People v. Steven S.

After a San Diego Juvenile Court referee found Steven S. in violation of Penal Code section 245, subdivision (a), assault with a deadly weapon, and committed him to the California Youth Authority, Steven’s counsel sought to present new evidence on identification. The judge treated the request as a motion for new trial and refused to hear it on grounds the juvenile court lacks authority to grant such a motion. In these two consolidated appeals, Steven’s only contention is the motion should have been treated as coming under Welfare and Institutions Code sections 775 1 and 778 2 providing for a hearing to change or set *606 aside a juvenile court order on the basis of new evidence and that he was denied his right to such a hearing.

The facts presented at the jurisdictional hearing are relevant in considering the significance of the offered new evidence: The victim, Egelhoff, and a friend, Reid, were in Egelhoff’s van near the Oceanside pier. A crowd started pounding on the van. Reid hopped out and about five persons grabbed him. When Egelhoff got out of the van, he was also grabbed and attacked by five or six others. The young man who grabbed Egelhoff, held him in a…