Filed 11/6/20 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION ONE KEVIN P., Petitioner, v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF A159680 CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, (Contra Costa County Respondent; Super. Ct. Nos. J18-00823, THE PEOPLE, 02-331373-1) Real Party in Interest. Kevin P. was charged in juvenile court with a murder he allegedly committed at age 17, and the prosecution moved to transfer him to criminal court under Welfare and Institutions Code1 section 707, subdivision (a)(1). During a contested hearing lasting several days, the juvenile court was presented with a wealth of evidence demonstrating both the heinousness of the crime and the absence of anything in Kevin’s history that would suggest he was capable of it. He was raised by a loving family, had no prior criminal history, suffered little past trauma, and had no significant psychological or behavioral issues. And after his arrest, his behavior was exemplary while he was housed at juvenile hall. All further statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions 1 Code unless otherwise noted. 1 Nevertheless, the juvenile court concluded that Kevin was unfit for the juvenile system and granted the prosecution’s motion to transfer him to criminal court. Although the court acknowledged there was “a certain tragedy” in its ruling given Kevin’s generally positive history outside the context of the charged crime, it determined that the decision was warranted based on three of the section 707 criteria—the circumstances and the gravity of the offense, the degree of criminal sophistication shown, and the improbability of Kevin’s rehabilitation before the expiration of juvenile court jurisdiction. Kevin filed a petition for an extraordinary writ in this court to overturn the juvenile court’s transfer ruling. He claims that the juvenile court abused its discretion because there was insufficient evidence to support its findings and it misapplied the law in determining that he could not be rehabilitated before juvenile jurisdiction expired. We conclude the court’s findings regarding section 707’s gravity and criminal-sophistication criteria are supported by substantial evidence. But we also conclude that the court improperly evaluated section 707’s rehabilitation criterion, which it deemed its “most significant” consideration. In doing so, we hold that a court cannot determine a juvenile’s rehabilitative needs based solely on the gravity of the offense, and the standard seven-year parole consideration period that applies to juveniles committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ)2 for murder does not establish a presumptive rehabilitation period. Accordingly, 2 Under juvenile justice realignment legislation that went into effect on September 30, 2020, a process to close DJJ and transfer responsibility for youth wards to county governments will begin on July 1, 2021. (§ 736.5, subd. (a), added by Stats. 2020, ch. 337, § 30.) Under the new law, a ward cannot be committed to DJJ after that date unless a transfer motion was filed in his or her case, in which case a DJJ commitment may be made “pending [DJJ’s] final closure.” (§ 736.5, subds. (b)–(c).) 2 we grant the writ ...
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