In Re Ronnie P.

Ronnie P. appeals from an order of the juvenile court committing him to the California Youth Authority. We will reverse because (1) the fact that appellant left the company of a custodian, which was the only fact before the court at the jurisdictional hearing, was an insufficient basis for sustaining the petition; and (2) the commitment to the Youth Authority rested not on the required assessment of present circumstances and statutory criteria, but on an earlier order purporting to impose a “suspended” Youth Authority commitment.

Background

On June 4, 1991, the juvenile court sustained a petition alleging that appellant, then 15, had violated Health and Safety Code section 11351.5 (possession of cocaine base for sale). At the dispositional hearing following the June 1991 finding, the probation officer recommended that appellant be committed to the Youth Authority. The transcript of that hearing is not included in the record, but counsel and one Dr. Staggers apparently argued against a Youth Authority commitment on grounds stemming from the fact that appellant had been attacked with a baseball bat, sustaining serious head injuries which were being treated by Dr. Staggers at…