In Re The Welfare Of D.F.B.

433 N.W.2d 79 (1988)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D, age 16, used an ax to kill his parents and a younger brother and younger sister. Experts agree that D had been depressed for a number of years, that he was experiencing severe depression at the time he committed the murders, and that his feeling that he was trapped in a family situation not to his liking somehow led him to the conclusion that the only remedy was to kill the parents. D killed the younger siblings not because he was angry with them but to spare them further pain. The issue was whether D is unamenable to treatment in the juvenile court system consistent with the public safety.

One doctor said no way, and the second said D could be treated successfully in 2-1/2 years, and probably in considerably less time. Even that doctor acknowledged that many such depressed people fail in treatment and/or have recurrences after treatment. The district court concluded that D had produced substantial evidence of amenability to treatment in the juvenile court system consistent with the public safety. The court denied P's petition to try D as an adult. The court of appeals held that keeping D in the juvenile court system is inconsistent with the intent of the legislature expressed in those amendments and it, therefore, reversed the district court. D appealed.