Opinion
C089975
01-27-2020
In re M.H., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. YUBA COUNTY HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. M.H., Defendant and Appellant.
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115. (Super. Ct. No. SC RD JDSQ193121104)
Following a contested jurisdictional hearing, M.H. (the minor), was continued as a ward of the juvenile court after the court sustained an allegation of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury under Penal Code section 245, subdivision (a)(4), and an allegation that the minor violated his probation by failing to obey all laws under Welfare and Institutions Code section 777 (unless otherwise stated, statutory section references that follow are found in the Welfare and Institutions Code). The court committed the minor to a juvenile rehabilitation facility, advised him that his maximum term of confinement was four years four months, and stated that he was entitled to 31 days of custody credits. On appeal, the minor contends the juvenile court erroneously failed to award him custody credit for time he spent in custody on a prior petition where the court set his maximum period of confinement by aggregating two petitions. The People concede the error, and we accept their concession.
FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
In June 2019, the juvenile court sustained allegations that the minor committed assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(4)) and violated his probation by failing to obey all laws (§ 777). The minor had admitted allegations of prior petitions for various offenses, including a March 2018 petition charging him with resisting officers (Pen. Code, § 148, subd. (a)(1)). The court set the minor's maximum term of confinement at four years four months by aggregating the March 2018 and June 2019 petitions.
According to a predisposition probation report, the minor had 73 days of custody credits across both petitions. However, when making its dispositional orders, the juvenile court pronounced the minor's custody credits to be 31 days, which was the amount of time he had been detained in juvenile hall on the most recent petition between the date of his booking and the disposition hearing.
DISCUSSION
The minor claims, and the People concede, the juvenile court erred by failing to award him credit for time he spent in custody on a prior petition when the court set his maximum confinement time by aggregating his two petitions. The parties contend we must modify the order of commitment to award the minor an additional 42 days of predisposition custody credit, for a total of 73 days. We agree.
Section 726, subdivision (d)(1), provides that a minor "may not be held in physical confinement for a period in excess of the maximum term of imprisonment which could be imposed upon an adult convicted of the offense or offenses which brought or continued the minor under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court." A minor is entitled to credit against the maximum term of confinement for the time he or she spent in custody prior to the disposition hearing. (In re A.M. (2014) 225 Cal.App.4th 1075, 1085.) "[W]hen a juvenile court elects to aggregate a minor's period of physical confinement on multiple petitions . . . , the court must also aggregate the predisposition custody credits attributable to those multiple petitions." (In re Emilio C. (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 1058, 1067.) "It is the juvenile court's duty to calculate the number of days earned, and the court may not delegate that duty." (Ibid.) Accordingly, we conclude the minor is entitled to credit for the additional 42 days he spent in custody on a prior petition that was used to derive his maximum confinement time.
DISPOSITION
The order of commitment is modified to award the minor an additional 42 days of predisposition custody credit, for a total of 73 days. As so modified, the order is affirmed.
/s/_________
HULL, J.
We concur:
/s/_________
RAYE, P. J.
/s/_________
RENNER, J.