Rule 3.953.Preliminary Examination in Designated Cases

MCR 3.953 is the probable cause checkpoint in a designated case. Before a juvenile is tried in the same manner as an adult on a serious charge, a judge has to find that an offense was committed and that the juvenile committed it.

When an examination is required

Subrule (A) limits the requirement to designated cases in which the juvenile is alleged to have committed a felony or an offense for which an adult could be imprisoned for more than one year. Outside that category the rule requires no examination.

Waiver

Subrule (B) permits the juvenile to waive the examination, but on narrow terms. The juvenile must be represented by an attorney, and the waiver must be made and signed by the juvenile in open court. The judge must then find, and place on the record, that the waiver was freely, understandingly, and voluntarily given.

Timing and the combined hearing

Under subrule (D) the examination must commence within 14 days of the arraignment in a prosecutor-designated case, or within 14 days after court-ordered designation of a petition. That deadline falls away when the examination is combined with the designation hearing, which subrule (C) allows. In a combined hearing the Michigan Rules of Evidence, except as otherwise provided by law, apply only to the preliminary examination phase, so the two halves of the same proceeding run under different evidentiary rules. Subrule (E) sends the conduct of the examination itself to MCR 6.110.

What the findings decide

• Probable cause on both points, that the offense was committed and that the juvenile committed it: subrule (F)(1) allows the court to schedule the matter for trial or a pretrial hearing.
• Probable cause missing on either point: subrule (F)(2) requires the court to dismiss the petition, unless it finds probable cause on a lesser included offense.
• Probable cause only on a lesser included offense: subrule (F)(3) sends the court back to MCR 3.952 to decide whether the case should still be designated. If the court designates the case after that probable cause determination, it may schedule trial or a pretrial hearing.

Jail pending trial

Subrule (G) gives the judge discretion to confine the juvenile in the county jail pending trial once the case has been designated and the court has found probable cause on both points: that a felony or an offense for which an adult could be imprisoned for more than one year was committed, and that the juvenile committed it. Two conditions attach when the juvenile is under 18 years of age: the juvenile can be held there only if separated by sight and sound from adult prisoners, and only if the sheriff has approved the confinement.