CA1: effect of juvenile convictions in streamlined courts

US v. Turner, No. 04-2238, is an appeal of a determination under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(a) which took into account a prior juvenile adjudication in Tennessee.  In this case, the defendant was adjudged a delinquent, and sentenced to an indeterminate term that ran concurrent with other terms (also on appeal).  In Tennessee, “Under the State’s two-tier trial system, a defendant may opt for a bench trial in the juvenile court, with somewhat curtailed procedural protections, after which he may opt to appeal to the circuit court for a de novo jury trial.”  In this case, counsel submitted a timely notice of appeal, but did not pursue it because he concluded that the state wouldn’t have anything to gain by appealing the concurrent sentence that was recently affirmed.  No trial was scheduled.  The court distinguishes United States v. Florentino, 385 F.3d 60 (1st Cir. 2004), in which a notice of appeal filed in juvinile court actually vacates the conviction and notes that Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-1-159(b) states that “An appeal does not suspend the order of the juvenile court.”  The court then bolsters its opinion with some commentary on the reasons he might have had for walking away from his appeal.