State v. Van Huizen

Justice Petersen, opinion of the Court:

INTRODUCTION

¶1 Cooper Van Huizen participated in an armed robbery when he was sixteen years old. The State charged him with three first-degree felonies in juvenile court. After a preliminary hearing, the juvenile judge bound over Van Huizen to the district court to be tried as an adult. There, Van Huizen pled guilty to lesser charges and the district court judge sentenced him to prison.

¶2 While he was serving his prison sentence, Van Huizen discovered that the juvenile judge who presided over his preliminary hearing was married to the Chief Criminal…