Opinion ID: 1148653
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Certification as an Issue on Appeal

Text: (1) It is settled that the right of appeal is statutory and that a judgment or order is not appealable unless expressly made so by statute. ( Skaff v. Small Claims Court (1968) 68 Cal.2d 76, 78 [65 Cal. Rptr. 65, 435 P.2d 825]; People v. Valenti (1957) 49 Cal.2d 199, 204 [316 P.2d 633]; In re Conley (1966) 244 Cal. App.2d 755, 759 [53 Cal. Rptr. 321].) (2) The orders, judgments and decrees of a juvenile court which are appealable are restricted to those enumerated in section 800 ( In re Conley, supra, 244 Cal. App.2d 755, 760; In re Corey (1964) 230 Cal. App.2d 813, 821 [41 Cal. Rptr. 379]), which provides in pertinent part that `[a] judgment or decree of a juvenile court ... assuming jurisdiction and declaring any person to be a person described in Section 600, 601, or 602, or in denying a motion made pursuant to Section 567, may be appealed from in the same manner as any final judgment, and any subsequent order may be appealed from as from an order after judgment....' [6] (3a) An order pursuant to section 707 finding a juvenile unfit for treatment through juvenile court facilities is outside the express provisions of section 800 and is thus not an appealable order. ( In re Brekke (1965) 233 Cal. App.2d 196, 199 [43 Cal. Rptr. 553]; see 6 Witkin, Summary of Cal. Law (8th ed. 1974) Parent and Child, § 353, p. 4857.) The question remains, however, whether a juvenile court order based on a finding that a youth is unfit for treatment through juvenile court facilities may be properly reviewed on direct appeal of an ensuing criminal conviction stemming from the same offenses alleged in the juvenile court petition. Penal Code section 1259 [7] provides, inter alia, that an appellate court may review any question of law involved in any order made prior to judgment. A number of appellate courts have apparently assumed that an order certifying a juvenile for criminal proceedings falls within this provision as such courts have, without discussion of their jurisdiction for doing so, routinely reviewed such an order on appeal following a defendant's conviction in criminal court. (See, e.g., People v. Yeager (1961) 55 Cal.2d 374, 378 [10 Cal. Rptr. 829, 359 P.2d 261]; People v. McFarland (1971) 17 Cal. App.3d 807, 811-819 [95 Cal. Rptr. 369]; People v. Brown (1970) 13 Cal. App.3d 876, 879-882 [91 Cal. Rptr. 904] [cert. den. (1971) 404 U.S. 835 (30 L.Ed.2d 66, 92 S.Ct. 120)]; and People v. Arauz (1970) 5 Cal. App.3d 523, 527-530 [85 Cal. Rptr. 266].) But at least one recent appellate decision reflects some doubt as to the propriety of postconviction review of the prior juvenile court order. (See People v. Allgood (1976) 54 Cal. App.3d 434, 439 [126 Cal. Rptr. 666]; see also, People v. Browning (1975) 45 Cal. App.3d 125, 141 [119 Cal. Rptr. 420].) There is nothing in the legislative history of Penal Code section 1259 to indicate that the scope of appellate review from a criminal conviction extends to matters beyond the criminal proceedings to a certification order made in prior juvenile court proceedings. (4) Juvenile courts exercise exclusive initial jurisdiction over all youths under 18 years of age ( T.N.G. v. Superior Court (1971) 4 Cal.3d 767, 784 [94 Cal. Rptr. 813, 484 P.2d 981]) and, until that court makes a certification order (§§ 603, 707), the superior court lacks jurisdiction to make any order affecting a juvenile (see People v. Sanchez (1942) 21 Cal.2d 466, 471 [132 P.2d 810]) except, perhaps, to suspend criminal proceedings and transfer an accused to the juvenile court when such proceedings have been inadvertently commenced against him in the superior court (§ 604). It is thus manifest that because the certification hearing is an extrajudicial process [8] insofar as subsequent criminal proceedings are concerned, appellate review of the criminal proceedings cannot be broadened to include an attack on the certification order within the intended scope of Penal Code section 1259. (5) Aside from the question of the statutory scope of appeal under Penal Code section 1259, it is settled that matters not presented to the trial court and hence not a proper part of the record on appeal will not be considered by an appellate court. ( People v. Brawley (1969) 1 Cal.3d 277, 296 [82 Cal. Rptr. 161, 461 P.2d 361]; People v. Merriam (1967) 66 Cal.2d 390, 396-397 [58 Cal. Rptr. 1, 426 P.2d 161]; People v. Reeves (1966) 64 Cal.2d 766, 776 [51 Cal. Rptr. 691, 415 P.2d 35].) The record on appeal shall be prepared and filed as prescribed by the rules of court as adopted by the Judicial Council. (Pen. Code, § 1246.) Rule 33 of the California Rules of Court governs the content of the record on criminal appeal [9] and nothing contained therein authorizes augmentation to include the record of prior proceedings before a juvenile court. Indeed, the specific references to the trial of the cause, the superior court, and the trial judge underscore the conclusion that the appellate record is limited to those matters presented to the trial court. Finally, sound practical considerations demand that a juvenile court finding of unfitness and certification order should not be reviewed on appeal from a criminal judgment of conviction. To allow a defendant who has been convicted in the superior court to question on appeal the propriety of the juvenile court's finding would afford him an opportunity to secure a reversal of a judgment of conviction even though he was found guilty after an errorless trial. (Cf. People v. Harris (1967) 67 Cal.2d 866, 870, 871 [64 Cal. Rptr. 313, 434 P.2d 609].) Such a defendant should not be allowed to silently speculate on a favorable verdict and then after an adverse judgment is entered proclaim that the juvenile court's finding was erroneous. Moreover, it is in the accused's best interest to seek immediate relief from an improper finding in the juvenile court so he may be spared the burden and public scrutiny associated with a criminal trial. Additionally, the delay inherent in criminal prosecutions may substantially prejudice a juvenile court reconsideration of its prior finding of unfitness should the cause be remanded after a review of criminal proceedings. [10]