In re I.V. CA3

Filed 9/10/24 In re I.V. CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Placer) ----

In re I.V., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court C100055 Law.

THE PEOPLE, (Super. Ct. No. 52-009417)

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

I.V.,

Defendant and Appellant.

The juvenile court found minor I.V. (minor) violated Penal Code sections 243, subdivision (d) and 245, subdivision (a)(4).1 When adults commit either of these offenses, the sentencing court can choose to punish the offense as either a misdemeanor

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1

or a felony. (§§ 243, subd. (d), 245, subd. (a)(4), 17, subds. (a)-(b).) When a minor has “committed an offense which would in the case of an adult be punishable alternatively as a felony or a misdemeanor, the court shall declare the offense to be a misdemeanor or felony.” (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 702; see In re F.M. (2023) 14 Cal.5th 701.) Here, the parties agree the juvenile court failed to declare these two offenses to be either misdemeanors or felonies and ask us to remand this case for the juvenile court to make these determinations. We agree with the parties and will remand the case for compliance with Welfare and Institutions Code section 702. FACTUAL BACKGROUND After a jurisdictional hearing, the trial court found minor had committed violations of sections 243, subdivision (d) and 245, subdivision (a)(4), plus two other offenses not at issue here. At the dispositional hearing, the juvenile court adjudged minor a ward of the court and placed her on probation in the custody of her parents. The parties and the court spent time modifying the form dispositional order, but the court never mentioned declaring each of the two offenses to be a misdemeanor or a felony. Minor timely appealed from the dispositional order. DISCUSSION As noted above, when a minor has “committed an offense which would in the case of an adult be punishable alternatively as a felony or a misdemeanor, the [juvenile] court shall declare the offense to be a misdemeanor or felony.” (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 702.) The court must make this declaration “ ‘before or at the time of disposition.’ ” (In re F.M., supra, 14 Cal.5th at p. 712.) “ ‘[N]either the pleading, the minute order, nor the setting of a felony-level period of . . . confinement may substitute’ for the required declaration.” (Ibid.) When a juvenile court fails to make the required declaration, we must remand “unless the record shows that the juvenile court was ‘aware of, and exercised its