\u3ci\u3eFugate v. Ronin\u3c/i\u3e—Criminal Law Jurisdiction of Juvenile Courts in Cases of Juvenile Murder

Petitioner, a fourteen-year-old girl, was charged with murder in the first degree in the county court of Lancaster County. The county court entered an order that there be a preliminary hearing and the petitioner be held without bail. The youth moved for a transfer of the proceedings against her to the juvenile court on the ground that section 43-2111 imposed a mandatory duty upon a magistrate to transfer the case of a delinquent child under sixteen years of age to the juvenile court. This motion was overruled by the county judge of Lancaster County. The petitioner filed in the district court of Lancaster County a petition for a writ of prohibition prohibiting the county judge from holding a preliminary hearing upon the complaint. From an order of the district court denying the writ of prohibition, the petitioner appealed. Held: The juvenile courts do not have the sole or exclusive jurisdiction of children under eighteen years of age who have violated Nebraska law; the county attorney is not limited by the Juvenile Court Act in his duty to file proper complaints against wrongdoers and prosecute the same; a preliminary hearing on a felony charge is not a case within the meaning of section 43-2112