United States v. John Doe, a Juvenile

The government appeals from an order entered in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona denying its motion, pursuant to the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act (“FJDA”), 18 U.S.C. § 5032 , to transfer defendant, a seventeen-year-old juvenile male, for adult criminal prosecution. We AFFIRM.

I.

On January 7, 1996, defendant was arrested and arraigned before a United States Magistrate Judge. He was charged in an amended juvenile information with first-degree murder, felony murder, second-degree murder, theft of tribal property, burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary. On January 10, 1996, the magistrate judge ordered defendant detained, and the government moved, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 5032 , to transfer the defendant for adult prosecution. On January 19, 1996, defendant filed a motion to continue, which was granted. On February 15,1996, the district court conducted a day-long hearing on the motion to transfer.

The record reflects that in the early morning of January 6, 1996, Hoskie Gene (“Gene”), a Navajo Police Officer, had been dispatched to investigate a break-in at a store near Shonto, Arizona, within the Navajo Indian Reservation. When last contacted,…