The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed a juvenile court’s decision to place a minor in a residential treatment center, holding sufficient evidence exists to support the court’s dispositional order.

In A.A.Q. v. State of Indiana, No. 71A03-1105-JV-239, A.A.Q. appeals the juvenile court’s determination that he was a juvenile delinquent for committing an act that would have been Class A misdemeanor trespass if committed by an adult. A.A.Q. claims he did not knowingly and intentionally waive his right to counsel during a plea agreement.

A.A.Q., who was 16 at the time of the incident, had been suspended from Mishawaka High School and ordered to stay off school grounds. He attended a football game at the school and was arrested after he ignored a police officer’s request to leave the premises. He was found in possession of cyclobenzaprine hydrochloride, a controlled substance.

The appeals court held that A.A.Q. and his biological parents did waive his right to counsel, agreeing that A.A.Q. would admit to charges of criminal trespass for dismissal of a runaway allegation. The court also held that A.A.Q.’s placement in the juvenile facility Youth Village was not inappropriate, based on his defiant behavior and his mother’s fear of him. Affirming the juvenile court, the COA wrote that a juvenile court’s dispositional order may be overturned on appeal only for abuse of discretion.