People v. Aguirre

• Decision Date: 30 January 1991
• Docket Number: No. G008418,G008418
• Citation: 277 Cal.Rptr. 771,227 Cal.App.3d 373
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Gustavo Molinares AGUIRRE, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 771

277 Cal.Rptr. 771

227 Cal.App.3d 373

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Gustavo Molinares AGUIRRE, Defendant and Appellant.

No. G008418.

Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 3, California.

Jan. 30, 1991.

As Modified on Denial of

Rehearing Feb. 26, 1991.

[227 Cal.App.3d 375] Christopher T. Armen, Los Angeles, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for defendant and appellant.

[227 Cal.App.3d 376] John K. Van de Kamp, Atty. Gen., Richard B. Iglehart, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., Harley D. Mayfield, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Pat Zaharopoulos and Janelle B. Davis, Supervising Deputy Attys. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

OPINION

DICKEY, Associate Justice, Assigned. ^*

Gustavo Molinares Aguirre pleaded guilty to 15 felony charges arising out of a nighttime assault on a young man and woman on the beach in Orange County in 1981. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison. On appeal he raises a single issue, contending that the grand jury indictment returned against him in 1985 could not toll the statute of limitations because the grand jury has no power to indict a minor. Finding Aguirre's contention to be without merit, we affirm the judgment. ¹

FACTS

In the early morning hours on August 15, 1981, Robert B. and Evelyn H. traveled to Huntington State Beach expecting to meet friends for a campfire. Apparently the first to arrive, they spread a blanket on the sand and waited for their friends. A group of seven or eight young men approached, including Aguirre, who was 16 years old at the time. ² One of the group stated to Robert, "When you get done with her, send her over our way." Fearing trouble, Evelyn and Robert moved several yards down the beach.

A few minutes later the group of men attacked Robert, threatening him with a knife. He was knocked unconscious and dragged away by several of the men. Several other men blindfolded Evelyn with a bandana and removed her clothing. A number of the men then proceeded to forcibly rape Evelyn, and she was compelled to orally copulate them. The acts were repeated several times. Passersby approached and the seven attackers fled. ³ An ongoing investigation culminated in an indictment by the grand jury of all seven men, including Aguirre, on December 10, 1985, and a bench warrant for his arrest was issued on the following day. ⁴ Aguirre was arrested in Arizona on November 18, 1987, and extradited to California. When he appeared in the superior court, the court found he was 16 years of age at the time of the offenses, and accordingly suspended the criminal proceeding and certified the case to juvenile court. The matter was subsequently returned to the adult court for arraignment on the indictment, ⁵ where Aguirre obtained an order for a postindictment preliminary hearing. He was held to answer after the preliminary hearing and thereafter the People filed an information identical to the 1985 indictment. Aguirre subsequently pleaded guilty to all 15 counts of that information.

DISCUSSION

Aguirre's argument proceeds as follows: (1) the juvenile court has exclusive initial jurisdiction over persons under 18 years of age who commit acts in violation of the criminal laws; (2) an order of the juvenile court adjudging such a minor to be a ward of juvenile court is not deemed a conviction of a crime for any purpose; (3) a grand jury may only inquire into and indict for the commission of "public offenses"; and, therefore, (4) a grand jury has no jurisdiction to indict a person under the age of 18 until after that person has been the subject of a juvenile court petition and been found unfit to be handled under the juvenile court law. From this reasoning Aguirre then concludes that the six-year statute of limitations applicable to his offenses had already expired on August 15, 1987, before he was arrested and the 1988 petition was filed against him in juvenile court. In other words, he seeks to persuade this court that the 1985 grand jury indictment was a nullity rather than a commencement of the prosecution against him which would toll the six-year statute of limitations pursuant to Penal Code section 804, subdivision (a). ⁶

Aguirre cites no case authority for his contention that a grand jury has no jurisdiction to indict a minor, and our own research has not found any cases in California or any other state which support that conclusion. The grand jury has its origins in the early English common law and remains an established part of the American federal and state systems of criminal administration. (4 Witkin, Cal.Criminal Law (2d ed. 1989) Proceedings Before Trial, § 1797, p. 2125.) "A grand jury is a body of the required number of persons returned from the citizens of the county before a court of competent jurisdiction, and sworn to inquire of public offenses committed or triable within the county." (Pen.Code, § 888.) "The grand jury may inquire into all public offenses committed or triable within the county and present them to the court by indictment." (Pen.Code, § 917.) "An indictment is an accusation in writing, presented by the grand jury to a competent court, charging a person with a public offense." (Pen.Code, § 889; see also Pen.Code, § 691, subd. (d).) As we have noted, no cases limit the authority of the grand jury to indict persons of any age, providing the offense has been committed or is triable within the county.

In contrast, juvenile court laws designed to deal with young persons in a more beneficent manner than adults who commit the same offense are of relatively recent vintage. In 1903, California became the seventh state to enact a juvenile court act providing for separate jurisdiction over dependent, neglected and delinquent children. Provisions for a separate juvenile court were established in 1909. Major revisions of California juvenile court law occurred in 1937, 1961, and 1977. But the purpose has remained essentially the same. Because of an increase in serious crimes committed by many persons under the age of 18, punishment has assumed a more important role in the statutory scheme in recent years. But such punishment remains for the purpose of rehabilitation, rather than retribution. (See Welf. & Inst.Code, § 202.)

In California, the juvenile court has original jurisdiction over persons who are charged with committing crimes while under the age of 18 years. (Welf. & Inst.Code, § 602.) Proceedings seeking to have a minor declared a ward of the juvenile court in such cases are commenced by a petition filed by the district attorney. (Welf. & Inst.Code, § 650, subd. (b).) A minor who is 16 years of age or older (such as Aguirre) may be prosecuted in adult court if he or she is first found unfit to be dealt with under the juvenile court law. (Welf. & Inst.Code, § 707.)

"An order adjudging a minor to be a ward of the juvenile court shall not be deemed a conviction of a crime for any purpose, nor shall a proceeding in the juvenile court be deemed a criminal proceeding." (Welf. & Inst.Code, § 203.) However, the fact that wardship proceedings are not deemed criminal does not mean that minors are incapable of committing crimes. Our juvenile court law explicitly recognizes minors are capable of committing crimes. "Indeed, the violation of a law defining crime is the basis for an adjudication of wardship under Welfare and Institutions Code section 602." (Shortridge v. Municipal Court (1984) 151 Cal.App.3d 611, 618, 198 Cal.Rptr. 749.) "The minor cannot be adjudged a ward of the court except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime of which he is charged. [Citations.] ... If the minor is found to have committed an offense which in the case of an adult would be punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony, then the juvenile court must declare whether the offense is a misdemeanor or a felony. [Citation]." (Ibid.) The appellant's argument in Shortridge was similar to Aguirre's: A minor cannot commit a crime because, by definition crimes must have a punishment (Pen.Code, § 15) and since juvenile court proceedings are not designed for punishment, juveniles are never punished. Shortridge rejected that argument, concluding minors are capable of committing crimes even though they are not subject to punishment in the same fashion as adults.

More recently, a similar contention was also rejected in In re Gustavo M. (1989) 214 Cal.App.3d 1485, 263 Cal.Rptr. 328. There, the minor argued the statute of limitations applicable to adults who committed the same felony should not apply to him because he could not be convicted of a crime in juvenile court. The appellate court disagreed, noting that the violation of a law defining a crime is the basis for jurisdiction under Welfare and Institutions Code section 602. It reads, "Any person who is under the age of 18 years when he violates any law ... defining crime other than an ordinance establishing a curfew based solely on age, is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge such person to be a ward of the court." We agree with Shortridge and Gustavo M. The language of Welfare and Institutions Code section 203 does not mean that a person has not committed a crime simply because he or she was under the age of 18 years at the time. ⁷

A minor 16 years of age or older may be found unfit to be dealt with under the juvenile court law. If so, he or she is then subject to prosecution in an adult court of criminal jurisdiction. (Welf. & Inst.Code, §§ 707, 707.1.) In other words, both the juvenile court and the adult court have concurrent jurisdiction over a person who was 16 or 17 years of age at the time of his or her offense, with original jurisdiction in the juvenile court. Minors under the age of 16 who violate a criminal statute are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the juvenile court. However, nothing in the juvenile court law suggests that minors alleged to have violated a criminal law may not be initially charged by complaint or by indictment, even...