Criminal Practice – Subject Matter Jurisdiction – Court Counselor – Approve a Petition for Filing – Adjudication and Disposition – Orders Void Ab Initio – N.C. Gen. Stat. §7B-1706(a) – N.C. Gen. Stat. §7B-1703(b)

Because the juvenile court counselor did not approve the juvenile petition for filing and did not sign the relevant portion of the juvenile petition, the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to adjudicate the juvenile delinquent and, consequently, lacked jurisdiction to enter a disposition order.

The adjudication and disposition orders are vacated, and the juvenile petition is dismissed.

In2023, a juvenile petition was filed alleging the juvenile, Dawson, committed the offense of injury to personal property in violation of N.C. Gen. Stat. §14-160(b) with an offense date of May 16, 2023. The section of the juvenile petition titled “decision of court counselor regarding the filing of the petition” was left blank. Therefore, the box indicating “approved for filing” and the box for the court counselor’s signature were blank as well. The trial court held the adjudication and disposition hearings on August 25, 2023. The court counselor was not present at the hearings. On 30 August 2023, the court entered a written adjudication order finding Dawson delinquent. The same day, the court entered the disposition order placing Dawson on supervised probation for six months, requiring him to cooperate with the Youth Development Initiatives Life Skills Academy for six months, and ordering that he pay $200.00 in restitution.

Dawson appealed the order of the court adjudicating him delinquent and its subsequent disposition order. Dawson argued the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the petition because the court counselor did not approve the juvenile petition for filing in accordance with N.C. Gen. Stat. §7B-1702. Dawson argued that therefore, the adjudication and disposition orders are void. We agreed.

The section of the juvenile petition to indicate the juvenile court counselor’s approval or disapproval for filing was left completely blank. There was no box checked, and the court counselor did not include his signature in this section. Therefore, on its face, the juvenile petition was fatally deficient and did not vest subject matter jurisdiction in the court. Accordingly, the adjudication and disposition orders are void ab initio because the court lacked jurisdiction to enter them. Moreover, it is impossible to determine whether the juvenile court counselor intended to approve the filing of a petition or to divert the juvenile pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7B-1706(a).

Vacated and dismissed.

In re D.J.Y. (Lawyers’ Weekly No. 011-118-24, 9 pp.) (April Wood, J.) Appealed from Rowan County District Court (Chris Sease, J.) Attorney General Joshua H. Stein, by Special Deputy Attorney General Kimberly D. Potter, for the State; Appellate Defender Glenn Gerding, by Assistant Appellate Defender Jillian C. Franke, for the juvenile-appellant. North Carolina Court of Appeals