Cases | In re Ramont K., 505 A.2d 507 (Md. 1986) | 2018
The juvenile defendant was found to be delinquent on the basis of an assault and was ordered to pay $455 in restitution to the victim. The juvenile master found the defendant’s grandmother, who had raised the defendant since he was three years old, was not a parent within the statutory meaning of the word and, therefore, could not be liable for her grandson’s restitution. The state disagreed; the juvenile judge filed an opinion finding that the grandmother was a parent and remanded the case to the master, who recommended restitution of $45. An appeal to the intermediate court was interrupted by a writ of certiorari issued by the Court of Appeals on its own motion. After examining the statutory language, the court held that since ordinary understanding of the term ‘parent’ does not include a grandparent, and since the legislature has in other statutes known how to make one standing in loco parentis responsible, the court could not agree with the State. The judgment was reversed.