Second Court of Appeals

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of January 23, 2017.

NOTE: Summaries are prepared by the court's staff attorneys and law clerks for public information only and reflect his or her interpretation alone of the facts and legal issues. The summaries are not part of the court's opinion in the case and should not be cited to, quoted, or relied upon as the opinion of the court.

Links to full text of opinions (PDF version) can be accessed by clicking the cause number.

In re M.K., No. 02-16-00291-CV (Jan. 23, 2017) (Gabriel, J., joined by Livingston, C.J., and Walker, J.).

Held:  The juvenile court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to render its amended order waiving jurisdiction and transferring Appellant to criminal district court.  Appellant allegedly committed the offense of murder on August 7, 1973, when he was fifteen years of age, and the State initiated the waiver and transfer proceeding at issue in this appeal when Appellant was fifty-eight years of age.  Given the date of the alleged offense, the current version of the Juvenile Justice Code, codified as Title 3 of the Texas Family Code, and under which the juvenile court conducted the waiver and transfer proceeding, is not applicable to this case.  Rather, the law that governs this case is the law that was in effect on the date of the alleged offense, which was Title 3’s predecessor, Article 2338-1 of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas.  Under Article 2338-1, a juvenile court does not have subject-matter jurisdiction over a proceeding involving a person who is fifty-eight years of age.  Therefore, the juvenile court’s amended waiver and transfer order was void.