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8.035 Petitions for Delinquency
(a) Contents of Petition.
(1) Each petition shall be entitled a petition for
delinquency and shall allege facts showing the child to
have committed a delinquent act.
(2) The petition shall contain allegations as to the
identity and residence of the parents or custodians,
if
known.
(3) In petitions alleging delinquency, each count
shall recite the official or customary citations of the
statute, ordinance, rule, regulation, or other provision
of the law which the child is alleged to have violated,
including the degree of each offense.
(4) Two or more allegations of the commission
of delinquent acts may appear in the same petition, in
separate counts.
(5) Two or more children may be the subject of
the same petition if they are alleged to have participated
in the same act or transaction or in the same
series of acts or transactions constituting an offense
or offenses. The children may be named in 1 or more
counts together or separately and all of them need not
be named in each count.
(b) Verification. The petition shall be signed by the
state attorney or assistant state attorney, stating under
oath the petitioner’s good faith in filing the petition.
No objection to a petition on the grounds that it was
not signed or verified, as herein provided,
shall be
entertained
after a plea to the merits.
(c) Amendments. At any time prior to the adjudicatory
hearing an amended petition may be filed or
the petition may be amended on motion. Amendments
shall be freely permitted in the interest of justice and
the welfare of the child. A continuance may be granted
upon motion and a showing that the amendment
prejudices
or materially affects any party.
(d) Defects and Variances. No petition or any count
thereof shall be dismissed, or any judgment vacated,
on account of any defect in the form of the petition
or of misjoinder of offenses or for any cause whatsoever.
If the court is of the opinion that the petition is so
vague, indistinct, and indefinite as to mislead the child
and prejudice the child in the preparation of a defense,
the petitioner may be required to furnish a statement
of particulars.
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