In re F.R. CA6

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Wardship Petition

In October 2022, the Santa Clara County District Attorney filed a juvenile wardship petition (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 602, subd. (a)) alleging that F.R., then 16 years old, came within the juvenile court’s jurisdiction for forcible sodomy of a minor 14 years of age or older (Pen. Code, § 286, subd. (c)(2)(C)). B. The Contested Jurisdictional Hearing 1. The Prosecution’s Evidence

In October 2022, J.C., a senior in high school, reported to school staff that classmate F.R. had sexually assaulted her the day before. J.C. and F.R. had been alone in a restroom when F.R. pulled J.C. into a restroom stall and anally raped her by force. According to J.C., F.R. had been making sexual overtures since early in the school term. F.R. had recently moved from Guatemala and only spoke Spanish; J.C. also spoke Spanish and the two communicated with each other in Spanish. In text messages sent between F.R. and J.C. in the hours after the assault while the two were still at school, F.R. apologized, saying in Spanish, “I’m sorry,” and later, “I didn’t know what I did.” When J.C. replied that he had hurt her, F.R. texted back, “I’m sorry. Just…