Prothro

After being found an unfit subject to be dealt with in juvenile court (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 707), appellant, who committed this offense three weeks before his eighteenth birthday, was certified to superior court. There appellant pleaded guilty to committing two counts of lewd and lascivious act by force upon a child under the age of fourteen years (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (b)) and two counts of forcible oral copulation with the same child (Pen. Code, § 288a, subd. (c)). Appellant also admitted personally inflicting great bodily injury in the commission of one of the lewd acts (Pen. Code, § 12022.8). Appellant was remanded to the California Youth Authority (CYA) and evaluated pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 707.2 (section 707.2). After a long hearing, the trial court declined to commit appellant directly to CYA and instead sentenced him to state prison for 17 years and ordered he be housed at CYA pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 1731.5, subdivision (c).

Appellant contends that the trial court did not state sufficient reasons (I) for declining to commit him to CYA despite the unanimous amenability determination in the section 707.2…