A.T. v. Superior Court

A.T. is enrolled in high school. Her attendance is regular; she earns passing grades. She was riding with another minor in a car driven by her brother, also a minor with no delinquent history. Police stopped the car because its registration had expired. No one inside the vehicle possessed a valid driver’s license. Police arrested her brother for driving without a license. During an inventory search, officers found a handgun inside a backpack, in the trunk. A.T. waived her Miranda rights, and told police that her brother had found the gun that morning; they had agreed to put it in her backpack inside the car trunk to show to their father. The father of her brother’s girlfriend subsequently reported the gun was stolen from him. The juvenile court denied A.T.’s request to be released to her mother’s custody pending the disposition of charges. A.T. alleges the court improperly considered her refusal to accept a “package-deal” plea bargain and the suitability of the Vallejo neighborhood where her mother lives in an apartment, in deciding to detain her. The girl was released, upon pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, after serving 16 days in custody. A.T. moved to withdraw her plea. The court of appeal directed the lower court to decide that motion, considering that “[t]he Legislature has indicated that children should be released except under certain specific conditions of ‘immediate and urgent necessity’” and that the record reveals no such necessity. View "A.T. v. Superior Court" on Justia Law