People v. Johnny V.

I

The Procedural History

On August 1, 1977, petitions were filed in the Juvenile Court of Los Angeles County alleging that on June 11, 1977, Jimmy A., a minor 15 years of age, and Johnny V., a minor 17 years of age, committed the felony offense of murder in violation of Penal Code section 187. The victim alleged to have been murdered was Charles Mulcahy. Both minors *124 denied the allegations of the petitions. On August 9, 1977, the juvenile court conducted hearings on the minors’ motions to suppress evidence, made pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5, and on Johnny V.’s additional motion to exclude his inculpatory statements. The motions were denied the following day. Thereafter, the parties stipulated that all evidence presented at the Penal Code section 1538.5 and Evidence Code section 402 hearings would be considered by the court as part of the evidence presented at the adjudication hearing, with the exception of that evidence which was received at the section 1538.5 hearing for the limited purpose of establishing probable cause and that evidence of Johnny V.’s statements would not be admissible against Jimmy A.

At the adjudication hearing at the close of the…