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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF IOWA
No. 32 / 03-1481 Filed December 1, 2006 STATE OF IOWA, Appellee, vs. ARIF HAJTIC, Appellant.

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, James L. Beeghly and Todd A. Geer, Judges.

Defendant appeals from judgment and sentence for three counts of third-degree burglary under Iowa Code section 713.6(A) (2001) and one count of first-degree robbery under Iowa Code section 711.2. AFFIRMED.

James A. Benzoni of Benzoni Law Firm, Des Moines, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Jean C. Pettinger, Assistant Attorney General, Thomas J. Ferguson, County Attorney, and Joel Dalrymple, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.

2 LARSON, Justice. Arif Hajtic was convicted of three counts of third-degree burglary under Iowa Code section 713.6A (2001) and one count of first-degree robbery under Iowa Code section 711.2. On appeal, Hajtic claims his

statements to the police were improperly admitted, the trial court abused its discretion in consolidating his robbery and burglary trials, and the court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal. We reject all of these arguments, but preserve Hajtic's separate ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim for possible postconviction relief proceedings. I. Facts and Prior Proceedings. Arif Hajtic was arrested in the early morning hours of December 19, 2002, and taken to the Waterloo Police Department for questioning on a series of burglaries and a robbery. Because Hajtic was only seventeen at the time, the police contacted his mother to inform her that he was in custody, in accordance with Iowa Code section 232.11(2). Hajtic and his family were from Bosnia and had been in the United States only about six years. His mother spoke little English, so the police used Hajtic's fourteenyear-old sister, Evlijana, to translate the discussions between the police and Hajtic's mother concerning the mother's consent to Hajtic's waiver of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966). Hajtic's mother signed a consent form, and Hajtic signed a waiver form. Hajtic confessed to his participation in the burglaries and robbery. According to him, the crimes had been planned and carried out in conjunction with other similar crimes orchestrated by Eric Miller, who testified against Hajtic. On appeal, Hajtic argues that his mother's consent to his Miranda waiver was invalid because his sister, as interpreter, lacked an understanding of the concepts of the Miranda warning and was therefore unable to convey the information necessary to validate the mother's consent

3 to Hajtic's waiver. Also, according to Hajtic, his own Miranda waiver was invalid. The State counters that the mother's consent to Hajtic's Miranda waiver was not required because he was over sixteen. Further, the State argues, Hajtic's own waiver was valid because it was knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently made. We first address the issue of the mother's consent. II. The Mother's Consent. Because Hajtic was a juvenile (seventeen years and eleven months old), he was entitled to the protection of our juvenile laws regarding his right to counsel in the burglary cases. (The robbery charge is a forcible felony and, therefore, not subject to the juvenile code. See Iowa Code

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