In Re Sheena K.

10 Cal. Rptr. 3d 444, 116 Cal. App. 4th 394
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 9, 2004
DocketB167626
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 10 Cal. Rptr. 3d 444 (In Re Sheena K.) 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 Sheena K., 10 Cal. Rptr. 3d 444, 116 Cal. App. 4th 394 (Cal. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

10 Cal.Rptr.3d 444 (2004)
116 Cal.App.4th 394

In re SHEENA K., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.
The People, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
Sheena K., Defendant and Appellant.

No. B167626.

Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Two.

March 2, 2004.
Review Granted June 9, 2004.

*445 Steven A. Torres, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Assistant Attorney General, Ana R. Duarte and Yun K. Lee, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

NOTT, Acting P.J.

Sheena K., a minor, appeals from an order declaring her a ward of the court pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 by reason of her having committed misdemeanor battery (Pen.Code, § 242).[1] The juvenile court committed appellant to the supervision of the probation officer for placement in the Camp Community Placement Program for a minimum of 14 weeks under specified terms and conditions, including that she (1) not associate with anyone disapproved of by her probation officer, (2) not use or possess dangerous or deadly weapons, and (3) not remain with any person known to be unlawfully armed. Appellant's sole contention is that these conditions are vague and overbroad, violating her federal and state constitutional rights to due process, to travel, to associate and to assemble, and must therefore be modified to require that she know the persons with whom she cannot associate *446 and the weapons she cannot use or possess.

We conclude that the probation condition that appellant not associate with anyone disapproved of by the probation officer is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. Accordingly, we modify the judgment and otherwise affirm.

FACTS

On September 26, 2002, at approximately 5:30 p.m., appellant returned to a table in the dining facility, at Maclaren Childrens Center, in El Monte, where she had been sitting, and found that Diane N. had sat down at that table. Appellant demanded that Diane give up her seat, but she refused. Julie Nwosu, a children's social worker (CSW) employed at Maclaren, told Diane to remain in her seat and appellant to change tables if she did not wish to sit with Diane. Appellant remained in her seat. Appellant and Diane began yelling at each other, calling each other names. Appellant poured salad dressing on Diane's hair and face.

Carla Coleman, another CSW employed at Maclaren, told appellant to move away from Diane, who was Coleman's "one on one."[2] Appellant and Coleman did not get along, and group leaders had told them to stay away from each other. Appellant walked up to Coleman, pointed her finger at her, began calling her names such as "fat bitch" and "yellow bitch," and told her to, "Get your ass out of my face." Coleman lost her footing and shoved appellant. Appellant responded by punching Coleman in the face and pulling her hair. Coleman and Nwosu restrained appellant.

Appellant's version of events differed. She testified that she was standing, and Coleman approached her to tell her to leave Diane alone, pushing her against a wall where she hit her head. Appellant pushed Coleman back, and they grabbed each other. Coleman hit appellant with her left fist, cutting appellant's lip. Appellant denied calling Coleman names, hitting her or pulling her hair. She only pushed her and yanked her arm from Coleman's grip.

DISCUSSION

The juvenile court found appellant to be a person described in section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code and placed her in the Camp Community Placement Program under the supervision of a probation officer subject to the probation conditions announced by the court at the dispositional hearing, including that (1) she "not associate with anyone disapproved of by probation. Specifically do not participate in any type of street gang activity;" (2) she "not use or possess any dangerous or deadly weapons"; and (3) she "not remain with anyone [she] know[s] is unlawfully armed."[3] She did not object to any of these conditions in the trial court.

Appellant contends that these conditions are unconstitutionally overbroad. She argues that the conditions that she not associate with anyone disapproved by her probation officer or anyone" unlawfully armed" infringe on her freedom of association, right to travel and right to assemble. She also argues that the condition that she not use or possess a deadly or dangerous weapon is unconstitutionally vague because *447 it cannot reasonably be determined what objects constitute such weapons. She urges that these conditions must provide that she have knowledge of whom the probation officer disapproves, who is unlawfully armed and what is a deadly or dangerous weapon.

Waiver

Respondent contends that because appellant did not object to these conditions in the juvenile court, she waived her appellate challenge to them. It argues that, in any event, "[r]easonably read, `do not associate with anyone disapproved by probation' implies that the person appellant is to refrain from associating [sic] has already been disapproved by probation, and that appellant is aware of the disapproval."

Our Supreme Court has indicated that constitutional objections must be interposed in the trial court in order to preserve them for appeal. (See People v. Williams (1997) 16 Cal.4th 153, 250, 66 Cal.Rptr.2d 123, 940 P.2d 710.) The purpose of this waiver doctrine "`is to encourage a defendant to bring errors to the attention of the trial court, so that they may be corrected or avoided and a fair trial had....'" (People v. Walker (1991) 54 Cal.3d 1013, 1023, 1 Cal.Rptr.2d 902, 819 P.2d 861.)

In People v. Welch (1993) 5 Cal.4th 228, 19 Cal.Rptr.2d 520, 851 P.2d 802 (Welch) the California Supreme Court applied the waiver doctrine to challenged conditions of probation. There, the defendant was sentenced to probation on the terms and conditions in the probation report. The defendant failed to object in the trial court to the conditions. On appeal, the defendant urged that the conditions were improper on Bushman/Lent grounds[4] and that his failure to object in the trial court did not preclude appellate review because the type of error constituted an "`unauthorized sentence,'" entered "`in excess of jurisdiction'" and thus could be raised at any time. (Id. at p. 235, 19 Cal.Rptr.2d 520, 851 P.2d 802.) The Supreme Court held that the failure to timely challenge the reasonableness of a probation condition on Bushman/Lent grounds waived the claim on appeal because a timely objection discouraged imposition of invalid conditions and reduced costly appeals brought on that basis. (Ibid.) It excluded from this general waiver rule claims challenging probation conditions involving "pure questions of law that can be resolved without reference to the particular sentencing record developed in the trial court." (Ibid.) Thus, Welch dealt with unreasonable and inappropriate conditions that should not have been imposed because they failed to relate to the defendant's offense, did not relate to future criminality and regulated non-criminal conduct.

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14 Cal. Rptr. 3d 805 (California Court of Appeal, 2004)
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Bluebook (online)
10 Cal. Rptr. 3d 444, 116 Cal. App. 4th 394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-sheena-k-calctapp-2004.