Juveniles Have Same Right to Counsel as Adults, Court Says
In State of New Jersey in the Interest of P.M.P, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that a juvenile has the same right to counsel after a complaint for juvenile delinquency is filed and a judicially approved arrest warrant is issued as an adult has upon the return of an indictment. The Appellate Division refused to recognize this right and accepted the State’s argument that the fundamental difference between the goals and procedures of the juvenile justice system and the criminal courts prohibited equating a juvenile complaint with an indictment. However, the New Jersey Supreme Court rejected this argument and held that the right to counsel, which is guaranteed by both the United States Constitution and the New Jersey State Constitution, attaches upon the filing of a juvenile complaint.
In this case, a victim alleged that the defendant had sexually assaulted her several years ago, when she was about six or seven years old. At the time, the defendant was thirteen years old. A Cape May County Assistant Prosecutor and two detectives filed a complaint with a judge in the Family Part and asked the judge for authority to detain the defendant. The judge stated that he was familiar with defendant from another case, where the defendant was represented by counsel and granted the request, but told the prosecutor to bring defendant before him at 9:00 a.m. the next morning.
The next day, the detectives apprehended the defendant and transported him to the Cape May County Prosecutor’s office. At the office, defendant was processed and then read his Miranda rights. Defendant waived his rights and agreed to speak to the detectives. During the course of the interrogation, defendant admitted that he had sexual contact with the victim. The detectives then brought defendant before another judge at 11:00 a.m., who ordered defendant to be detained.
The defendant moved to suppress the statements he made to the police as obtained in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The trial court agreed with defendant that his right to counsel attached at the time the juvenile complaint was filed, and therefore defendant could not have waived his right to counsel without the approval of his attorney. Therefore, the State should not have initiate the conversation with the defendant that resulted in the confession. As noted above, the Appellate Division reversed.
The New Jersey Supreme Court first noted that the legislature has granted to juveniles all defenses available to an adult charged with a crime, offense or violation. Furthermore, all constitutional rights guaranteed to adult criminal defendants apply to juveniles except for the right to indictment, the right to a jury trial, and the right to bail. The Supreme Court of the United States has held, and the New Jersey Supreme Court has agreed, that the right to counsel attaches at the initiation of adversary judicial criminal proceedings against the defendant. Adversary judicial criminal proceedings include proceedings that are initiated by a formal charge, preliminary hearing, indictment, information, or arraignment.
New Jersey, however, has parted ways with federal law on the issue of waiver of the right to counsel. Under federal law, a defendant can waive his right to counsel at any time, so long as he does so knowingly and voluntarily. Under New Jersey law, after an indictment, the State should not initiate a conversation with defendants without the consent of defense counsel. The Court then recognized that even though the juvenile justice system has rehabilitation as its predominate mission, punishment is still a component of that system.
The New Jersey legislature has also enacted a law that says that a juvenile has the right to be represented by counsel at every critical stage of proceedings against the juvenile. Moreover, during delinquency proceedings, a juvenile cannot waive any rights except in the presence of counsel, and after a parent or legal guardian has had an opportunity to confer with the juvenile and the juvenile’s counsel. The filing of a juvenile complaint constitutes a critical stage in the proceedings where a crime is alleged in the complaint because a prosecutor’s consent is required before the complaint can be diverted. Because the defendant did not waive his right to counsel in the presence of his counsel and after consulting with counsel, the Court held that his statements should be suppressed.
Anyone charged with a crime in New Jersey should contact a New Jersey criminal defense lawyer for assistance. Defendants in criminal proceedings have a right to counsel, as well as many other constitutionally and statutorily protected rights, and a New Jersey criminal defense lawyer can help a suspect ensure that those rights are respected by the State.
