Juvenile Homicide Lawyer: What Families Need to Know

When a teenager is accused of homicide, the case usually begins in juvenile court with a petition, not a criminal complaint. Depending on the child's age, the offense and the state, a prosecutor may ask to move the case to adult court, and a juvenile homicide lawyer is involved at each hearing that follows.

Most people facing this are parents or guardians who got a phone call they never imagined, and who may now have a son or daughter in juvenile hall, a court date they do not understand, and a word, "homicide", that seems to close every door at once. They want to know which court will hear the case, whether their child can come home, and what this means for the rest of the child's life. This page walks through those questions in order, using California's rules as the worked example and saying plainly where other states differ.

What a Juvenile Homicide Case Actually Is

In juvenile court, a homicide allegation starts with a petition, the document that opens a juvenile case and states what the minor is accused of doing. The case is a delinquency proceeding, not a criminal prosecution, and its words differ from adult court on purpose. The fact-finding hearing is the adjudication or jurisdiction hearing. If the allegations are found true, the petition is "sustained", which is not a conviction. The outcome is a disposition, not a sentence. A minor placed under the court's supervision becomes a ward of the court. The OJJDP case flow overview describes this same difference in language between juvenile and criminal courts.

Which children juvenile court covers depends on the state. OJJDP notes that states vary in their upper age of juvenile jurisdiction, that 17 is the most common, and that most states have exceptions sending some younger youth to adult court. In California, under Welf. & Inst. Code § 602, a minor between 12 and 17, inclusive, who violates a law is within juvenile court jurisdiction, except as § 707 provides. A child under 12 is also within that jurisdiction when accused of certain offenses, including murder.

Homicide, which includes murder and manslaughter, is among the most serious allegations a juvenile court hears, and it can trigger a transfer hearing. Three Supreme Court decisions frame the outer limits: Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), bars the death penalty for offenders under 18 at the time of the offense; Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), bars mandatory life without parole for juvenile homicide offenders; and Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U.S. 190 (2016), made Miller retroactive.

Transfer to Adult Court: When and How It Happens

A transfer hearing, also called a fitness or waiver hearing, is where a juvenile court decides whether a minor's case moves to adult criminal court. In a homicide case it is often the most consequential step, because the result decides which court system hears the case and which outcomes are possible.

California's rule is in Welf. & Inst. Code § 707(a). The prosecutor may move to transfer only for an offense alleged to have been committed when the minor was 16 or older, if the offense is listed in § 707(b) or is any other felony, or for a § 707(b) offense committed at 14 or 15 by a person who was not apprehended before juvenile court jurisdiction ended. The § 707(b) list of serious offenses includes murder; the full list appears in the statute. The motion must be made before jeopardy attaches, and the court orders probation to prepare a report on the minor's behavioral patterns and social history.

The statute sets a demanding standard:

"In order to find that the minor should be transferred to a court of criminal jurisdiction, the court shall find by clear and convincing evidence that the minor is not amenable to rehabilitation while under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court."

The court must weigh listed criteria, including the minor's degree of criminal sophistication, and state its reasons on the record. A juvenile defense attorney presents evidence on those criteria at this hearing.

Other states work differently. OJJDP reports that in many states the legislature requires certain serious cases to be filed in criminal court, and that in a growing number the prosecutor chooses the court (OJJDP). Rules in Texas juvenile defense and Michigan juvenile defense cases, for example, are their own. If a minor is transferred and convicted in adult court, adult sentencing law applies, within the limit Miller sets.

How a Juvenile Homicide Case Moves Through Court

Custody comes first. In California, under Welf. & Inst. Code § 631, a minor taken into custody must generally be released within 48 hours, excluding nonjudicial days, unless a petition or a criminal complaint has been filed in that time. Under § 632, a detained minor must then be brought before a judge or referee for a detention hearing, the hearing that decides whether the child stays in custody, as soon as possible and no later than the end of the next judicial day after the petition is filed. If that does not happen, the minor must be released. Nationally, OJJDP says every state sets a statutory time for a detention hearing, generally within 24 hours.

For a parent waiting outside juvenile hall, the detention hearing is often the first moment there is anything to say in court. Under § 635, the court must release the minor unless the minor violated a juvenile court order, escaped a commitment, is likely to flee, or detention is a matter of immediate and urgent necessity for the minor's protection or reasonably necessary to protect another person or property. The gravity of the alleged offense may be considered with other factors. Under § 636, a detention order also requires a finding that staying home is contrary to the minor's welfare, and lasts no more than 15 judicial days. Both sections give the minor equal consideration for release on home supervision regardless of whether the minor lives in the county where the offense occurred; this is not a general preference for home supervision.

The adjudication follows, where witnesses testify and the court decides whether the allegations are true. OJJDP notes that a judge decides nearly all adjudications, though some states allow a jury. If the petition is sustained, a disposition hearing sets the outcome. California's Division of Juvenile Justice no longer operates; the available dispositions depend on the current statutes and the court. Diversion, handling a case outside formal court, exists in many systems, but whether it is available for a homicide allegation depends on the facts and the court. The broader juvenile felony defense process follows the same stages.

A Minor's Rights When Questioned by Police

Constitutional protection for children in court rests on In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1 (1967), which held that minors in delinquency proceedings have due process rights, including notice of the charges and the right to counsel.

California adds its own rule. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 625.6(a), before a custodial interrogation and before any waiver of Miranda rights, a youth 17 years of age or younger "shall consult with legal counsel in person, by telephone, or by video conference," and the consultation may not be waived. The requirement is that the consultation actually happen first, not simply that counsel be offered. Under § 625.6(b), when deciding whether a youth's statements are admissible, the court must consider the effect of any failure to comply and may weigh a willful violation in judging the officer's credibility. Two limits apply: the rule does not govern admissibility where the officer reasonably believed the information was needed to protect life or property from an imminent threat and kept the questions to what that required, and it does not require probation officers to comply in their normal duties under §§ 625, 627.5 or 628.

This is California's rule; other states set their own requirements for questioning minors. Parents often learn about an interview only after it happened, which is why it matters early. A juvenile criminal defense attorney needs the full picture of any questioning, including what was asked and what the child said, because those facts shape whether statements can be challenged and how the defense is built.

What a Juvenile Defense Attorney Does in a Homicide Case

A juvenile defense attorney represents minors in juvenile court, including delinquency cases that allege serious felonies such as homicide. In re Gault recognized that a minor and the parents must be told of the right to counsel and, if they cannot afford a lawyer, that one will be appointed; state law fills in the details.

The work starts at the detention hearing, where an attorney for a minor charged with homicide can present evidence about the release grounds in § 635. At a transfer hearing, the attorney presents evidence and argument on the criteria the court must weigh, such as the minor's background, the circumstances of the offense and amenability to rehabilitation, because that decision sets the court system for everything after it.

At adjudication, defense counsel tests the evidence, cross-examines witnesses and raises the defenses the state's law allows. Homicide cases often turn on forensic evidence, witness statements and questions about intent, so the work can involve investigators and, where appropriate, expert witnesses. At disposition, the attorney argues for the least restrictive outcome the facts and law permit. None of this guarantees a result. What the law allows at each stage depends on the child's age, the allegation, the evidence and the state.

Juvenile Records in Homicide Cases: Sealing and What Follows

A juvenile record is not sealed automatically at 18. Sealing means a court orders the records closed so that, by statute, the proceedings are treated as though they did not occur.

In California, under Welf. & Inst. Code § 786, when a person satisfactorily completes informal supervision under § 654.2, probation under § 725 or a term of probation, the court must dismiss the petition and seal the records. Section 786(d) creates an exception that reaches most homicide cases: the court shall not seal or dismiss under § 786 if the petition was sustained based on a § 707(b) offense, which includes murder, committed when the person was 14 or older, unless the finding on that offense was dismissed or reduced to a misdemeanor or to a lesser offense not listed in § 707(b). The child's age at the time and the final findings therefore matter a great deal.

Sealing by petition under § 781 is also possible, but the court orders it only if it finds that, since jurisdiction ended, the person has not been convicted of a felony or of any misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, and that rehabilitation has been attained to the court's satisfaction. For a § 707(b) offense committed after age 14 that resulted in wardship, a petition may be filed or considered only in the circumstances § 781(a)(1)(D) lists. County procedure, as in Los Angeles County juvenile cases, follows these state rules.

Consequences for school, employment, college admissions and financial aid can follow a juvenile case and depend on the facts and on rules this page does not cover. Immigration consequences are governed by immigration law this page does not cover. A case transferred to adult court that ends in conviction carries an adult record and adult consequences.

Talking With a Juvenile Defense Attorney About Your Child's Case

A homicide allegation against a child raises questions that a general page cannot answer: whether a transfer motion has been or may be filed, when the next hearing is set, and what the detention order says. A consultation with our juvenile defense attorney is a conversation about the petition, the hearing dates, whether the child is detained and the stage the case has reached. This page explains how these cases generally move; it does not cover the separate rules of every state or the facts of any one case.

To discuss a case like this with our attorney, contact Juvenile Justice Defense Group to request a consultation about a child's juvenile case.