R.K.

A deputy sheriff finds an intoxicated minor in a woodshed located 10 to 15 feet from the side of a house. The minor complies with the deputy’s requests to come out of the shed and to the street. A juvenile court finds true an allegation that the minor violated Penal Code section 647, subdivision (f) (section 647(f)) for being “found in any public place under the influence of intoxicating liquor.” Can the true finding stand, either because the woodshed was a “public place” or because the minor ended up in a “public place” when he complied with the deputy’s requests to come out of the shed and to the street? The answer to these questions is “no.” We therefore reverse the judgment against the minor R.K.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A juvenile petition was filed against the minor for disorderly conduct in violation of section 647(f). That section penalizes as a misdemeanor a person who is “found in any public place under the influence of intoxicating liquor ... in a condition that he ... is unable to exercise care for his . . . own safety or the safety of others, or by reason of his . . . being under the influence of intoxicating liquor . . . interferes with or…