There is a lot of information in case law about Wallace, but it can be beneficial to juveniles; particularly juveniles that have no prior misdemeanor charges because it would depend significantly on whether the court would have jurisdiction. First, suppose the application for the Complaint alleges a single minor misdemeanor or multiple minor misdemeanors from one incident. In that case, the clerk magistrate should dismiss the Complaint for lack of jurisdiction, although it would be noted on the docket on the application for the Complaint.

If the application for the Complaint says that there is a major misdemeanor or a felony then the clerk should issue a clerk’s hearing if the Complaint alleges a major misdemeanor, he/she will schedule a clerk’s hearing if the Complaint alleges a felony only if it is requested by law enforcement or some other circumstances.

It gets a little bit more complicated if there is more than one major misdemeanor or felony in a single incident or multiple offenses that should be discussed with an attorney. In addition, if the child has a criminal record, there are some significant circumstances because you can still allege that juvenile court does not have jurisdiction depending on if it is a minor misdemeanor charge and whether there has been a plea. Still, again there are a lot of technical complications. 

It is particularly important to look at what the charges in juvenile court are what the child’s record has and whether there can be arguments about whether jurisdiction should be fought in that under the Wallace case law.