B T v. State of Indiana ( 2023 )

FILED
Sep 27 2023, 10:21 am
CLERK
Indiana Supreme Court
Court of Appeals
and Tax Court
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Marielena Duerring Theodore E. Rokita
South Bend, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana
Caroline G. Templeton
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
B.T., September 27, 2023
Appellant-Petitioner, Court of Appeals Case No.
23A-XP-636
v. Appeal from the Elkhart Circuit
Court
State of Indiana, The Honorable Michael A.
Appellee-Respondent Christofeno, Judge
The Honorable Elizabeth A.
Bellin, Magistrate
Trial Court Cause No.
20C01-2209-XP-116
Opinion by Judge Weissmann
Chief Judge Altice and Judge Kenworthy concur.
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Weissmann, Judge.
[1] B.T. molested his sisters for four years beginning when he was 10 years old.
When he was 23, B.T. petitioned to expunge the juvenile delinquency and child
welfare records documenting the molestations after the records derailed his
employment as a teacher. Although the trial court expunged the juvenile
delinquency records, it denied B.T.’s motion to expunge the child welfare
records substantiating his molestations.
[2] B.T. appeals that judgment, contending Indiana’s expungement requirements
should differ depending on whether the substantiated offense was committed by
a child or by an adult. As the expungement statute at issue already includes
such a distinction, we affirm.
Facts
[3] From age 10 to 14, B.T. continuously molested his sisters, who, respectively,
were about 3 and 5 years younger than he was. After one sister reported the
molestations, which included anal and oral sex, B.T. was adjudicated a
delinquent for an act that, if committed by an adult, would constitute Class A
felony child molesting. The juvenile court placed B.T. on probation, during
which he repeatedly failed polygraph examinations designed to unveil his
sexual history. B.T. later acknowledged deceit but only for one of his failed
examinations.
[4] The terms of B.T.’s probation also included therapy. B.T. reported to his
therapist that he was engaging in sexual fantasies about an eighth grader who
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was not his sister. B.T. did not successfully complete therapy before being
discharged from probation and beginning college. He later blamed his sexual
misconduct partly on his “very high desire for sexual activity.” Tr. Vol. II, pp.
35-36.
[5] The revelation of the molestations also led to a parallel investigation by the
Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS). As part of the investigation into
whether B.T.’s sisters were children in need of services, DCS substantiated the
allegations of child molesting.
[6] B.T. graduated from college and obtained a teaching job at a high school, but
the school fired him after a background check detected DCS’s substantiation.
Over objection of both the prosecutor and DCS, B.T. petitioned to expunge the
records of both his juvenile adjudication and DCS’s substantiation.
[7] After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court expunged the juvenile adjudication,
but not DCS’s substantiation. The court determined that B.T. had failed to
prove the statutory requirements for expungement of DCS’s records. B.T.
appeals that judgment.
Discussion and Decision
[8] B.T. essentially contends the trial court erroneously applied Indiana Code § 31-
33-27-5 (expungement statute), which governs expungement of DCS’s
substantiation records. This statute authorizes the trial court to grant
expungement if it “finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that: (1) there is
little likelihood that the petitioner will be a future perpetrator of child abuse or
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neglect; and (2) the information has insufficient current probative value to
justify its retention in records of the department for future reference.” Ind. Code
§ 31-33-27-5(f).1
[9] We review the trial court’s expungement ruling for an abuse of discretion. R.M.
v. Ind. Dep’t of Child Servs., 203 N.E.3d 559, 563 (Ind. Ct. App. 2023). “A trial
court abuses that discretion when its decision is clearly against the logic and
effect of the facts and circumstances before it or when the trial court
misinterprets the law.” Id. In reaching this determination, we neither reweigh
evidence nor assess witness credibility. Id. (citing Samples v. Wilson, 12 N.E.3d
946, 950 (Ind. Ct. App. 2014)).
[10] In denying B.T.’s expungement petition as to the DCS records, the trial court
found insufficient evidence of the second statutory requirement: that the
information has insufficient current probative value to justify its retention in
DCS records for future reference. B.T. does not challenge that specific
conclusion. Instead, he argues that the General Assembly must have intended a
more lenient standard for expungement of offenses committed by a juvenile
than those committed by an adult, given the greater rehabilitative goals of the
juvenile system. B.T. views the expungement statute as “silent regarding the
1
Expungements of juvenile delinquency records are governed by different statutes, with a different burden of
proof. See Ind. Code § 31-39-8 et seq. Among other things, petitioners seeking to expunge juvenile
delinquencies, unlike petitioners seeking to expunge DCS substantiations, need not prove that the records at
issue have insufficient probative value to justify their retention. See id. B.T. does not focus specifically on the
statutory peculiarities of disallowing expungement of the DCS substantiation records when the arguably
more conclusive juvenile delinquency records are expungable.
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distinction between substantiated reports that relate to juveniles or adults.”
Appellant’s Br., p. 11.
[11] Statutory interpretation is a question of law reserved for the courts. G.E. v. Ind.
Dep’t of Child Servs., 29 N.E.3d 769, 771 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015). “When
determining the legislature’s intent, we look at the ‘plain language of the statute
and attribute the common, ordinary meaning to terms found in everyday
speech.’” Id. (quoting Garcia v. State, 979 N.E.2d 156, 158 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012)).
[12] In support of his claim for a new interpretation of the expungement statute,
B.T. largely relies on our Supreme Court’s decision in In re K.G., 808 N.E.2d
631 (Ind. 2004). The K.G. Court determined the legislature did not intend to
apply the criminal court competency procedures to juvenile proceedings. But
the linchpin of that decision was the juvenile code’s silence on competency
matters. Id. at 637-38.
[13] Here, the expungement statute is found within the juvenile code and, contrary
to B.T.’s contention, specifically distinguishes between juvenile and adult
perpetrators. When the expungement petitioner was a juvenile at the time of the
offense, the court may review “the factors listed in IC 31-39-8-3 in relation to
the petitioner, if the substantiated report was the subject of a juvenile court
case.” Ind. Code § 31-33-27-5(e)(1). And Indiana Code § 31-39-8-3 specifies
factors to be considered in juvenile delinquency or child in need of services
expungement proceedings. These factors include the child’s age at the time of
the offense, the child’s best interests, and various other considerations
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specifically relating to the underlying juvenile proceeding. Indiana Code § 31-
39-8-3(e).
[14] Through this overlap between the expungement statute and Indiana Code § 31-
39-8-3, the legislature has ensured the same factors considered in juvenile
delinquency expungement proceedings also are considered in expungements of
DCS-substantiated juvenile offenses. Conversely, those statutory provisions do
not authorize those factors to be considered in proceedings under the
expungement statute when the substantiated offense was committed by an
adult.
[15] As the expungement statute already incorporates the very distinction between
adult and juvenile offenses that B.T. advocates, B.T. offers no persuasive basis
for reversing the trial court’s denial of his request to expunge the DCS records.
Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.
Altice, C.J., and Kenworthy, J., concur.
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