In re M.D. CA4/2

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant and appellant M.D. appeals the juvenile court’s October 3, 2013,

dispositional order committing him to the Gateway residential facility in San Bernardino

for 18 months, based on the court’s finding he robbed a cashier at a convenience store.

(Pen. Code, § 211.) M.D. claims the court erroneously admitted his involuntary

confession to the robbery, along with unduly suggestive and unreliable identification

evidence, and absent this evidence there was insufficient evidence to support the true

finding on the robbery charge. M.D. also claims the court abused its discretion in placing

him in the Gateway program rather than a less restrictive placement. We affirm the true

finding on the robbery charge and the dispositional order.

II. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Initial Proceedings

On June 11, 2013, M.D., then age 17, was charged in an amended petition with

second degree robbery, a felony (Pen. Code, § 211), resisting a peace officer, a

misdemeanor (Pen. Code, § 148, subd. (a)(1)), and assaulting a police officer, a

misdemeanor (Pen. Code, § 241, subd. (c)). At the detention hearing, M.D. was

continued in juvenile hall. Before the…