People v. Gordon J.

108 Cal. App. 3d 907, 166 Cal. Rptr. 809, 11 A.L.R. 4th 711, 1980 Cal. App. LEXIS 2124
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 4, 1980
DocketCrim. 36310
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 108 Cal. App. 3d 907 (People v. Gordon J.) 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
People v. Gordon J., 108 Cal. App. 3d 907, 166 Cal. Rptr. 809, 11 A.L.R. 4th 711, 1980 Cal. App. LEXIS 2124 (Cal. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

*909 Opinion

RADIN, J. *

Facts

The court sustained a petition charging the appellant, a minor, with violations of Penal Code section 415, disturbing the peace, and Penal Code section 594, vandalism. It found that the offenses were misdemeanors with a maximum physical confinement period of 90 days and 6 months respectively, the confinement periods to be served concurrently.

Following a disposition hearing the appellant was declared a ward of the juvenile court under Welfare and Institutions Code section 602, was granted probation, and placed in the care, custody, and supervision of the probation officer for placement in the home of his mother.

One of the conditions of appellant’s probation was that he not unlawfully use or possess alcoholic beverages. Another condition was that he obey all laws.

About six weeks later a petition was filed charging appellant with violation of Penal Code section 488, petty theft, a misdemeanor, alleging that he did willfully, and unlawfully steal, take, and carry away the personal property of another, to wit: two steaks and a bottle of Bacardi rum.

The appellant’s admission of the allegation was concurred in by his counsel. At the disposition hearing the court found that the appellant had been tried on home probation but had failed to become rehabilitated; his welfare required that his custody be taken from his parents. He was declared a ward and continued as a ward of the juvenile court under Welfare and Institutions Code section 602. Again, he was placed in the care, custody, and supervision of the probation officer for placement in the home of his mother. He was to obey all orders made at his previous disposition hearing with the added condition of probation that he be confined in Santa Barbara County Juvenile Hall four consecutive weekly periods of sixty hours each.

*910 Upon his arrival at juvenile hall for the first two periods of each of his court-ordered commitments, he “smelled of alcohol” according to the motion for review of his detention filed by the probation officer on August 15, 1979. On the second occasion he was placed in isolation from the evening of August 14 until 2:30 the next afternoon.

A supplemental petition under Welfare and Institutions Code sections 602 and 111 was filed on August 16 alleging that the appellant was a ward of the juvenile court, that he had unlawfully used an alcoholic beverage in violation of his court order and appeared for commitment time at juvenile hall “in a condition indicating he had consumed an alcoholic beverage.”

The minor was not detained pending the adjudication hearing, which was held before a referee on August 24, 1979.

The court found that the factual allegations of the supplemental petition were true beyond a reasonable doubt, that the appellant was a ward of the court under section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and that the previous orders of the court had not been effective.

A motion for rehearing was granted pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code sections 252 and 254 and heard before the Honorable Charles S. Stevens, Jr.

At the hearing the appellant’s motion to have his father, who was not a member of the bar, represent him was denied, but his motion to represent himself was granted, and the public defender was relieved.

Two witnesses who had observed appellant when he checked in on one of his court ordered confinements testified. Janice Bergkamp, a group counselor at the Santa Barbara Juvenile Hall, testified that at a distance of four feet she smelled alcohol on defendant’s breath. James Henry Murr, Jr., a senior group counselor, testified that he noticed a strong smell of alcohol from appellant’s mouth, that his face was flushed, and that his shirt was undone.

The court found beyond a reasonable doubt the minor had been drinking at the time alleged and was thereby in violation of a previous court order.

*911 At the disposition hearing, the court ordered the minor to be continued as a ward pursuant to section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code; he was to remain in the care and custody and control of the probation officer to reside in the home of his father plus the “usual terms and conditions.”

The minor appealed from the order of Judge Stevens.

Appellant’s Contentions

A. With regard to the contested adjudication hearing of August 24, 1979: the petition does not state the precise time he was taken into custody (in violation of tit. 4, rule 1309(a)(7), of the Cal. Rules of Court); and a notice of hearing was not sent to either of his parents (in violation of tit. 4, rule 1309(d), of the Cal. Rules of Court).

B. The notice of hearing filed September 11, 1979, did not contain the code sections and subdivision under which the proceedings were instituted (in violation of tit. 4, rule 1309(a)(3), of the Cal. Rules of Court). 1

C. With regard to booking: (1) Appellant was not advised of his constitutional rights (in violation of Welf. & Inst. Code, § 625); (2) Appellant was placed in isolation or temporary custody (in violation of Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 625 and 507); and (3) Appellant was denied the right to be heard or to make his defense.

D. As to the court: (1) Appellant was denied the right to have his father assist him; (2) Appellant’s motion to dismiss was erroneously denied; (3) The hearing was not conducted in accordance with the mandate of Welfare and Institutions Code section 680; and (4) An erroneous ruling allowed prejudicial evidence against appellant.

Discussion

Appellant contends the first three errors are in violation of various subsections of rule 1309 of the California Rules of Court. We have reviewed them and find them without merit.

*912 Rule 1309 sets forth the requirements for a petition, which is the document initiating a proceeding to declare a minor a ward of the court.

In the instant case, however, the appeal is from a supplemental petition under the provisions of Welfare and Institutions Code sections 602 and 777. 2 The appellant was already a ward of the court, and the supplemental petition involves the violation of a condition of probation. .

The minor in this case was in custody as a result of a previous court order when he was observed to have consumed alcohol, the violation which gave rise to the supplemental petition. He was not detained as a result of the supplemental petition.

With regard to the notice of hearing, the minor’s father was in court on each and every court date: August 16 when the motion for review of disposition was calendared, on August 17, the continued date, on August 24 at the adjudication hearing before Referee William W.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
108 Cal. App. 3d 907, 166 Cal. Rptr. 809, 11 A.L.R. 4th 711, 1980 Cal. App. LEXIS 2124, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-gordon-j-calctapp-1980.