Hi. My son is 14 years old and was arrested after he and a friend broke into a home at night to steal some liquor. Although he was not arrested at the house there's some pretty strong evidence that he did it. His lawyer is fighting the charge instead of taking a plea agreement and he said that even if a juvenile is found guilt in Massachusetts the court can decide not to punish him other than continuing the case. Is that correct or should the attorney be looking into taking the plea agreement. Thanks.
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The Editor, Mark Bernardin, is an attorney living in MA. Please send your suggestions or comments to: TheEditor@malawforum.com
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Juvenile found delinquent in MA
Interesting question. Juvenile court is really a different animal than the typical criminal court in Massachusetts. Rather than adjudicating guilt or innocence and handing out punishment, the juvenile courts in MA are supposed to treat youthful offenders as kids who need help and guidance. In other words, punishment is supposed to be a secondary consideration to setting the kid back on the right track. That is why, when a juvenile's case goes to a jury, they are not instructed to determine guilt or innocence, but asked to determine if the offender is "delinquent."
In a recent opinion by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (Commonwealth vs. Magnus M., SJC-10875, 2012), this point was driven home by the Court. Considering the case of a juvenile who was found delinquent by a jury of a serious crime (breaking and entering a motor vehicle at night) the Court found that the judge has discretion to refuse to find the youth delinquent and to continue the matter without finding and without entering any finding on the child's record. In the past, there was some debate about this issue, and some judges believed they had to heed the finding made by the jury and enter the delinquent finding. Apparently not so. Accordingly, I will defer to the judgment of your son's attorney on this matter. The Magnus case certainly reduces the risk of going to trial, and his attorney is in the best position to know whether that reduced risk is worth taking. Good luck.
Juvenile Court Trial or Plea
If there is a reasonably good chance of winning the case at trial, then taking the case to trial is a reasonable choice. On the other hand, if after taking a good look at the evidence that the Commonwealth will present at the trial you are of the opinion that your son will be found delinquent, then it makes sense to talk to the Assistant District Attorney and Probation about what is a reasonable disposition. If, however, you do not feel that your son will be able to obey conditions of probation then you may want to go to trial and try to win and avoid probation altogether. You should talk all this through with your lawyer.
Attorney Robert D. Lewin