I've got a district court judge that is refusing to accept a former juvenile that has been transferred under 54.051 for adult probation.

Has anybody dealt with this problem?

I've had a District Judge "tweek" some of the probation terms but never just outright refuse to take the case.

What does the Judge that sent the probation have to say ?!? Or the victim(s) ?

My guess would be that the Disrtict Court could accept the case and then on its own motion (or with a subtle suggestion to the defense to file one) early terminate the probation but I don't see the ability to just not accept it at all.

Keep us updated on the progress or lack there of. I'll sure be interested in seeing who says uncle first. Planning a mandamus if the refusal persists ?

Update: The district court has dug in.

The district court judge believes that because the kid hasn't hit 18, the juvenile court retains jurisdiction to issue a new transfer order to another district court. I don't read sec. 54.051(d)'s "transfer" provision as allowing such a procedure -- even if the kid is a week short of 18. Assuming, that is, that a transfer to adult court could be completed before the kid turns 18. See sec. 54.051(d).

Section 54.051(d) doesn't seem to contemplate the transfer being completed before the child's 18th birthday. Maybe since our kid isn't 18 yet, no transfer is authorized and the juvenile court never lost jurisdiction.

I'm also given pause by the fact that the pre-trial transfer in sec. 54.02 has a specific prohibition on transferring a case back to the juvenile court. See sec. 54.02(i).

Any ideas on how sec. 54.051(d) is supposed to operate? Thanks.

We set a hearing date for the transfer hearing at the original disposition setting, usually a month before he/she is to turn 18. That allows for at least one reset for unforseen problems. We have the hearing and if it is determined that a transfer is in order the Judge signs the transfer at that time. Then on the morning of the child's (now adult's) 18th birthday I walk the file from the county clerk to the district clerk for it to be assigned a number. It isn't a problem in this county (refusal of transfer) as our juvenile court also has felony court jurisdiction so it goes right back into the same court with a different number but in my prior county the clerk would file the case and it would generate a new "felony" number which would then assign it to a certain felony Court. I don't think the child can be transferred to any adult court until the day of their 18th birthday on a determinate probation.

I see your point with 54.02 but this is such a different animal than certification. 54.051(e) however gives me pause in your situation as it says "a district court that exercises jurisdiction" and then says shall. I think that may give your district court some wiggle room to say I never "exercised jurisdiction" so the shall does not apply. However the flip side of that arguement is yea you did exercise jurisdiction when you refused to take it so now you have to take it and you "shall place the child on community supervision for the remainder of the child's probationary period"

Any idea why this Judge doesn't want it to be transferred to his/her court (but would be willing to have the juvi court tranfer it to some other district court ???