19 Guam Code Ann. § 5125
Terms Used In 19 Guam Code Ann. § 5125
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
The pendency of appeal shall not suspend the order of the Family Division regarding a child nor shall it discharge the child from custody of that court or of the person, institution, or agency, including the Department of Youth Affairs, into whose care such child shall have been committed.
If the Supreme Court does not dismiss the proceedings and discharge the child, it shall affirm or modify the order of the Family Division and remand the child to the jurisdiction of that court for supervision and care, and thereafter the child shall be and remain under the jurisdiction of the Family Division or of the institution to which he has been committed in the same manner as if no appeal had been taken.
(b) A child may appeal from a decision of the Family Division to certify him as an adult, but such appeal may be taken only if the child is convicted of the underlying offense. The Government may not appeal from a decision of the Family Division not to certify the child. If the decision to certify the child is upheld, any remand shall be deemed to be a remand to the court which had jurisdiction over such child at the time the appeal was taken.
SOURCE: CCP § 272 as heavily modified and enacted by P.L. 17-012:2 as 19 Guam Code Ann. § 5125.
COMMENT: The modifying drafters believed that the route of appealing juvenile matters was too cumbersome. It was little used and it was anticipated that, in the future, appeals would not be great.
The drafters believed that Subsection (b) of CCP § 272 stated the current condition of the law. However, current law was unwritten and subject to court interpretation, which may vary from time to time. Therefore, since the question of appealing certification decisions arose frequently, Subsection (b) was thought necessary to make clear the route and availability of appeals from such decisions.
Additionally, the section was changed to make sure that, upon remand of a case wherein the certification was upheld (the juvenile will be treated as an adult, his conviction having been affirmed) then the court having jurisdiction (presumably the Superior Court, acting as an adult court) would get the case back. Confusion in prior law led to considerable legal acrobatics resulting in a valid certification being dismissed because a case involving certification was remanded to the Juvenile Court after an indictment was had in the adult court. That comedy of errors has been resolved only by re-indictment.
COMMENT: “”District Court”” changed to “”Supreme Court of Guam””
pursuant to P.L. 21-147:5 (Jan. 14, 1993).