Court of Appeals Finds No Constitutional Violations Related to Pre-Raise the Age Prosecution in Criminal Court

Were the constitutional rights of defendants who were prosecuted as adults in criminal court for offenses that they committed at ages 16 or 17, and prior to December 1, 2019, violated because the jurisdictional changes under raise the age were not retroactive? The North Carolina Court of Appeals does not think so. The decision in State v. Garrett, 2021-NCCOA-591, answers this question. The question in Garrett The Garrett decision involves the criminal prosecution of a defendant who was charged with felonious breaking or entering and larceny after breaking or entering at the age of 16. The offense occurred on December 13, 2015, long before the raise the age legislation was passed (S.L. 2017-57, §§ 16D.4.(a)-16D.4.(tt)) and took effect (beginning with offenses committed on December 1, 2019). He was charged in October 2016, and his case was set for trial in late 2017. Because he failed to appear, the case did not proceed to trial until 2019, after the raise the age legislation was passed. Under the law in place at the time of the offense, there was no juvenile jurisdiction for this offense. Juvenile jurisdiction ended once a youth turned 16. Mr. Garrett was charged as an adult in the criminal justice system from the outset of the case. Had he been charged with committing the same offenses after raise the age took effect, his case would have begun as a juvenile matter. It could have become a criminal matter through the process of discretionary transfer, which requires a hearing and [...]