In re R.M. CA3

BACKGROUND

In January 2011, Stockton police officers responded to a house party. After they told the juveniles present to leave the area, they saw the minor jaywalking and yelling at cars. The officers detained the minor and placed him in the back of a patrol car. While the officers engaged in further crowd control, the minor kicked out the rear driver-side window of the patrol car. The district attorney’s office filed a wardship petition under Welfare and Institutions Code section 6021 charging the minor with one count of misdemeanor vandalism. (Pen. Code, § 594, subd. (a)(2).) The juvenile court dismissed the petition on its own motion on June 15, 2012. That same day, the district attorney refiled the petition, this time charging the minor with felony vandalism. (Pen. Code, § 594, subd. (a).) The minor filed a demurrer to the refiled petition. In the ensuing months, the district attorney filed two more petitions. The minor denied the petitions. The juvenile court overruled the demurrer. On December 6, 2012, the minor accepted a plea bargain. He agreed to admit the vandalism violation as a misdemeanor and the remaining petitions would be dismissed. The juvenile court held a…