State11/24/2004
OPINION AND ORDER
D.M.B., a juvenile, through counsel of record, filed an application for writ of supervisory control. By order entered on October 14, 2004, we ordered the Respondent District Court and/or the Yellowstone County Attorney or Montana Attorney General on behalf of Respondent court, to prepare, file and serve a response to the application, which has now been filed. Further, we granted, at the request of D.M.B., a stay of the Youth Court proceedings herein until resolution of the issues raised in the application.
The State filed a petition on June 22, 2004, alleging that D.M.B. was a delinquent youth under the Montana Youth Court Act. The petition alleged that D.M.B. had committed the misdemeanor offenses of assault, criminal mischief, and obstruction of a police officer. On August 11, 2004, D.M.B. appeared in Youth Court and admitted to the three charged offenses. The Youth Court accepted the admissions and adjudicated D.M.B. to be a juvenile delinquent.
Prior to D.M.B.'s dispositional hearing, Youth Court Services Officer Becky Wagner prepared a report regarding D.M.B. for the Youth Court. Wagner's report set forth D.M.B.'s juvenile record, including a sex offense which had occurred eight years earlier. In light of this past offense, Wagner recommended that D.M.B. undergo a psychosexual evaluation with a qualified evaluator who would provide the Youth Court with an evaluation prior to the entry of a dispositional order by the Youth Court.
Wagner further noted the inability or unwillingness of D.M.B.'s parents to contact her office or otherwise appear on D.M.B.'s behalf or to be involved in his life and explained that without a parent or other responsible adult to take responsibility for D.M.B., the youth had nowhere to go. Wagner noted that over the past eight years, D.M.B. had resided in three different residential psychiatric facilities and three different group homes, had a significant history of alleged offenses, and committed the three charged offenses in this matter about one month after his release from his previous placement.
However, D.M.B., through counsel, objected to the State's request for a psychosexual evaluation, asserting that there was no nexus to the underlying offenses. In response, the Youth Court ordered briefing on the issue, and following oral argument granted the State's request for the evaluation, reasoning that, although there was no nexus between the evaluation and the underlying offenses, the Montana Youth Court Act nevertheless granted broader discretion to fashion a rehabilitative disposition and, therefore, a predispositional psychosexual evaluation was appropriate. D.M.B. then sought supervisory control.
Supervisory control is an extraordinary remedy that is only appropriate when a district court is proceeding under a mistake of law which, if not corrected, would cause significant injustice and the remedy by appeal is inadequate. Evans v. Montana Eleventh Judicial District Court , 2000 MT 38, 15, 298 Mont. 279, 15, 995 P.2d 455, 15. Our determination of whether supervisory control is appropriate is a case-by-case decision, based on the presence of extraordinary circumstances and the need to prevent an injustice from occurring. Park v. Sixth Judicial District Court , 1998 MT 164, 13, 289 Mont. 367, 13, 961 P.2d 1267, 13.
D.M.B. argues that the District Court is proceeding under a mistake of law in two respects. First, although acknowledging that § 41-5-1512(1)(g) and (i), MCA, provides statutory authority for the Youth Court to order that a youth submit to an evaluation as part of a final disposition, D.M.B. argues that § 41-5-1503, MCA, allows predispos
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