In re Cristian A.

On October 26, Ricardo was involved in a fight at a McDonald’s. Ricardo’s older brother, Cristian A. (defendant), a 17-year-old child, went there to look for Ricardo. When Cristian arrived, Ricardo was being arrested. Cristian ran toward the arresting officers, yelling. Officers brought Cristian to the ground before Cristian got up, stood in a fighting position, and said, “What’s up?” Cristian was subdued and arrested. Twenty days later, on November 15, the state filed a complaint with the Department of Juvenile Services (department). The juvenile intake officer assigned to the complaint filed a formal delinquency petition without conducting an interview with Cristian. Cristian was arrested that same day on unrelated assault charges. Because Cristian had a history with the department and the intake officer assumed that Cristian’s detention in the assault case would exceed the 25-day window available to make a decision on the petition, the officer determined that an interview was infeasible. Cristian was charged in the resisting-arrest matter and moved to dismiss, contending that the state’s complaint was untimely—the statute required complaints to be filed within 15 days, making the complaint against Cristian five days late—and that it did not provide him the opportunity for an intake interview, causing him actual prejudice. The lower court denied Cristian’s motion and found him guilty of the crimes charged. Cristian appealed, arguing that he suffered actual prejudice based on the state’s failure to file a timely complaint, which deprived him of the opportunity to participate in an interview and potentially persuade the officer not to file the petition against him.