Other Cases Affecting Children

People v. Davis (1997) 15 Cal.4th 1096 [938 P.2d 938, 64 Cal.Rptr.2d 879]. Supreme Court of California.

An adult criminal was charged with both murder and attempted murder, and three prior convictions, including two juvenile adjudications, were alleged for purposes of sentence enhancement. The trial court struck the two juvenile adjudications and the People appealed. While the appeal was pending, a jury convicted defendant of murder and attempted murder; the prior robbery conviction allegation was also found true. The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court order striking the prior juvenile adjudication for residential burglary and reversed the trial court's order striking the prior juvenile adjudication for felony assault. Both the defendant and the People appealed, and the Supreme Court granted review to address two issues: (1) whether for a prior juvenile adjudication to qualify as a strike, the juvenile court must have expressly found the child to be a fit and proper subject for the juvenile court, and (2) whether a prior juvenile adjudication for residential burglary qualifies as a strike.

The Supreme Court held that no express finding of fitness is required for a juvenile adjudication to qualify as a strike. The Court found that limiting use of prior juvenile adjudications as strikes to those situations where the prosecutor unsuccessfully sought to have the child tried in adult court: (1) was seemingly at odds with the legislative intent to punish repeat offenders more severely and (2) would bring the constitutionality of the statute into question because use of a prior juvenile adjudication would constitute a strike where there had been an unsuccessful fitness hearing but would not constitute a strike if the prosecutor did not seek to remove the hearing to adult court. Finally, the Court found that under the circumstances of this case, they need not address the issue of whether a prior juvenile adjudication for residential burglary qualifies as a strike since the defendant was already subject to maximum punishment under the `three strikes' law as the result of the adult robbery convictions and the juvenile felony assault.