Thursday, March 15, 2007
A three-day jail stint served by a Luzerne County teen who failed to show up in court to testify against a peer has inspired a proposed law change.
State Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Kingston, is proposing a bill that would require parents to be notified if their child is subpoenaed to appear in court.
Mundy said she was motivated to pass the law after reading about the case of Dayquawn Johnson, an Edwardsville teen who was placed in a juvenile detention center for three days last year after failing to appear in court as a witness, not a defendant, in a juvenile criminal case. Under current law, only the person receiving the subpoena is required to be notified. Mundy’s proposal would require that parents, guardians or legal custodians also be served a copy of the document.
“Parents or a legal guardian should be notified when the minor they are responsible for is ordered to appear in court,” Mundy said in a prepared statement. “Should a child forget or choose not to tell his or her parents about it, it could result in a delay in legal proceedings. Just as parents are expected to make sure their child is in school and receives proper medical care, those same expectations should apply to the legal system.”
In a phone interview Wednesday, Mundy said the bill has generated support from child advocacy groups, but is being opposed by the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association. The group, she said, argues that the law would create additional costs to locate and serve parents and says it could harm cases in which children must testify against their parents. But Mundy noted that the bill would only apply to juvenile cases.
Mundy’s proposed law isn’t the only one stemming from the case.
After Johnson’s arrest was reported and Wilkes-Barre NAACP President Ron Felton called for action, an advisory committee to the state Supreme Court began drafting a proposed rule change that would mandate when a child could be placed in juvenile detention. Members of the Supreme Court’s juvenile court procedural rules committee said they were shocked that Johnson was placed in jail for not appearing in court as a witness. The final draft of the committee’s proposal has not been completed.
Once it is, it will be made available for view and public comment will be solicited. The state Supreme Court would have to approve the change before it would be implemented.
Johnson was arrested on May 30, 2006, when he was 13. He was handcuffed by a Kingston police officer at Wyoming Valley West Middle School and taken to a Pittston Township juvenile detention center.
Police said Johnson saw a fellow student with a knife at a school dance and they wanted him to testify against his peer. He was subpoenaed at school on May 22. When Johnson didn’t show up for the hearing, Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella ordered the teen to be arrested. During the hearing, Terell Bolling, who was 12 at the time, was found guilty of having the knife at the dance.
Johnson’s mother, Sonji Johnson, said she was not notified that her son was subpoenaed until after he was locked up.
WHAT’S NEXT:
Mundy’s bill was moved out of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and is headed to the full House for consideration. It would have to be passed by the state Senate, then approved by the governor before becoming law.
Kevin Amerman, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7218.