COURT OF APPEALS DECISION DATED AND FILED March 15, 2011 A.
John Voelker Acting Clerk of Court of Appeals |
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NOTICE |
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This opinion is subject to further editing.� If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports.� A party may file with the Supreme Court a petition to review an adverse decision by the Court of Appeals.� See Wis. Stat. � 808.10 and Rule 809.62.� |
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����������� APPEAL
from an order of the circuit court for
�1������� KESSLER, J.[1] Emanuel M. appeals an order denying postdisposition relief.� Emanuel contends that the juvenile court erred when it (1) placed Emanuel in the Serious Juvenile Offender Program (SJOP) because the court found that a disposition other than placement in a juvenile correctional facility was appropriate; and (2) imposed and stayed the SJOP disposition and then placed Emanuel in the community.� Because we find that the juvenile court made the necessary findings to place Emanuel in the SJOP and that the court did not enter a separate, non-correctional disposition when it stayed the SJOP, we affirm.
BACKGROUND
�2������� On March 26, 2008, Emanuel was charged in a delinquency petition with two counts of armed robbery, party to a crime, and one count of attempted armed robbery, party to a crime.� On April 28, 2008, Emanuel entered admissions to all three charges and was adjudicated delinquent on all three counts.
�3������� A disposition hearing was held immediately after Emanuel was
found delinquent.� After making findings
as to the seriousness of Emanuel�s offense and after reading a victim impact
statement, the juvenile court placed Emanuel in the SJOP for five years, but
stayed the disposition.� The court placed
Emanuel on probation for one year and placed him in a Type 2 residential care
center, operated by FOCUS, a
�4������� On December 30, 2008, Emanuel�s probation officer filed a motion to lift the stay, alleging that Emanuel violated multiple conditions of the court order.� The violations were detailed at a hearing on the motion on April 8, 2009.� The juvenile court found that Emanuel violated the conditions of his probation, lifted the stay, and imposed the original disposition.
�5������� Emanuel filed a postdisposition motion challenging the original disposition and the process used by the juvenile court in lifting the stay.� The court denied the motion, stating that the proper factors had been considered in imposing the SJOP disposition and that the court was permitted, under Wis. Stat. � 938.34(16), to stay the execution of the disposition contingent on Emanuel�s compliance with any conditions specified in the order.� This appeal follows.
DISCUSSION
�6������� Emanuel argues that the juvenile court erred when it placed him in the SJOP because the court found a disposition other than placement in a juvenile correctional facility to be appropriate, contrary to Wis. Stat. � 938.34(4h).� Emanuel also argues that the juvenile court was in error for placing him in the community after staying the SJOP disposition, making a reversal of the original disposition necessary.
�7������� Both of Emanuel�s arguments, in essence, center on his assertion that the juvenile court was in error for ordering an SJOP disposition and for staying that disposition to place him in a non-correctional placement program.� Emanuel contends that because under Wis. Stat. � 938.34(4h) a court can only place a juvenile in the SJOP if it finds that the only other appropriate disposition is placement in a juvenile correctional facility, the court erred by staying the SJOP disposition to place Emanuel in a non-correctional facility.� We disagree.
�8������� Wisconsin Stat. � 938.538
implements the SJOP and states that the SJOP exists for �juveniles who have
been adjudicated delinquent and ordered to participate in the program under s.
938.34(4h).� �
�9������� Contrary to Emanuel�s assertion, the juvenile court, at the
disposition hearing, made the requisite findings pursuant to Wis. Stat. � 938.34(4h) to order Emanuel�s
placement in the SJOP.� Emanuel was
fourteen years old when he was charged and pled guilty to all three
charges.� He was adjudicated
delinquent.� At his disposition hearing,
the juvenile court made a finding that the only other appropriate disposition
was a juvenile correctional facility. �The
court made various references to �
�10����� The juvenile court also made the appropriate findings under Wis. Stat. � 938.34(4m). �The court specifically addressed the impact of each of Emanuel�s charges on each of the victims and determined that there was a need to protect the community and that custodial treatment was necessary.
�11����� That the court stayed the disposition does not negate the fact that the relevant findings were made. �Although Emanuel acknowledges the court�s ability to stay the SJOP disposition under Wis. Stat. � 938.34(16), he argues that his placement in FOCUS means that the court found appropriate a disposition other than a juvenile correctional facility, a violation of the SJOP�s statutory requirements. �He is mistaken.
�12����� Wisconsin Stat. � 938.34(16)
permits a juvenile court to stay the disposition of an order, �contingent on
the juvenile�s satisfactory compliance with any
conditions that are specified in the dispositional order and explained to
the juvenile by the court.� �
�13����� The juvenile court did not impose Emanuel�s placement in FOCUS as a non-correctional disposition. �Rather, the record is clear that the court placed Emanuel on probation and imposed FOCUS as a condition of staying the SJOP disposition.[2] The court also made it clear that if the terms of the condition were violated, Emanuel�s original disposition would be imposed:
����������� Considering all the factors I have to, I�m going to transfer your custody to the Department of Corrections for a period of five years under the Serious Juvenile Offender Program.� I�m going to stay that.� That means that you don�t have to go, but so help me God, you screw up on this break that I�m going to give you, you are going not for one year, not for two years, but three years.� Do you understand me?
�14����� The juvenile court made findings as to the seriousness of the
offense, warned Emanuel�s mother and sister that he �is that close to going
away to
CONCLUSION
�15����� For all the foregoing reasons, we affirm the juvenile court.
By the Court.�Order affirmed.
This opinion will not be published.� See Wis. Stat. Rule 809.23(1)(b)4.
[1] This appeal is decided by one judge pursuant to Wis. Stat. � 752.31(2) (2009-10).� All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2009-10 version unless otherwise noted.
[2] The fact that placement in FOCUS, a Type 2 residential care center, is also an authorized disposition under Wis. Stat. � 938.34 does not prevent the placement from also being a condition of a stay of another part of the dispositional order, namely, the SJOP disposition.� See State v. Cesar G., 2004 WI 61, ��25, 28-29, 272 Wis. 2d 22, 682 N.W.2d 1.