Jesse W. v. Superior Court

I concur in the decision rendered, and respectfully conclude that its effect upon the juvenile court system warrants additional elaboration.

*900 We are confronted with a single question: Whether a rehearing, granted by a juvenile court judge on the judge’s own motion, of a determination by a referee that a juvenile had not committed the criminal offense charged in a petition, constituted a violation of the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy.

I agree that the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy is here violated; a determination which I find consistent with considerations of basic fairness.

This conclusion is reached with reluctance. Our decision will have a substantial impact upon the juvenile court system. Recently this court went to considerable length to preserve referee adjudication against a different kind of constitutional attack. (In re Edgar M. (1975) 14 Cal.3d 727 [ 122 Cal.Rptr. 574 , 537 P.2d 406 ].) By authority of that case (id., at p. 734), juvenile referees are constitutionally limited to the performance of only “subordinate judicial duties.” (Cal. Const., art. VI, § 22.) Since referee jurisdictional determinations are hereunder…

Jesse W., a minor, seeks writ of prohibition to restrain the respondent juvenile court from proceeding pursuant to statute (Welf. & Inst. Code, former § 559, now § 253) to redetermine petitioner’s status as a ward after a referee had absolved petitioner of misconduct charged in a petition filed pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 602. Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 provides: “Any person who is under the age of 18 years when he violates any law of this state . . . defining crime ... is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge such person to be a ward of the court.” All section references hereinafter are to the Welfare and Institutions Code unless otherwise specified.

Petitioner contends that the statutory procedure for redetermination of his status constitutes a second exposure to jeopardy for the same offense, contrary to Fifth Amendment prohibitions. We agree and order the writ to issue.

Petitioner was charged pursuant to section 602 with having committed in December 1975 a battery as defined by Penal Code section 242. At a hearing before a juvenile court referee to determine the truth of such allegations, both the…

Evelle J. Younger, Attorney General, Jack R. Winkler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Edward P. O'Brien, Assistant Attorney General, Robert R. Granucci and Ronald E. Niver, Deputy Attorneys General, for Real Party in Interest.

OPINION

CLARK, J.

Jesse W., a minor, seeks writ of prohibition to restrain the respondent juvenile court from proceeding pursuant to statute (Welf. & Inst. Code, former § 559, now § 253) to redetermine petitioner's status as a ward after a referee had absolved petitioner of misconduct charged in a petition filed pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 602. Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 provides: "Any person who is under the age of 18 years when he violates any law of this state ... defining crime ... is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge such person to be a ward of the court." All section references hereinafter are to the Welfare and Institutions Code unless otherwise specified.

(1a) Petitioner contends that the statutory procedure for redetermination of his status constitutes a second exposure to jeopardy for the same offense, contrary to Fifth Amendment prohibitions. We agree and order the writ to…