© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate – (December 12) – Christmas came early for Jack Carnegie. Wednesday, after six years and thousands of pro bono hours, the Court of Criminal Appeals in Texas issued an opinion affirming that Carnegie’s client was wrongfully certified as an adult at age 16 in the murder case that sentenced him to 30 years in prison.
But Carnegie, a partner at Strasburger & Price, said Texas’ criminal High Court did more than affirm a wrong that needed to be righted – Wednesday’s 6-3 opinion will change the landscape of juvenile certification proceedings.
“In Texas, we have had thousands of children certified as adults. This now clarifies and refines that procedure to make sure it’s not abused and used properly,” Carnegie said. “This [ruling] is going to change the process.”
Historically, juvenile judges have certified children as adults in more than 90 percent of the cases that the state requested to do so, Carnegie said, and the judges treated these certifications as a standard procedure that made the same findings in every case, rather than considering each one on an individual basis.
Carnegie said the system needs to be the other way around and only certify a juvenile as an adult in rare circumstances.
“We want to try to rehabilitate juveniles when we can,” he said. “You don’t get those opportunities in the adult prison population. If you put a kid in prison for 35 years, when he comes out, what do you think you’re gonna get?”
Attorneys from the Texas Attorney General’s office, who defended the state, could not be reached for comment.
Carnegie’s client, Cameron Moon, was 16 when he committed his alleged offense during a drug-deal-turned-violent-brawl. A forensic psychologist evaluated Moon before his certification hearing and testified that Moon had no history of gang activity and would benefit from therapy in the Texas Youth Commission. Carnegie said that a year before the incident, Moon found out why his mother was incarcerated when he was merely a toddler: she suffocated Moon’s baby sister after giving birth to her and dumped her in the trash can after.
A few specific guidelines Wednesday’s ruling lays out include:
• It establishes the standard of proof that the state has to meet to certify a child as an adult;
• It requires juvenile courts to show their work and explain their fact findings when they do decide to certify a child;
• And it holds that the courts of appeals can weigh in on factual and legal sufficiency of evidence when reviewing juvenile courts’ conclusions.
Carnegie said he got involved six years ago after fellow Houston attorney Christene Wood, who he said was the “driving force” behind bringing this case, gave him a call.
“When I saw what was going on, I realized that there was a real problem out there, some real injustice being done,” said Carnegie, whose regular practice involves energy litigation and appellate law. “If [your] child got in trouble, the minimum you’d want is a system that works fairly and applies the law the way it’s supposed to apply to each individual child. That’s the least we can all expect from the courts, and it wasn’t happening.”
In addition to Carnegie and Wood, Moon’s legal team included John Hagan of Jackson Gilmour & Dobbs in Houston and Bellaire attorney David Adler. Wood is a senior attorney at Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons.
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