Fare

James Leonard, a minor, was alleged to come within the provisions of Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 based on his possession of “nun-chakus,” that is, karate sticks, in violation of Penal Code section 12020. After a hearing, the court sustained the petition, declared the minor to be a ward of the court and ordered that he be taken from his parents and suitably placed. The minor was placed at the American Boy’s Ranch in June 1976.

Adjudication Hearing

On Novémber 19, 1975, at about 8 p.m., Deputy Sheriff Falls saw the minor sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle and another *136 person in the driver’s seat. The deputy saw a Coors beer can on the dashboard and approached the vehicle. Both the minor and the driver got out of the car. While Deputy Falls was detaining the minors near his car, Deputy Vernon, his partner, found two nun-chakus sticks on the floor of the vehicle on the driver’s side. The nun-chakus sticks were 12 inches long, about one inch in circumference, wrapped with black tape and connected by a six-inch chain.

Deputy Vernon picked up the sticks, turned to Deputy Falls “and the two subjects, and asked, whose sticks were these.” The statement…

I respectfully dissent.

The facts are veiy simple. Deputy Sheriff Falls saw two males seated in a parked car. There was a beer can on the dashboard. The minor, who was 15, was in the passenger’s seat and his companion was the driver. As Deputy Falls approached, both the driver and the minor got out of the car. While Falls talked to them, Deputy Vernon looked into the car and found two nun-chakus sticks on the floor of the driver’s side of the vehicle. He picked them up and asked whose sticks they were. The question was not directed specifically at the minor, who said “that they were his,” and that “he had found them.”

At the time the question was asked, appellant was not under arrest nor was he in custody within the meaning of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444 [ 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 706 , 86 S.Ct. 1602 , 10 A.L.R.3d 974 ]. He was subject only to temporary detention for purposes of investigation, which is not the type of significant restraint to which the Miranda rules apply. (People v. Manis, 268 Cal.App.2d 653, 663-669 [ 74 Cal.Rptr. 423 ]; People v. Hubbard, 9 Cal.App.3d 827, 833 [ 88 Cal.Rptr. 411 ].) The majority’s conclusion that the minor was effectively in custody because…