Thomas

Review Granted and Transferred to the Court of Appeal January 29, 2003.

Has a criminal court the discretion to order a juvenile disposition on a Proposition 21 [1] "discretionary direct file" after a 15 year old minor pleads guilty to robbery and admits a personal firearm use enhancement? (Pen.Code, §§ 1170.17, subd. (a), 1170.19, subd. (a)(4) (hereafter 1170.19(a)(4)); [2] Welf. & Inst.Code, §§ 602, subd. (b), 707, subd. (d)(2)(B).) Before we answer that question in the affirmative, we hold that the requirement of section 1170.19(a)(4) that a criminal court secure a prosecutor's consent to order a juvenile disposition after a criminal trial on a discretionary direct file violates the state Constitution's separation of powers doctrine. (Cal. Const., art. III, § 3.) [3] We reverse and remand for an exercise of the discretion that section 1170.19(a)(4) grants to a criminal court to order a juvenile disposition after a criminal trial on a discretionary direct file.

Fifteen-year-old Alonza Rydell Thomas, Jr., entered a market carrying a firearm and wearing a bandanna over his nose and mouth. He put the firearm in a clerk's chest and demanded money. After one clerk gave…