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Name: In re C.Z.
Case #: E057520
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 2
Opinion Date: 12/11/2013
Summary

Minor is ineligible for deferred entry of judgment (Welf. & Inst. Code § 790) if his previous grant of informal supervision (Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 654 and 654.2) was revoked. In 2009, a petition was filed alleging the minor resisted an officer. He was placed on informal supervision pursuant to sections 654 and 654.2, but it was later revoked. In connection with a subsequent petition, the court ruled that minor was ineligible for deferred entry of judgment (DEJ) under section 790 because his informal supervision had been revoked. Held: Affirmed. To be eligible for DEJ, the minor must meet certain requirements, including that “the minor’s record does not indicate that probation has ever been revoked without being completed.” Under rules of statutory construction, in the context of section 790, the word “probation” includes informal supervision under section 654.2. Informal supervision is commonly referred to as “informal probation” and at least one related statute refers to it as such. It is almost indistinguishable from formal probation without wardship. The legislative history shows that the electorate who enacted section 790 would have understood that the word “probation” in the statute included informal supervision. Further, section 790 is essentially identical to Penal Code section 1000 (drug diversion) and the word “probation” in section 1000 has been construed to include a “conditional sentence,” which is also known as “summary probation.” (People v. Bishop (1992) 11 Cal.App.4th 1125.) Relying on the reasoning in Bishop, the court concluded that interpreting “probation” in section 790 to include informal supervision is reasonable as failure to complete informal probation indicates that the minor will not be amenable to DEJ. This interpretation does not render the informal supervision statutes unconstitutional because informal supervision, although imposed without a finding of guilt, does not carry the onus of guilt or exposure to summary punishment.