VC

After the minor’s alleged unsatisfactory performance of the conditions of his probation arising from his plea bargain on a 2007 sustained petition, the juvenile court, pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code 1 section 782, dismissed the minor’s 2007 sustained petition in order to make him eligible for commitment to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF) under the revised terms of section 733, subdivision (c) (section 733(c)). Section 733(c) limits the commitment of a minor to DJF to cases where the minor has been, or is adjudged to be, a ward of the juvenile court pursuant to section 602 and the minor’s “most recent offense alleged in any petition and admitted or found to *1459 be true by the court” is an offense listed in section 707, subdivision (b), or a sex offense listed in Penal Code section 290.008, subdivision (c). 2

Here, the juvenile court dismissed V.C.’s most recently sustained petition, a 2007 Penal Code section 314 offense, which does not qualify for a DJF commitment, so as to cause an earlier sustained petition, a 2005 Penal Code section 288a, subdivision (b)(1) offense, which does qualify for a DJF…

This is one of those times when a court must divine what the Legislature intended when it enacted a statute susceptible of two reasonable, but conflicting, interpretations.

In this case, a ward of the juvenile court was charged with sex crimes, including indecent exposure and child molestation, while he was on probation for committing a lewd and lascivious act on a child under the age of 14. In a plea bargain, he admitted the charge of indecent exposure and was reinstated on probation. Probation was later revoked when the minor failed to participate in a sex offender treatment program and disobeyed the staff of the group home where he was placed.

The juvenile court concluded a commitment to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF) (formerly California Youth Authority) was in the best interests of the minor and was necessary to protect the public. However, Welfare and Institutions Code section 733 precluded the court from imposing a DJF commitment for indecent exposure. 1 (Further section references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code unless otherwise specified.)

To avoid the preclusion of section 733, the juvenile court set…

Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Catherine Chatman and Ryan B. McCarroll, Deputy Attorneys General, for Real Party in Interest.

CANTIL-SAKAUYE, J. —

After the minor's alleged unsatisfactory performance of the conditions of his probation arising from his plea bargain on a 2007 sustained petition, the juvenile court, pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code [1] section 782, dismissed the minor's 2007 sustained petition in order to make him eligible for commitment to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF) under the revised terms of section 733, subdivision (c) (section 733(c)). Section 733(c) limits the commitment of a minor to DJF to cases where the minor has been, or is adjudged to be, a ward of the juvenile court pursuant to section 602 and the minor's "most recent offense alleged in any petition and admitted or found to be true by the court" is an offense listed in section 707, subdivision (b), or a sex offense listed in Penal Code section 290.008, subdivision (c). [2]

(1) Here, the juvenile court dismissed V.C.'s most…