People v. Brandon H.

Opinion

CORRIGAN, J.

Brandon H. correctly contends the San Francisco County Juvenile Court erred in refusing to consider his motion to withdraw his plea. The dispositional order is reversed and the matter remanded for further proceedings.

[1155]

Procedural History

On October 26, 2000, Brandon admitted a residential burglary allegation in a petition filed in the San Mateo County Juvenile Court (San Mateo court). The court then transferred the case to San Francisco County Juvenile Court (San Francisco court) where Brandon had already been declared a ward of the court on October 6, 2000. Brandon lives in San Francisco County.

In the San Francisco court, Brandon moved to set aside his admission of the burglary in San Mateo County. The motion alleged that Brandon had been advised by his San Mateo County attorney that if he admitted the burglary, he would be transferred to San Francisco and released. The San Francisco court declined to hear the motion and instead transferred the case back to the San Mateo court for a ruling.

The San Mateo cotut appointed counsel for Brandon. A motion to set aside the plea was made, but then withdrawn. The San Mateo court once again transferred the matter to the San Francisco court.

In San Francisco, Brandon renewed his motion to withdraw the plea, but the court declined to hear the motion, stating, “I’m not willing to entertain the motion to withdraw a neighboring county’s plea here.”

At disposition, the court found Brandon’s San Mateo County burglary to be a felony, and committed him to out-of-home placement with recommended drug and alcohol treatment.

Discussion

I.

Jurisdiction

The San Francisco court has jurisdiction to hear Brandon’s motion.

Penal Code section 859a concerns adult criminal defendants whose guilty pleas were entered in municipal court and certified to superior court. Upon written motion to withdraw the guilty plea, such a defendant has a right to have his motion heard in municipal court. As explained in