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Bryant v. State3/16/2005
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION
Appellant Jabree Bryant appeals the order of the Pulaski County Circuit Court denying his motion to transfer his case to juvenile court pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-318 (Repl. 2002). He argues that the trial court's decision to try him as an adult is clearly erroneous in that the decision is not supported by clear and convincing evidence. We affirm. Bryant was accused of committing, with an accomplice, two armed robberies against customers using ATM machines on two different nights. Bryant was fifteen years old on the dates of the two robberies. Bryant was charged in the criminal division of the Pulaski County Circuit Court as an adult for the armed robberies.
On the evening of March 14, 2003, William Givens pulled up to an ATM machine at Metropolitan National Bank on South University, inserted his card into the machine, and was approached by a young male. The male brandished a gun and demanded money. After the robber made his demand, another man appeared from the dark. Givens gave the two men $300, and they demanded his 1997 Honda Accord, which he surrendered to them. The man holding the gun got into the passenger seat of the Honda, while the other man drove it. Givens later identified Bryant from a photographic line-up as the person who held the gun during the robbery.
A second robbery occurred at the same location on April 22, 2003. On that date, Gregory Dyer went to the ATM to make a night deposit. At the ATM, a male brandishing a gun approached Dyer. Another male also approached Dyer. They demanded money from Dyer, and he gave them fifty dollars he had just received from the ATM. They subsequently demanded more money, so Dyer withdrew another $200 from the ATM and gave it to them. Dyer then managed to drive away from the robbers. Bryant and seventeen-year-old Steven Maxwell were arrested later that night carrying two bags of marijuana, allegedly purchased with money from the robbery, and $150 in cash. Bryant confessed to his role in both robberies and admitted that he held the gun during both robberies, although the gun belonged to Maxwell. According to Bryant, he and Maxwell developed the plan to commit the robberies at an ATM machine after Maxwell opened a checking account at Bank of America and received an ATM card accompanied by safety tips for using the card. Bryant stated that they stole the car in the first robbery because the victim did not have enough money. Bryant mentioned that the gun was loaded during the second robbery. Bryant never told police that he was under duress when committing the robberies or that anyone coerced him into committing them, and Bryant did not attempt to blame anyone else. Bryant said that he committed the robberies "to have money in pocket."
Bryant was charged in Pulaski County Circuit Court as an adult for the two armed robberies, and Bryant moved the court to transfer his case to the juvenile division pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-318 (Repl. 2002). The trial court had a hearing to determine whether to retain jurisdiction or to transfer the case to the juvenile division. A juvenile-probation officer in the intensive-supervision program testified that a juvenile who was adjudicated delinquent for aggravated robbery could face a number of consequences, ranging from commitment to the Division of Youth Services (DYS) to electronic monitoring and probation. The officer stated that a juvenile judge does not determine how long a juvenile will spend at DYS because the law provides that a commitment is for an indeterminate amount of time, not to exceed two years. The officer testified that, in her experience, it is possible for juveniles who have been adjudicated delinquent for more serious of
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