U.S. Supreme Court 12-10-09
by: Abassos • December 9, 2009 • no comments
Read the full article for details about the following new cases:
- Hindering Prosecution applies to juvenile adjudication proceedings
The Supremes issued only one case today. It says that the Hindering Prosecution statute "applies when an individual interferes with the apprehension of a juvenile who has been found within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court for engaging in conduct punishable as a felony." That is, the HP statute applies to juveniles and it applies to probation violations. In this case, a father bought his son a plane ticket to the Phillipines in order to flee the country after he bombed out of a juvenile probation for Assault III. This is one of those cases where it kind of makes sense for the facts of the case - buying a plane ticket to assist someone in fleeing the country. But the legal rule is really scary. What if juvenile p.o. calls the kid's house and mom tells the p.o. that the kid isn't home. My parents used to do that for me all the time (though to be fair I've never had a p.o.). If the kid is in trouble and on probation for what would have been a felony, mom has now probably committed a felony. Yikes. What about just "harboring" the kid in the home where he lives. All it's missing is the right intent - but ruthless prosecutors sometimes brush aside intent. My really frightening vision is that prosecutors could threaten a Hindering prosecution to gain leverage in an otherwise irrelevant juvenile case. State v. McCullough
