Fischer v. Francis W.

42 Cal. App. 3d 892, 117 Cal. Rptr. 277, 1974 Cal. App. LEXIS 1276
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 31, 1974
DocketCiv. No. 2238
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 42 Cal. App. 3d 892 (Fischer v. Francis W.) 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
Fischer v. Francis W., 42 Cal. App. 3d 892, 117 Cal. Rptr. 277, 1974 Cal. App. LEXIS 1276 (Cal. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

Opinion

BROWN (G. A.), P. J.

One of the key issues in this case is whether the juvenile court in a hearing on a supplemental petition charging new offenses, filed pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code sections 775-778, must accord a minor the same constitutional protections to which he is entitled upon an original petition. Apparently no case has passed upon this precise point.

Francis W., a minor, was adjudged a ward of the juvenile court on October 31, 1972, and placed on probation. At review hearings on April 2 and November 5, 1973, he was continued in that status.

The issues herein arise by reason of a supplementary petition filed by the probation department on January 18, 1974, in which it was recommended that the previous disposition be modified because the minor allegedly (1) was found in possession for sale of cocaine (Health & Saf. Code, § 11351) on January 17, 1974 (count I), (2) received stolen property (Pen. Code, § 496, subd. 1) on January 17,1974 (count II), (3) escaped from the Robert K. Meyers Boys Ranch in December 1973 (count III), and (4) committed a burglary (Pen. Code, § 459) on January 10, 1974 (count IV).

In a contested jurisdictional hearing the juvenile court found the allegations of the petition true as to counts III and IV (escape and burglary) and [897]*897not true as to counts I and II (possession for sale of cocaine and receiving stolen property).

In a separate dispositional hearing, the minor was continued as a ward of the juvenile court and ordered committed to the California Youth Authority.

Nature of the Supplemental Hearing

At the jurisdictional hearing the court admitted evidence which is argued by appellant to have been illegally seized, admitted an allegedly illegal confession and admitted an admission with respect to count III taken in violation of the minor’s Boykin-Tahl rights, The court in this supplemental proceeding in fact complied with the bifurcated adjudicatory hearing requirements mandated for original proceedings by In re Gladys R. (1970) 1 Cal.3d 855, 859 [83 Cal.Rptr. 671, 464 P.2d 127]; however, respondent argues that a proceeding in the juvenile court based upon a supplementary petition requesting modification of a prior disposition is in the nature of a dispositional hearing, not a jurisdictional hearing, and therefore the constitutional protections set forth in In re Gault (1967) 387 U.S. 1 [18 L.Ed.2d 527, 87 S.Ct. 1428] and its progeny do not apply. (See In re Winship (1970) 397 U.S. 358 [25 L.Ed.2d 368, 90 S.Ct. 1068]; In re Roderick P. (1972) 7 Cal.3d 801, 810 [103 Cal.Rptr. 425, 500 P.2d 1]; Joe Z. v. Superior Court (1970) 3 Cal.3d 797, 801-802 [91 Cal.Rptr. 594, 478 P.2d 26]; In re Mary B. (1971) 20 Cal.App.3d 816, 820 [98 Cal.Rptr. 178]; In re Michael M. (1970) 11 Cal.App.3d 741 [96 Cal.Rptr. 887]; In re Robert T. (1970) 8 Cal.App.3d 990 [88 Cal.Rptr. 37]; In re M.G.S. (1968) 267 Cal.App.2d 329 [72 Cal.Rptr. 808].) We do not agree.

At any time during the period of continued jurisdiction over a minor the court may change, modify or set aside any order it has previously made with respect to him. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 775.) The statutory law is silent on the issue of the nature of a hearing based on a supplementary petition. (Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 775-778.) However, the courts have inherent power to adopt any suitable method of practice if the procedure is not specified by statute or by rules of court (Joe Z. v. Superior Court, supra, 3 Cal.3d at pp. 801-802); this is necessarily true when the procedure is essential to conform to the requirements of due process mandated by the Constitution.

It is settled that during juvenile delinquency adjudicatory hearings pursuant to an original petition the standard of proof is proof beyond a reasonable doubt (In re Winship, supra, 397 U.S. 358, 369 [25 L.Ed.2d 368, 378, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 1075]), that at such hearing the minor is entitled to certain fundamental rights, including notice, counsel, confrontation and [898]*898cross-examination and a right against self-incrimination (In re Gault, supra, 387 U.S. 1, 34-57 [18 L.Ed.2d 527, 550-563, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 1447-1459]; see Welf. & Inst. Code, § 702.5), that he is entitled to the benefits of the exclusionary rule (In re Robert T., supra, 8 Cal.App.3d 990), to the Miranda warning (Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 [16 L.Ed.2d 694, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 10 A.L.R.3d 974]; In re Roderick P., supra, 7 Cal.3d at p. 810) and, prior to an admission, to be advised of his Boykin-Tahl rights (Boykin v. Alabama (1969) 395 U.S. 238 [23 L.Ed.2d 274, 89 S.Ct. 1709]; In re Tahl (1969) 1 Cal.3d 122 [81 Cal.Rptr. 577, 460 P.2d 449]).

The courts in these cases have emphasized that an original juvenile proceeding is quasi-criminal in nature; because the result of such a hearing may be a finding that the alleged criminal conduct is true, resulting in a substantial loss of personal freedom, fundamental notions of due process and fairness require the protections referred to.

Precisely the same reasoning applies in the case at bench, where a supplementary petition charges acts which, if they were charged in an original petition, would require these protections and would constitute a crime if committed by an adult (In re Winship, supra, 397 U.S. at p. 368 [25 L.Ed.2d at pp. 377-378, 90 S.Ct. at p. 1074]), and the disposition results in a substantially more restrictive punishment. In this context, we see no basis in reason to distinguish between an original and a supplementary proceeding and conclude that on the supplementary petition the court correctly followed the procedure established for original proceedings under Welfare and Institutions Code sections 602 and 701.1 Thus at the adjudicatory phase the appellant was entitled to the same panoply of constitutional protections that he would have been entitled to on an original petition.2

Turning to the merits of the controversy, the facts are: On January 17, 1974, at 2:50 a.m., Officer Louis Price of the Merced Police Department observed what he believed to be three juveniles riding in a vehicle along the street. Officer Price testified that he initially stopped the vehicle in which appellant was riding because the vehicle appeared to contain “three white males that appeared to be juveniles and the fact that it was the late hour, somewhat after curfew.”

He stopped the vehicle and asked for identification from the three occupants of the car. The driver, Smallwood, gave the officer his driver’s [899]*899license, and the other two occupants (including Francis W.) identified themselves verbally. At that time Francis W.

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Related

In Re Francis W.
42 Cal. App. 3d 892 (California Court of Appeal, 1974)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
42 Cal. App. 3d 892, 117 Cal. Rptr. 277, 1974 Cal. App. LEXIS 1276, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fischer-v-francis-w-calctapp-1974.