In the Interest of J.W.

O.C.G.A. § 15-11-63 d requires restrictive custody in any case where a juvenile is found to have committed a designated felony act in which the juvenile inflicted serious physical injury upon another person, who is 62 years of age or more.

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J. W. was adjudicated delinquent for acts which would have constituted aggravated assault and aggravated battery if committed by an adult. The juvenile court committed him to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice for five years, the first two in confinement at a youth development center. J. W. appeals, contending the evidence was insufficient, his counsel was ineffective, and the juvenile court abused its discretion in sentencing him to restrictive custody. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. When considering on appeal the sufficiency of the evidence to support a juvenile court’s adjudication of delinquency, we construe the evidence in favor of the court’s findings. In the Interest of R. J. S. , 277 Ga. App. 74 625 SE2d 485 2005. The juvenile court resolves evidentiary conflicts and determines the witnesses’ credibility, and we will affirm the adjudication if a rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the juvenile committed the acts charged. Id.

Viewed in a light favorable to the juvenile court’s findings, the evidence showed that around 7:30 pm on February 14, 2009, 16-year-old J. W. was on a MARTA train with two other teenager boys. One of the boys, 16-year-old D. S., was tearing up a poster on the wall and the 62-year-old victim told him to “stop all that playing.” “Words were exchanged” between the victim and the teenagers, and as the train pulled into the station, the victim began heading toward the door to leave. One of the boys tripped him and the victim testified that as he fell half in and half out of the door, the boys “had me down in the train door, beating on me.” The victim suffered a broken nose and split lips, and the boys left him lying on the platform, with blood “all over” his face, down his shirt, and splattered on the ground.

In the Interest of J.W.

O.C.G.A. § 15-11-63 d requires restrictive custody in any case where a juvenile is found to have committed a designated felony act in which the juvenile inflicted serious physical injury upon another person, who is 62 years of age or more.

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