In re J.S. CA2/8

Filed 2/8/23 In re J.S. CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

In re J.S., a Person Coming B316913 Under the Juvenile Court Law. ______________________________ Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. TJ23071 THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

J.S.,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Melissa N. Widdifield, Judge. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded with directions. Steven A. Torres, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Noah P. Hill, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Kathy S. Pomerantz, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ____________________

A juvenile court committed J.S. to the Division of Juvenile Justice for murdering Alvaro Castro. As the prosecution concedes, legislative changes made J.S. ineligible for commitment to the Division. We reverse the commitment and remand for a new disposition hearing. We otherwise affirm the judgment. The Legislature is closing the Division on June 30, 2023 and is shifting responsibility for youth like J.S. to county governments. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 736.5, subds. (a) & (e).) Beginning July 1, 2021, courts could not commit youth to the Division, absent an exception. (Id., subd. (b).) The exception applies to youth “otherwise eligible to be committed under existing law and in whose case [the prosecution filed] a motion to transfer the minor from juvenile court to a court of criminal jurisdiction.” (Id., subd. (c).) J.S. argues, the prosecution concedes, and we agree, that the exception does not apply to J.S. The court ordered J.S. committed to the Division on November 2, 2021 based on a petition the prosecution filed on August 9, 2021. The prosecution never moved to transfer the case of this August 2021 juvenile petition to criminal court. An earlier petition does not justify J.S.’s commitment. On May 1, 2019, the prosecution filed a petition involving the same murder and filed a motion to transfer the case for that petition to