All Related Charges Are Transferred When One Felony in a Delinquency Case Is Transferred

I continue to receive questions about transferring from juvenile to criminal superior court cases involving allegations that 16-and 17-year-olds have engaged in certain criminal conduct. Recently I’ve been asked about the transfer process for offenses committed at ages 16 and 17 in cases that involve a series of charges that include Class A – G felonies, Class H and I felonies, and misdemeanors. Because the Juvenile Code prescribes differing procedures for transferring various classes of felonies and there is no transfer process for misdemeanor offenses, confusion is understandable. The key to understanding how to handle these cases is this: Once one felony is transferred, all other related charges, regardless of offense class, are automatically brought under the jurisdiction of the superior court. Why? G.S. 7B-2203(c) Shifts Jurisdiction for the Entire Case to Superior Court on Transfer of a Felony Pursuant to G.S. 7B-2203(c) When the case is transferred to superior court, the superior court has jurisdiction over that felony, any offense based on the same act or transaction or on a series of acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a single scheme or plan of that felony, and any greater or lesser included offense of that felony. This language was added to the Juvenile Code through S.L. 1983-532, Sec. 1. The language remains in the same form that it took at its origination in 1983. Raise the age legislative changes did not alter this provision. Thus, once one felony in a case is transferred to superior court (meaning [...]