People v. Helko

JENNINGS, J. This is an appeal from an order of the Superior Court of Orange County, sitting as a juvenile court, declaring Louis Pierce to be a ward of said court and ordering that he be committed to the Preston School of Industry at lone, until further order of the court. It appears that no phonographic reporter was present at the hearing, hence no transcript of the proceedings could be prepared. Counsel for appellant has not seen fit to have prepared a bill of exceptions. The appeal therefore is presented on the judgment-roll alone. From the record thus presented it is made to appear first, that a petition was duly filed alleging that Louis Pierce was sixteen years of age and a person such as is defined in subdivision 13 of section 1 of the Juvenile Court Law in that on a certain date he had committed a lewd and lascivious act upon the body of a child, said act constituting a violation of section 288 of the Penal Code; second, that an order was made by the court fixing a date for the hearing and directing that a citation issue directed to certain designated persons; third, that on the date appointed a hearing was had and- the court made the order from which the appeal herein has been taken.

Appellant urges several reasons which he maintains warrant a reversal of the order. It is first contended that an unreasonable time elapsed between the date of the alleged commission of the offense and the filing of the petition seeking to have the minor declared a ward of the court. The offense is alleged to have been committed on April 24, 1932, and the petition was filed on June 2, 1932. The mere recitation of the above-mentioned dates is sufficient to dispose of the contention. We know of no rule of law and can [775]conceive of no legal theory that would justify us in holding that the delay in filing the petition was unreasonable.

Appellant’s second contention may likewise be readily determined. It is pointed out that section 3 of the Juvenile Court Law requires that, prior to the filing of a petition showing that a person has come within the provisions of section 1 of the act, “the probation officer of said county shall make such investigation as he may deem necessary, and no petition shall be filed without the approval of such probation officer except by order of the juvenile court”. It is then said that the record herein fails to show that the probation officer made any investigation prior to the filing of the petition. As above noted, the appeal herein is taken on the judgment-roll alone. Under such circumstances, we must assume that the proceedings taken in the lower court were regular in all respects (Caruthers v. Hensley, 90 Cal. 559 [27 Pac. 411] ; In the Matter of Cannon, 27 Cal. App. 549 [150 Pac. 794]).