Colorado § 19-2.5-602 - General procedure for juvenile hearings.

§ 19-2.5-602. General procedure for juvenile hearings.

(1) The Colorado rules of juvenile procedure apply in all proceedings conducted pursuant to this article 2.5.

(2) Hearings must be held before the court without a jury, except as set forth in sections 19-2.5-610 and 19-2.5-503 (3), and may be conducted in an informal manner.

(3) A verbatim record must be taken of all proceedings, including any hearing conducted by a magistrate.

(4) When more than one juvenile is named in a petition or individual petitions are filed against more than one juvenile alleging delinquent acts arising from the same delinquent episode, any proceedings, including trials, may be consolidated.

(5) Juvenile cases must be heard separately from adult cases, and the juvenile or the juvenile's parents, guardian, or other custodian may be heard separately when deemed necessary by the court.

(6) The juvenile's parent, guardian, or legal custodian is required to attend all proceedings, including all hearings, concerning the juvenile. Failure, without good cause, to attend a proceeding concerning the juvenile may subject the parent, guardian, or legal custodian to contempt sanctions; except that, if the juvenile's legal custodian is a county department of human or social services or the state department of human services, the legal custodian need not attend any proceeding at which the juvenile's guardian ad litem is present.

Source: L. 2021: Entire article added with relocations, (SB 21-059), ch. 136, p. 599, § 2, effective October 1.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 19-2-109 as it existed prior to 2021.

ANNOTATION

Annotator's note. The following annotations include cases decided under former provisions similar to this section.

Juvenile proceedings are governed by the procedural rules contained in the Colorado Children's Code. People ex rel. M.C.L., 671 P.2d 1339 (Colo. App. 1983).

Hearing may be informally conducted, and the court may take into consideration all factors which he normally takes into account when sentencing. People in Interest of B.L.M. v. B.L.M., 31 Colo. App. 106, 500 P.2d 146 (1972).

And court is not bound by strict rules of evidence in a hearing to determine whether probation should be revoked. People in Interest of B.L.M. v. B.L.M., 31 Colo. App. 106, 500 P.2d 146 (1972).

Thus, there is a presumption that all incompetent or hearsay evidence is disregarded by a court in reaching its conclusions, so a judgment will not be reversed on appeal because of the admission of such evidence. People in Interest of B.L.M. v. B.L.M., 31 Colo. App. 106, 500 P.2d 146 (1972).

However, the Colorado Children's Code does not dispense with rules of evidence which directly bear upon substantive proof although the code does permit hearings to be conducted in an informal manner. Daugaard v. People in Interest of Daugaard, 176 Colo. 38, 488 P.2d 1101 (1971).

In delinquency cases a verbatim record of the proceedings and evidence shall be maintained unless expressly waived. John Doe v. People, 156 Colo. 311, 398 P.2d 624 (1965).

Lack of transcript and evidence required reversal. Where an order was entered declaring a child neglected and dependent, severing parental rights, and holding the child's grandfather in contempt of court for failure to deliver the child, but the court reporter certified that there had been no transcript made of any of the hearings prior to the one on the contempt violation, and since there was no evidence or showing that the home environment which the grandfather might provide for the child would be unsatisfactory the judgment and orders of the trial court were reversed. C.B. v. People in Interest of J.T.B., 30 Colo. App. 269, 493 P.2d 691 (1971).