Opinion
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
APPEAL from an order of the Los Angeles Superior Court Super. Ct. No. JJ15560. Steven Klaif, Judge.
Leslie G. McMurray, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Appellant.
Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters and David Zarmi, Deputy Attorneys General, for Respondent.
BIGELOW, J.
We affirm an order adjudging M.F. a ward of the juvenile court based upon her commission of a misdemeanor assault.
FACTS & DISCUSSION
One morning before school in September 2007, M.F. and her sister, C.F., became embroiled in an argument, their polemic ending when M.F. hit her sister on the back and arm with a two and one-half foot long wooden stick.
In October 2007, the People filed a petition alleging that M.F. had committed the crimes of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 602; Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(1).) At a one-day hearing on October 24, 2007, the People presented evidence establishing the facts summarized above through testimony provided by C.F. and M.F.. At the end of the hearing, the juvenile court found that M.F. had committed a misdemeanor assault (Pen. Code, § 240), dismissed the remaining allegations, and placed M.F. on informal probation (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 725) on condition that she attend counseling.
On appeal, M.F. contends the evidence is not sufficient to support the juvenile court’s finding that she committed an assault. The problem, posits M.F., is that the evidence shows she acted in self-defense against her sister’s aggression, thus negating any culpability for assault. (Citing People v. Adrian (1982) 135 Cal.App.3d 335, 340.) We disagree.
An appellate court’s role when presented with a claim of insufficient evidence has long been scripted. The court must review the record in the light most favorable to the judgment to determine whether there is substantial evidence from which the trier of fact could have found each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt, and the court must not reweigh the evidence, reassess the credibility of the witnesses, or substitute its conclusions for those reached reasonably in the lower court. (See, e.g., People v. Snow (2003) 30 Cal.4th 43, 66; People v. Jones (1990) 51 Cal.3d 294, 314.)
The evidence in the record, examined in accord with the standard of review noted above, shows that M.F. hit C.F. with a stick when M.F. was under no threat of harm from C.F. The fact that C.F. had thrown the stick toward M.F. means nothing. The stick fell at M.F.’s feet. M.F.’s safety did not require her to pick up the stick, advance 10 to 12 feet toward C.F., and then strike C.F. on the back and arm.
DISPOSITION
The order adjudging M.F. a ward of the juvenile court is affirmed.
We concur: COOPER, P. J., RUBIN, J.