Botka v. R. C.

Opinion

CHRISTIAN, J. R. C. appeals from an order of the juvenile court committing him to the Youth Authority after it had been determined that he had set fire to two structures; appellant was found to be a minor within the provisions of Welfare and Institutions Code section 602.

[891]The evidence is not in conflict. At about 3:40 a.m., February 26, 1973, two police officers patrolling the area of O’Farrell and Fillmore Streets, in San Francisco, observed a young man standing in the partly opened doorway of a building and looking inside. The young man turned and walked across the street where he joined another boy. The officers stopped them, asked for their names, dates of birth and addresses, and asked what they were doing. After the boys had identified themselves as R. C. and J. J., the officers placed them in the back of the police vehicle and explained that they were being detained while the officers checked further into what they had been doing. Appellant had been identified to one of the officers earlier that evening as a possible suspect in a series of fires that had been set in the Fillmore area.

Inspecting the doorway where J. J. had first been seen, the officers observed fresh scratches and impressions indicating that the door had been forced open. The officers then checked the lot across the street, where they had seen appellant making a tossing motion; a knife was found. The officers then took the boys into custody.

On arrival at the Hall of Justice, the two boys were placed in separate rooms for questioning concerning a fire in which two deaths had occurred. J. J. convincingly denied knowledge of that fire, but admitted that he, D. B. and appellant were members of “the Flames” and were responsible for 14 or 15 other fires in the Western Addition area. As a result of this conversation, the officers concluded that the boys were not responsible for the arson-homicide which had been the primary focus of investigation. Appellant refused to talk.

It was stipulated at the hearing on the petition against appellant that fires set at 935 Webster Street and 1437-39 Golden Gate Avenue were incendiary in origin. It was also stipulated that if minors D. B. and J. J. were called to the stand, both would testify that they, along with appellant, had set fire to vacant buildings at 1437-39 Golden Gate Avenue and 935 Webster Street, with the intent to burn the buildings. Appellant did not testify.