Opinion ID: 2603737
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: State v. Jensen

Text: In the spring of 1988, Michael Jensen's parents placed him in a temporary home through the Department of Social and Health Services. They did this because they could not deal with Michael's drug problem. Some time after that Michael left the temporary home and began living in a trailer parked in front of the family home. His parents allowed him into the home to eat and to shower, but Michael did not have a key to the house. The juvenile court found that his parents explicitly told Michael he could not enter the house unless one of his parents was there. On June 10, 1988, Michael broke into his parents' house by smashing the back door. He stole 40 ounces of his father's silver. A juvenile court found him guilty of burglary. Division One of the Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction. State v. Jensen, 57 Wn. App. 501, 789 P.2d 772 (1990). We affirm. The Jensens met their statutory duty of care for Michael. As Judge Swanson found, they provided Michael with alternative living quarters and there was no evidence that they failed to meet their statutory duty. 57 Wn. App. at 506. Additionally, the Jensens clearly told Michael he could not enter the home unless one of his parents was present. [4] Thus, they met both of the requirements for revoking Michael's privilege to enter the house. They told him explicitly that he could not enter and they met their statutory duty of care. Therefore, we affirm his conviction. Our holdings in these cases are supported by cases from other jurisdictions. In In re G.L., 73 Ill. App.3d 467, 391 N.E.2d 1108 (1979), the trial court found a 15-year-old guilty of burglarizing his parents' home. At the time of the burglary, G.L. was committed to a drug rehabilitation program. In affirming the conviction, the court of appeals emphasized that G.L.'s parents had expressly forbidden him to enter their home. The court also noted that the director of the drug rehabilitation agency, and not G.L.'s parents, had legal custody of G.L. 73 Ill. App.3d at 469. Thus, the court concluded that the parents' duty to provide for G.L. was reduced to a financial duty. The court then held that the parents had a superior right of possession to the family home, and that G.L.'s entry was unlawful. 73 Ill. App.3d at 470. This holding comports with our decision. G.L.'s parents explicitly told him he could not enter their house, and G.L.'s needs were taken care of by his placement in the drug rehabilitation program. In In re Richard M., 205 Cal. App.3d 7, 252 Cal. Rptr. 36 (1988), the juvenile was committed to a youth facility as a ward of the court. He escaped from the facility and broke into the apartment of his father and stepmother. He took several items belonging to his stepmother, and a trial court subsequently found him guilty of burglary. The Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction and rejected Richard M.'s claim that his parents' obligation to support him gave him the right to enter their apartment. The court held that the parental obligation to provide for necessities does not imply a possessory right in the parental residence. 205 Cal. App.3d at 15. Again, this holding comports with our decision. Richard M.'s stepmother expressly told him he could not enter her home, and his needs were taken care of by his placement in the youth facility. [4] In conclusion, we hold that a juvenile can only be convicted of burglary of his family home if his privilege to enter the home is revoked. A juvenile's parents can only revoke his or her privilege to enter if they (1) do so expressly and unequivocally, and (2) provide some alternative means of assuring that the parents' statutory duty of care is met. We therefore affirm the Court of Appeals in State v. Jensen, supra ; affirm the Court of Appeals as modified in State v. Walsh, supra ; and reverse the Court of Appeals in State v. Howe, supra . DORE, C.J., BRACHTENBACH, DOLLIVER, ANDERSEN, DURHAM, SMITH, and GUY, JJ., and CALLOW, J. Pro Tem., concur.