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Name: In re Y.A.
Case #: D068405
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 1
Opinion Date: 04/14/2016
Summary

Minor’s request to dismiss and seal records on one juvenile delinquency petition did not require similar dismissal of prior delinquency petition. In 2013 a Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 petition was sustained against the minor for delaying a police officer (Pen. Code, § 148, subd. (a)(1)). The minor was placed on probation, but later violated probation by using drugs and missing school. She was ordered detained at juvenile hall pending completion of a rehabilitation program. A second petition was sustained in 2014, for resisting an officer by force (Pen. Code, § 69). The minor was placed in the Breaking Cycles program. In 2015, the minor’s probation officer noted she was doing well and recommended the court terminate wardship and seal the minor’s records (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 786). The juvenile court terminated jurisdiction, found the minor had successfully completed probation in the section 69 case, dismissed the petition, and sealed her records. However, the minor appealed because the court did not also seal the records in her first case. Held: Affirmed. Section 786 allows the juvenile court to dismiss a petition alleging any offense that is not listed in Welfare and Institutions Code section 707, subdivision (b) where the minor satisfactorily completes probation. The court shall then order the records sealed. However, nothing in section 786 requires or permits a juvenile court to seal records pertaining to a prior petition for which no finding has been made regarding satisfactory completion of probation. As nothing in the record shows the minor satisfactorily completed probation in the first case, the juvenile court did not err by failing to seal the records for that case.

The full opinion is available on the court’s website here: http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/D068405.PDF