In Re Smith

The state appeals from the juvenile court’s dismissal of a delinquency rape charge against a ten-year-old boy. In its two assignments of error the state argues: (1) the juvenile court improperly imposed a pretrial burden of proof on the state where a juvenile under the age of fourteen was charged with rape, and (2) the juvenile court erred in dismissing the rape charge. Because we conclude that the juvenile court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing the complaint, we affirm the dismissal.

I

On July 16, 1990, the state filed a complaint against Christopher Thomas Smith in the juvenile…