Malveaux

This case dramatically illustrates how much can go wrong when a trial court takes actions which affect a cause while it is on appeal. As a result this court has been forced to consolidate two appeals from two trials, both involving the same defendant and both arising from the same crime, then order a reference to rehear an issue the trial court decided while the case was pending on appeal. One of the two appeals is from a decision of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Juvenile Department after appellant had been tried in that court for this crime. The other is from a subsequent trial in adult criminal court for the identical crime. In between these two trials the juvenile court held a sui generis proceeding while its own judgment was on appeal. In that proceeding the judge vacated the juvenile court judgment even though it was on appeal, based on a finding appellant was over 18 when he committed the crime. The adult criminal court then proceeded to conduct its own trial of appellant for this crime, resulting in a conviction which also is on appeal in this court.

We concluded the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction to hold the sui generis proceeding to determine…