In re E.R. CA6

I. Statement of Facts

A. Prosecution Case The present case involved an argument between the minor and his mother’s boyfriend C.L. It ended when the minor threw a pot of beans at C. C. had been a family friend for 20 years. About five years before the incident, the minor’s mother Maria I. divorced his father. Six to eight months after the divorce, Maria and C. began living together. The minor, his sister Cassandra R., and C.’s niece April M. also lived in the home. At about 4:00 p.m. on January 6, 2014, C. returned home. Maria was in the kitchen, but the minor was not home. After C. ate dinner, he saw that the lock on his bedroom door had been broken. Maria said that the lock was not broken when she had left to pick up Cassandra from school at 3:45 p.m. They assumed that the minor had broken the lock, because he had done so in the past. C. entered the bedroom and discovered that his iPod was missing. After he and Maria concluded that the minor had taken it, C. called the police. When the officers arrived, they told him that it was Maria’s responsibility and that C. also had the “right to correct” the minor since he was the “owner of the home.” After the police left, C. and Maria…