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REPORTED IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 1604 September Term, 2008

IN RE: CAITLIN N.

Hollander, Woodward, Kehoe, JJ.

Opinion by Woodward, J.

Filed: May 3, 2010

On April 22, 2008, an intake officer with the Department of Juvenile Services (the "Department"), filed a Petition for Continued Detention or Shelter Care concerning appellant, Caitlin N., in the Circuit Court for Talbot County, Maryland, sitting as a juvenile court, alleging that appellant may be a delinquent child. Following a hearing, the juvenile court granted the Department's petition for continued detention or shelter care and ordered that appellant remain in the care and custody of the Department. On May 7, 2008, appellant was conditionally released from detention, with electronic monitoring, into the custody of her mother, Suzanne N. On May 13, 2008, the State filed a juvenile petition, alleging that appellant was a delinquent child for having attempted to possess marijuana. The juvenile court held an adjudicatory hearing on the State's petition on June 26, 2008, and found appellant involved in the delinquent act of attempted possession of marijuana. At the disposition hearing on July 17, 2008, the juvenile court held that appellant was a delinquent child, placed her in the custody of her older sister, Sara M., and also placed her on supervised probation under the supervision of the Department. Appellant timely appealed to this Court and presents the following three questions for our review: 1. Did the court below err in denying Appellant's "M otion to Hold Adjudicatory Hearing within Sixty Days?" 2. Did the juvenile court err in ruling that the State was not required to provide the name of the chemist in discovery? 3. Was the evidence legally insufficient to sustain the finding that Appellant was involved in the delinquent act of attempted possession of marijuana?

For the following reasons, we shall affirm the judgment of the juvenile court. BACKGROUND On April 20, 2008, Patrolman First Class ("PFC") George T. Larrimore, Jr., of the Easton Police Department, observed appellant with a group of other individuals at approximately 10:03 p.m. in the area of 12 North Washington Street in Easton, Maryland. During the course of his observations, PFC Larrimore heard appellant ask one Brandon Sinclair, "hey do you have any weed?" and "you should let me buy a gram from you. Will you let me buy a gram?" Appellant was then seen retrieving something from her pocketbook and attempting to hand it to Sinclair. Appellant and Sinclair were taken into custody and police recovered 1.8 grams of marijuana from Sinclair's person during a search incident to arrest. On April 21, 2008, appellant was placed in emergency detention at the Waxter Children's Center. The next day, April 22, 2008, the Department filed a Petition for Continued Detention or Shelter Care in the juvenile court pending the possible filing of a juvenile petition. Following a hearing the same day, wherein the Department proffered the underlying bases for its petition, including that appellant attempted to possess a controlled dangerous substance, the juvenile court granted the Department's petition for continued detention at Waxter Children's Center or other secure detention facility. The court found that continued detention was necessary in order to "protect the child or the person and property of others," and because "there appears to be no parent, guardian, custodian or other person

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able to provide supervision and care for the child and return the child to Court when required." The juvenile court additionally found that appellant "has been [a] habitual runaway, has been implicated in substance abuse, and her mother is currently out of state [until] the weekend, thus there is no supervision and considerable concern for her safety if released[.]" Appellant then was ordered into the care and custody of the Department. That detention continued until May 7, 2008, when appellant was conditionally released with electronic monitoring to the custody of her mother. The juvenile court's order provided as follows: Upon the matters presented before the Court in Hearing on the Petition of the State of Maryland, Department of Juvenile Services, for continued detention of [appellant] alleged to be a delinquent child, the Court finds that there is no parent, guardian, custodian or other person able to provide adequate supervision and care of and to the Respondent to the Court when required, without the assistance of electronic monitoring and compliance by respondent with the terms and conditions of a Conditional Release, but that with such monitoring and compliance, such supervision, care and return to Court can be provided by [ ] [appellant's] mother. Following appellant's conditional release, on May 13, 2008, the State of Maryland filed a juvenile petition alleging that appellant was a delinquent child for having been involved with the attempted possession of marijuana, a controlled dangerous substance. The petition lists PFC Larrimore as the State's sole witness in support of the petition. The Office of the Public Defender entered an appearance in the juvenile court on behalf of appellant on May 22, 2008. The record additionally discloses that, although the petition was served on appellant's mother on May 23, 2008, an attempt to serve appellant with the petition that day 3

was unsuccessful. On June 10, 2008, after the State provided discovery, appellant's attorney filed a Demand for Presence of Chemist, Analyst, or Person in Chain of Custody, citing Maryland Code (1974, 2006 Repl. Vol.),

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