In Re Stephen P.

A supplemental petition filed June 11, 1981, alleged that Stephen P. (Steve), age 14, was then a ward of the court and that previous orders of the court had not been effective in his rehabilitation by reason of three charges of arson committed on February 12, 1981. Following an adjudication hearing, count I (arson of a structure) having been dismissed on motion of petitioner, the court sustained count II (wilfully and maliciously setting fire to property of another), a felony; count III was not sustained. The minor appeals from order sustaining supplemental petition and dispositional order.

On February 12, 1981, a school holiday, a fire was set in Vicky’s locker at Fremont Junior High School damaging the locker and its contents and several adjoining lockers. On school grounds at the time were Crystal, Rita, Greg and his brother Tommy, Michael, Brandon and Steve, all seventh grade students. Fireman Fred Corsi investigated the fire; he recovered matches from Vicky’s locker; in his opinion the fire was set.

*128 Crystal who had matches and Rita who carried firecrackers, went to the school that day with the intention of putting a firecracker in Vicky’s locker; at the fence…

I would reverse on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence presented in the prosecution’s case-in-chief to corroborate Michael and Brandon’s out-of-court statements, which were later repudiated at trial, identifying appellant as the one who set the fire.

In People v. Gould (1960) 54 Cal.2d 621 [ 7 Cal.Rptr. 273 , 354 P.2d 865 ], the California Supreme Court held that an extrajudicial identification that cannot be confirmed at trial is insufficient to sustain a conviction in the absence of other evidence tending to connect the defendant with the crime. In Gould, two defendants were convicted of burglarizing an apartment. The victim identified the defendant Marudas, from a photographic lineup, as the man who was standing outside her apartment at the time of the burglary. However, she was unable to confirm this identification at the time of trial. The court found that, although the pretrial identification was admissible under the hearsay exception for prior identification statements, it was the only evidence connecting Marudas to the crime and reversed, holding that the out-of-court identification could not sustain a conviction in the absence of corroborating evidence.…

LILLIE, Acting P.J.

A supplemental petition filed June 11, 1981, alleged that Stephen P. (Steve), age 14, was then a ward of the court and that previous orders of the court had not been effective in his rehabilitation by reason of three charges of arson committed on February 12, 1981. Following an adjudication hearing, count I (arson of a structure) having been dismissed on motion of petitioner, the court sustained count II (wilfully and maliciously setting fire to property of another), a felony; count III was not sustained. The minor appeals from order sustaining supplemental petition and dispositional order.

On February 12, 1981, a school holiday, a fire was set in Vicky's locker at Fremont Junior High School damaging the locker and its contents and several adjoining lockers. On school grounds at the time were Crystal, Rita, Greg and his brother Tommy, Michael, Brandon and Steve, all seventh grade students. Fireman Fred Corsi investigated the fire; he recovered matches from Vicky's locker; in his opinion the fire was set.

Crystal who had matches and Rita who carried firecrackers, went to the school that day with the intention of putting a firecracker in Vicky's…