Buckley v. Bacon

240 Cal. App. 2d 34, 49 Cal. Rptr. 322, 1966 Cal. App. LEXIS 1313
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 8, 1966
DocketDocket Nos. 22751, 22752, 22753, 22933
StatusPublished
Cited by82 cases

This text of 240 Cal. App. 2d 34 (Buckley v. Bacon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Buckley v. Bacon, 240 Cal. App. 2d 34, 49 Cal. Rptr. 322, 1966 Cal. App. LEXIS 1313 (Cal. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

*41 MOLINARI, J.

Appellants, David Nathaniel Bacon, Mark Dinaburg, Michael Howard, and Jack Nicholas Radey, appeal from the respective orders of the Alameda County Superior Court, in session as a juvenile court, which orders determined that each of these minors violated Penal Code sections 148, 409, and 602, subdivision (o), and that each be placed on probation without wardship upon the condition that he be of good conduct and obey all laws; obey parents ; maintain good school attendance, behavior and performance; report to and follow directions of the probation officer; and spend four weekends at the probation department’s Training Academy, the probation officer being authorized, at his discretion, to reduce this time to two weekends. Each of these matters is pending before this court as a separate appeal, although a joint brief raising identical issues as to each ease has been filed by appellants. Accordingly, we consider these four appeals together.

Statement of the Case

On December 4, 1964 an officer of the Alameda County Probation Department filed a petition in the juvenile court alleging that appellant Bacon was under 21 years of age; that he had engaged in conduct violative of Penal Code sections 148 (resisting or delaying an officer), 409 (unlawful assembly), and 602, subdivision (o) (failure to leave a public building after closing time); and that as a result of his conduct and pursuant to the provisions of Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 1 he came within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. Accordingly, the petition requested that he be declared a ward of the juvenile court. On December 7 and 8, 1964 and February 9, 1965, respectively, similar petitions were filed in regard to appellants Dinaburg, Howard, and Radey.

The matters relating to Bacon, Dinaburg, and Howard came on for a consolidated hearing on December 22, 1964; that of Radey was heard on March 18, 1965. Prior to both hearings the probation department had filed with the court extensive reports with respect to each of appellants. On December 22, 1964 the juvenile court placed Bacon, Dina- *42 burg, and Howard on probation without wardship upon the conditions set forth above. A similar order was entered by the court in the Badey matter on March 18, 1965.

The Facts

On the afternoon of December 2, 1964 appellants, who were students at the Berkeley Campus of the University of California, had gathered, along with other University of California students, inside the University Administration Building, Sproul Hall, to express to the administration their grievance with the university rules regulating the content of student speech, assembly and petition on the campus. At 7 p.m., when Sproul Hall was closed for the day, a number of the protesters were still in the building. During the evening Chancellor Strong of the University of California went to each of the floors where the protesters were situated and announced that the building was closed, that anyone who wanted to leave the building was free to do so, and that those persons who remained would be guilty of unlawful assembly. This same announcement was subsequently made on each of the floors by Captain Beal of the Berkeley Police Department. The record is susceptible of the inference that each of appellants heard at least one of these announcements. Appellants, however, along with most of the protesters, remained inside the building. Subsequent to these announcements the Berkeley Police arrested a number of the protesters, including appellants. Each appellant, when told by the police that he was under arrest, “went limp” and had to be carried or dragged out of the building.

Questions Presented

1. Did the probation department abuse or fail to exercise its discretion in commencing these proceedings against appellants ?

2. Were appellants denied the effective aid of counsel?

3. Does the evidence support the trial court’s finding that appellants violated Penal Code, section 602, subdivision (o) ?

4. Does the evidence support the trial court’s finding that appellants violated Penal Code section 409 ?

5. Does the evidence support the trial court’s finding that appellants violated Penal Code section 148 ?

6. Were appellants’ constitutional rights infringed upon in any way by holding them legally answerable for violations of Penal Code sections 602, subdivision (o), 409, and 148 ?

*43 7. Was it an abuse of discretion, outside the power of the trial court, or in violation of appellants’ constitutional rights, to require appellants, as a condition of probation, to spend four weekends (which could be reduced to two at the discretion of the probation officer) at the Training Academy of the probation department?

The Propriety of the Juvcnile Court Proceedings 2

Appellants’ first contention is that the probation department either failed to exercise any discretion at all or clearly abused its discretion in commencing proceedings in the juvenile court against appellants. Specifically, appellants urge that the probation department failed to make the preliminary investigation called for by section 652. 3 In regard to this contention, the record reveals that Deputy Probation Officer Haubroek, before filing petitions on appellants Howard and Dinaburg, discussed the alleged charges with Howard for about one-half hour and talked to Howard’s parents, but did not talk with Dinaburg or with his family or friends or investigate Dinaburg’s personal background; that ITaubrock discussed the cases involving Howard and Dinaburg with his supervisor; and that Deputy Probation Officer Conley interviewed Bacon before filing a petition on him, reviewed the police report, discussed the matter with his supervisor, and concluded that a petition should be filed with respect to Bacon. The record in the Radey matter is silent as to the nature and extent of the investigation made by the probation department before it decided to commence proceedings against him.

Appellants Bacon, Howard and Dinaburg moved to dismiss the petitions on the ground that the probation department had not made the proper investigation prior to filing the petitions. The trial court denied the motion on the basis that the department had in fact exercised discretion. No such motion was made in the Radey proceeding.

In In re Peterson, 56 Cal.App.2d 791 [133 P.2d 831], the appellate court was called upon to interpret the meaning of section 721, which section was the predecessor of section 652 *44 and provided that prior to filing a petition in the juvenile court “the probation officer . . . shall make such investigation as he deems necessary. . .

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Bluebook (online)
240 Cal. App. 2d 34, 49 Cal. Rptr. 322, 1966 Cal. App. LEXIS 1313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/buckley-v-bacon-calctapp-1966.