State v. Q.D.
Supreme Court of Washington
685 P.2d 557 (1984)
Q.D. (defendant), age eleven and a half, committed first-degree trespass, an act that would be a felony if committed by an adult. At a pretrial capacity hearing, a case worker testified Q.D. was familiar with the justice system, street-wise, and used his age as a shield, and a detective testified Q.D. had cooperated nearly two years earlier in an unrelated burglary investigation that led to a guilty plea. A judge found Q.D. had the capacity to understand his act and that it was wrong, and a separate judge adjudicated him guilty of first-degree trespass; Q.D. and another juvenile in a similar case appealed their consolidated adjudications.
Whether, in Washington juvenile court proceedings, the infancy defense requires the prosecution to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the juvenile had the capacity to understand the specific act charged and know it was wrong.