Request By:
Mr. James S. Secrest
Allen County Attorney
210 West Main Street
P.O. Box 35
Scottsville, Kentucky 42164
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Your request for opinion concerns juveniles.
"Are violations of KRS 189.645 and KRS 304.99-050 by persons under the age of 18 years 'moving motor vehicle offenses' within the meaning of KRS 208.020?"
KRS 189.645(1) relates to the annual safety inspection of motor vehicles. See Krs 189.993(8) as to penalty. KRS 304.99-050 is a penalty statute relating to owners or registrants of a motor vehicle operated in Kentucky without having in full force and effect security complying with KRS 304.39-110 [required minimum tort liability insurance].
KRS 208.020(1) provides in part that the juvenile session of the district court of each county shall have exclusive jurisdiction in proceedings concerning any child living, or found within the county who has not reached his eighteenth birthday: (a) who has committed a public offense, except a moving motor vehicle offense, involving a child sixteen (16) years of age or older. The court shall not have jurisdiction in any prosecution of a moving motor vehicle offense involving a child sixteen (16) years of age or older. Juvenile offenders sixteen (16) years of age or older accused of moving motor vehicle offenses shall be treated as any adult offender. " (Emphasis added).
Since KRS 189.643 prohibits in effect the operating of a motor vehicle without a proper inspection sticker and KRS 189.993(8) is the penalty statute for violations of the inspection sticker statute, KRS 189.645(1), it is our opinion that driving a motor vehicle without an inspection sticker is a "moving motor vehicle offense" within the meaning of KRS 208.020. It is also our opinion that driving a motor vehicle without having in full force and effect financial security as required by statute is a "moving motor vehicle offense" within the meaning of KRS 208.020, assuming that the operator is owner or registrant.
If the child is 16 years of age or older, and accused of either of such offenses, the juvenile session of district court has no jurisdiction, since such juveniles must be treated as any adult offender. Statutes should be given practical interpretation to carry out the manifest purpose of the legislation. The crux of KRS Chapter 189 is that moving motor vehicles in traffic, generally, is the situation at which the controls are aimed. See Rouse v. Johnson, 234 Ky. 473, 28 S.W.2d 745 (1930).