In Re DG

187 Cal. App. 4th 47, 113 Cal. Rptr. 3d 639
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 30, 2010
DocketA126655
StatusPublished

This text of 187 Cal. App. 4th 47 (In Re DG) 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
In Re DG, 187 Cal. App. 4th 47, 113 Cal. Rptr. 3d 639 (Cal. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

187 Cal.App.4th 47 (2010)

In re D.G., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.
THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
D.G., Defendant and Appellant.

No. A126655.

Court of Appeals of California, First District, Division One.

July 30, 2010.

*50 Eileen M. Rice, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Assistant Attorney General, Laurence K. Sullivan and Martin S. Kaye, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

OPINION

MARGULIES, J.—

Appellant D.G., a ward of the court, was placed on juvenile probation after he and another person were seen burglarizing a home. Neither appellant's current burglary nor his past offenses were committed near a school or involved classmates or other juveniles. Yet in imposing probation, the juvenile court included a condition prohibiting appellant from coming within 150 feet of any school campus other than the school he is attending. Appellant contends the imposition of this condition was an abuse of the court's discretion because it is unrelated to his current or past offenses or to his possible future criminality and is vague and overbroad, thereby improperly burdening his constitutional right to travel.

We conclude the condition as drawn was unreasonable because it is not related to appellant's offenses and does not prohibit otherwise criminal conduct and because there is no evidence in the record to suggest the condition will serve a rehabilitative purpose by preventing his future criminality. We narrow the condition consistent with state law that prohibits persons from visiting school grounds without notifying school authorities and affirm the court's dispositional order as so modified.

I. BACKGROUND

On August 26, 2009, the Alameda County District Attorney filed a wardship petition under Welfare and Institutions Code section 602, subdivision (a), alleging appellant committed first degree burglary (Pen. Code, § 459) and received stolen property (Pen. Code, § 496). The evidence at trial demonstrated that appellant and another person forced open the back door of *51 an Oakland home while the residents were away.[1] The two later emerged with a camera and a safe, ran away as police arrived, and eventually were found hiding nearby.

The juvenile court found the allegations of the wardship petition to be true. The probation department's dispositional report recommended appellant, who had already been declared a ward of the court as a result of earlier offenses, be placed under probation, subject to several conditions. One of the recommended conditions would prohibit appellant from being "on any campus or within 200 feet of any campus other than the school in which [he is] currently enrolled." At the dispositional hearing, appellant's counsel did not oppose the imposition of probation, but he noted, "I don't see the nexus for the campus clause." Responding, the prosecutor argued, "I would definitely think a campus clause is appropriate. If he's not enrolled in a school, he has no business being there." The juvenile court imposed probation, with the condition, among others, "Do not be on any campus or within 150 feet of any campus other than the school in which you are currently enrolled."

As noted, this was not appellant's first contact with the juvenile justice system. In a Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 petition filed five months earlier, appellant was alleged to have committed two drug-related offenses. According to the police report of the incident, appellant was arrested after having sold marijuana to an undercover police officer from a car located in the 2600 block of East 27th Street in Oakland. That petition was amended two weeks later to add allegations of auto burglary after appellant broke the window of a van parked in the 2500 block of 23rd Avenue in Oakland and was caught attempting to remove the vehicle's stereo. According to the dispositional report for the current incident, appellant had "a total of five referrals to the probation department" since the age of 11, but no details were provided other than that he once "trespassed into an apartment complex and kicked in a door."

II. DISCUSSION

Appellant contends the imposition of the school campus probation condition was an abuse of the juvenile court's discretion both because it was unreasonable under People v. Lent (1975) 15 Cal.3d 481 [124 Cal.Rptr. 905, 541 P.2d 545] (Lent), superseded on another ground by Proposition 8 as stated in People v. Wheeler (1992) 4 Cal.4th 284, 290-295 [14 Cal.Rptr.2d 418, 841 P.2d 938], and because it represented an unconstitutional infringement on his right to travel.

*52 (1) Under Welfare and Institutions Code section 730, subdivision (b), the juvenile court, in placing a ward on probation, "may impose and require any and all reasonable conditions that it may determine fitting and proper to the end that justice may be done and the reformation and rehabilitation of the ward enhanced." (See In re Sheena K. (2007) 40 Cal.4th 875, 889 [55 Cal.Rptr.3d 716, 153 P.3d 282].) Consistent with this mandate, the juvenile court is recognized as having "`broad discretion in formulating conditions of probation'" (In re Tyrell J. (1994) 8 Cal.4th 68, 81 [32 Cal.Rptr.2d 33, 876 P.2d 519] (Tyrell J.), overruled on other grounds in In re Jaime P. (2006) 40 Cal.4th 128, 139 [51 Cal.Rptr.3d 430, 146 P.3d 965]), and the juvenile court's imposition of any particular probation condition is reviewed for abuse of discretion (In re Walter P. (2009) 170 Cal.App.4th 95, 100 [87 Cal.Rptr.3d 668]).

While adult criminal courts are also said to have "broad discretion" in formulating conditions of probation (People v. Carbajal (1995) 10 Cal.4th 1114, 1120 [43 Cal.Rptr.2d 681, 899 P.2d 67]), the legal standards governing the two types of conditions are not identical. Because wards are thought to be more in need of guidance and supervision than adults and have more circumscribed constitutional rights, and because the juvenile court stands in the shoes of a parent when it asserts jurisdiction over a minor, juvenile conditions "may be broader than those pertaining to adult offenders." (In re Antonio R. (2000) 78 Cal.App.4th 937, 941 [93 Cal.Rptr.2d 212].) In Tyrell J., the Supreme Court explained another aspect of the difference: "Although the goal of both types of probation is the rehabilitation of the offender, `[j]uvenile probation is not, as with an adult, an act of leniency in lieu of statutory punishment; it is an ingredient of a final order for the minor's reformation and rehabilitation.' [Citation.] ... [¶] In light of this difference, a condition of probation that would be unconstitutional or otherwise improper for an adult probationer may be permissible for a minor under the supervision of the juvenile court. [Citations.] `"Even conditions which infringe on constitutional rights may not be invalid if tailored specifically to meet the needs of the juvenile ...."'" (Tyrell J., supra, 8 Cal.4th at pp. 81-82.)

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Related

People v. Lent
541 P.2d 545 (California Supreme Court, 1975)
People v. Wheeler
841 P.2d 938 (California Supreme Court, 1992)
People v. Tyrell J.
876 P.2d 519 (California Supreme Court, 1994)
People v. Carbajal
899 P.2d 67 (California Supreme Court, 1995)
In Re Antonio C.
100 Cal. Rptr. 2d 218 (California Court of Appeal, 2000)
Alex O. v. Superior Court of San Diego Cty.
174 Cal. App. 4th 1176 (California Court of Appeal, 2009)
People v. Antonio R.
93 Cal. Rptr. 2d 212 (California Court of Appeal, 2000)
People v. Luis F.
177 Cal. App. 4th 176 (California Court of Appeal, 2009)
People v. Daniel R.
50 Cal. Rptr. 3d 179 (California Court of Appeal, 2006)
People v. Vincent G.
75 Cal. Rptr. 3d 526 (California Court of Appeal, 2008)
In Re Walter P.
170 Cal. App. 4th 95 (California Court of Appeal, 2009)
People v. Jaime P.
146 P.3d 965 (California Supreme Court, 2006)
People v. G.V.
167 Cal. App. 4th 1244 (California Court of Appeal, 2008)
People v. Walter P.
170 Cal. App. 4th 95 (California Court of Appeal, 2009)
People v. R.V.
171 Cal. App. 4th 239 (California Court of Appeal, 2009)
People v. D.G.
187 Cal. App. 4th 47 (California Court of Appeal, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
187 Cal. App. 4th 47, 113 Cal. Rptr. 3d 639, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-dg-calctapp-2010.