Supreme Court to consider juvenile’s video hearing during pandemic

The Court of Appeals Western District has sent another case to the Missouri Supreme Court that addresses whether video hearings provide adequate due process during the pandemic.

On July 20, the court tentatively held that a Jackson County judge should not have held a video hearing for a juvenile offender, identified in the opinion as J.A.T. However, citing “the general interest and importance of the Confrontation Clause issues which J.A.T. raises,” the court transferred the case to the Missouri Supreme Court for a final decision.

The move comes two weeks after the same court sent a similar case, In the Interest of C.A.R.A., to the Supreme Court. In addition, the high court is already considering a case from the Eastern District, State v. Smith, which raises similar issues. 

J.A.T. is alleged to have taken part in a drug deal that resulted in the shooting of a man in January 2020, when J.A.T. was 14. The Western District agreed that there was sufficient evidence to find he had committed acts which would be felonies if he were an adult.

During the adjudication hearing, J.A.T. appeared by video from the juvenile facility, though the judge and other participants appeared in the courtroom in person. Although that arrangement appeared to comply with circuit and Supreme Court orders in effect during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Western District said the Supreme Court would need to decide if J.A.T’s constitutional rights were violated.

The case is In the Interest of: J.A.T. v. Jackson County Juvenile Office, WD83968.