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Name: In re D.B.
Case #: C067353
Opinion Date: 10/31/2012
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Citation: 210 Cal.App.4th 1035
Summary

Welfare and Institutions Code section 733, subdivision (c), providing for commitment of a minor adjudged a ward to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF), is dependant on the most recent offense. A petition was filed alleging the minor committed seven offenses on May 23, 2010, and two offenses on May 30, 2012. The May 23, 2010, offenses included one described in Welfare and Institutions Code section 707, subdivision (b), whereas the May 30, 2012, offenses did not. The trial court found all the offenses true and committed minor to the DJF facility. Reversed. Section 733 allows commitment to DJF only when the most recent offense alleged in any petition and admitted or found to be true by the court is an eligible offense under section 707, subdivision (c). The court disagreed with the People’s position that the statute’s words, “most recent,” modifies the petition and adjudication, rather than the offense, and that any section 707, subdivision (c) offense in the most recent petition qualified for a DJF commitment. Instead, it found that the plain language of section 733, subdivision (c) looks to the minor’s most recent offense. This interpretation implements the Legislature’s intent to reduce the number of youthful offenders housed at DJF by identifying the most serious offender by reference to their most recent offense.