Opinion
NO. COA12-406
01-15-2013
IN THE MATTER OF: Z.M.L.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General LaToya B. Powell, for the State. Hunt Law Group, P.C., by James A. Hunt, for respondent-appellant.
An unpublished opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals does not constitute controlling legal authority. Citation is disfavored, but may be permitted in accordance with the provisions of Rule 30(e)(3) of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Cumberland County
File No. 11 JB 594
Robeson County
No. 11 JB 40
Appeal by juvenile from adjudication order entered 1 December 2011 by Judge Edward A. Pone in Cumberland County District Court and disposition order entered 23 December 2011 by Judge J. Stanley Carmical in Robeson County District Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 31 December 2012.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General LaToya B. Powell, for the State.
Hunt Law Group, P.C., by James A. Hunt, for respondent-appellant.
ERVIN, Judge.
On 14 October 2011, a petition was filed alleging that Z.M.L. should be adjudicated delinquent on the grounds that he had committed a simple assault. On 1 December 2011, Judge Pone adjudicated Zane a delinquent juvenile in Cumberland County District Court. Subsequently, this case was transferred to Robeson County District Court for disposition. On 23 December 2011, Judge Carmical entered a disposition order placing Zane on juvenile probation. Zane noted an appeal to this Court from the adjudication and disposition orders.
"Zane" is a pseudonym that will be utilized throughout the remainder of this opinion to protect the juvenile's privacy and for ease of reading.
Zane's sole challenge to the adjudication and disposition orders on appeal is that the trial courts lacked jurisdiction over the subject matter of this case because the juvenile petition was not filed in a timely manner as required by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7B-1703. In essence, Zane argues that, because the juvenile petition was not filed within 30 days after the juvenile court counselor had received a complaint alleging that Zane had engaged in conduct that rendered him liable to an adjudication of delinquency, the trial courts lacked the authority to enter orders adjudicating him as a delinquent juvenile and placing him on juvenile probation. We do not find Zane's argument persuasive.
Pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7B-1703(b), a juvenile court counselor must file a petition within 15 days after the complaint is received, with an extension of no more than 15 additional days available at the discretion of the chief court counselor. According to the record, the juvenile petition was filed more than 15 days after an extension granted by the chief court counselor. The Supreme Court has explicitly held, however, that "our legislature did not intend for these timelines to implicate subject matter jurisdiction" and that compliance with these timelines is not a "prerequisite[] for district court jurisdiction over allegedly delinquent juveniles." In re D.S., 364 N.C. 184, 194, 694 S.E.2d 758, 764 (2010). On the contrary, like other Chapter 7B timeline requirements, the timelines set out in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7B-1703 are "directory, rather than mandatory[.]" Id. (citing In re C.L.C., 171 N.C. App. 438, 443-45, 615 S.E.2d 704, 707-08 (2005), affirmed in part, disc. review improvidently granted in part, 360 N.C. 475, 628 S.E.2d 760 (2006)). As a result, even if the juvenile petition at issue in this case was not timely filed, the trial courts possessed jurisdiction to adjudicate the petition and enter an appropriate disposition order. Thus, the challenged orders should be, and hereby are, affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
Chief Judge MARTIN and Judge STEPHENS concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).