J W v. State of Indiana

── J W v. State of Indiana ── Case No.: 19S-JV-00012 Court: Indiana Supreme Court Date: January 09, 2019 Author: Justice Geoffrey Slaughter Category: Juvenile Decision: Dismissed We held in Tumulty v. State, 666 N.E.2d 394 (Ind. 1996), that an adult criminal defendant cannot challenge the validity of his guilty plea on direct appeal. He must, instead, pursue post-conviction relief and raise in that proceeding any claims of error concerning his plea. At issue here is whether to extend Tumulty to the juvenile-law counterpart to a criminal plea—namely, an agreed delinquency adjudication. We hold that juveniles cannot immediately challenge on direct appeal any errors concerning their agreed adjudication.