
“Air[ing] out” is a slang reference to shooting a firearm in an occupied space.
6
Transitions Academy is a structured twenty-four-hour behavioral health residential program for
adolescents.
Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-JV-2502 | March 13, 2020 Page 4 of 8
ordered medication, attempted to leave the foster home without permission,
and grabbed the foster parent’s arm. The probation department filed its fifth
modification report on August 22, 2018, after “[M.R.] was deemed a
[p]lacement [f]ailure at [f]oster [c]are.” Tr. Vol. II p. 20.
[10] On October 1, 2018, the juvenile court conducted yet another modification
hearing. 7 Dayna Carire of the St. Joseph County probation department
recommended placement in the DOC. The State argued: “[ ] there [ ] were
forty [ ] incident reports[,]” including “gang [ ] references and threats”; M.R.
failed in less-restrictive placements; and the State was “not aware of another
alternative.” Id. at 19. At the close of the evidence, the juvenile court stated:
. . . [T]he circumstances that placed [M.R.] in various places . . .
may or may not have been his fault.[ 8] But . . . [M.R.’s] not
having a place to go to [ ] is really not an issue. [ ] [T]here could
be a fantastic place that was ready and willing to take him right
now, and that would not solve the problem [which is that] I’m
looking at a young man, who[se] behavior . . . has been
atrocious. And that is [ ] a young man who is only thirteen (13)
years old, and we are on case 14 and case 21. And twenty of
those twenty-one [ ] are delinquency cases. This has to end. Any
less restrictive Placement is inconsistent with this community’s
safety.
7
At the time of the October 2018 modification hearing, M.R. was nearly thirteen years old.
8
The record reveals that M.R. was removed from his mother’s home because M.R.’s mother could not
provide the structure that M.R. required.
Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-JV-2502 | March 13, 2020 Page 5 of 8
Id. at 26. The juvenile court committed M.R. to the DOC. See Appellant’s
App. Vol. II pp. 105-06. M.R. now appeals.
Analysis
[11] M.R. argues that the juvenile court abused its discretion in remanding him to
the DOC because “[l]ess restrictive alternatives were available[.]” Appellant’s
Br. p. 7. A juvenile court is accorded “wide latitude” and “great flexibility” in
its dealings with juveniles. J.S. v. State, 881 N.E.2d 26, 28 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008).
“[T]he choice of a specific disposition of a juvenile adjudicated a delinquent
child is a matter within the sound discretion of the juvenile court and will only
be reversed if there has been an abuse of that discretion.” Id. The juvenile
court’s discretion in determining a disposition is subject to the statutory
considerations of the welfare of the child, the safety of the community, and the
policy of favoring the least-harsh disposition. Id. An abuse of discretion occurs
when the juvenile court’s action is “clearly erroneous” and against the logic and
effect of the facts and circumstances before it. Id.
[12] The goal of the juvenile process is rehabilitation, not punishment. R.H. v. State,
937 N.E.2d 386, 388 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010). “Accordingly, juvenile courts have
a variety of placement options for juveniles with delinquency problems, none of
which are considered sentences.” Id. Indiana Code Section 31-37-18-6(1)(A)
provides that: “[i]f consistent with the safety of the community and the best
interest of the child, the juvenile court shall enter a dispositional decree that is
in the least restrictive (most family like) and most appropriate setting available.”
Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-JV-2502 | March 13, 2020 Page 6 of 8
“[T]he statute contains language that reveals that a more restrictive placement
might be appropriate under certain circumstances.” J.S., 881 N.E.2d at 29.
The law requires only that the disposition selected be the least restrictive
disposition that is “consistent with the safety of the community and the best
interest of the child.” D.S. v. State, 829 N.E.2d 1081, 1085 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005).
[13] M.R. analogizes the instant facts to those in D.P. v. State, 783 N.E.2d 767 (Ind.
Ct. App. 2003). In D.P., we reversed the juvenile court’s “overly harsh”
commitment of D.P. to the DOC because: (1) D.P. had “one prior contact with
the juvenile justice system”; (2) D.P. suffered from “diminished cognitive
capacity and impulsive behavior”; (3) D.P. “did not show an unresponsiveness
to ‘less-restrictive alternatives’”; and (4) D.P.’s conduct “d[id] not rise to the
level of repetitive and serious misconduct[.]” D.P., 783 N.E.2d at 771.
[14] Here, M.R.’s juvenile criminal record, unlike D.P.’s, is “atrocious” and
warrants a more restrictive placement. See Tr. Vol. II p. 26; see J.S., 881 N.E.2d
at 29. Attempts by the juvenile court, probation officials, and DCS to place
M.R. in less-restrictive placements failed to rehabilitate M.R., who continued to
engage in violent and/or criminal activity and to flout the rules of his school,
probation, community corrections, and foster care placements. The juvenile
court did not abuse its discretion when it committed M.R. to the DOC—a
determination that is “consistent with the safety of the community and the best
Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-JV-2502 | March 13, 2020 Page 7 of 8
interest of the child.” 9 See D.S., 829 N.E.2d at 1085; see D.E. v. State, 962
N.E.2d 94, 97 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011) (finding no abuse of discretion from
juvenile’s commitment to the DOC when juvenile was on probation at time of
delinquent acts; violated probation once before; and was suspended or expelled
from schools).
Conclusion
[15] The juvenile court did not abuse its discretion in committing M.R. to the DOC.
We affirm.
[16] Affirmed.
Najam, J., and Vaidik, J., concur.
9
The probation department’s modification reports assess M.R. as follows: “[M.R.] displays behavior that
threatens the safety of others at school”; “[M.R.] does not display pro-social skills nor does he have the
cognitive abilities . . . to de-escalate his dangerous behavior”; “[p]robation feels the court’s intervention is
necessary to ensure [M.R.]’s safety”; “[M.R.]’s actions pose a danger to himself and others”; and “[M.R.] has
unfortunately demonstrated a complete lack of treatment amenability, given the services he has been
offered.” Appellant’s App. Vol. II pp. 36, 45, 99.
Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-JV-2502 | March 13, 2020 Page 8 of 8