State v. Turner

This appeal challenges, on the basis of three recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court,① the provision of OES 419.498(1)② which denies a child a trial by jury in a delinquency hearing. A majority of this court has concluded that the statute should be considered constitutional until the United States Supreme Court holds otherwise.

Joan Turner, a 15-year-old girl, was accused by petition in juvenile court of causing the death of a woman in the course of an assault and robbery. The court conducted a hearing without a jury, and determined that Joan had committed an act which, if…