C.A. 1st;
A146979

The First Appellate District reversed juvenile court orders and remanded. The court held that the juvenile court, in deciding petitions both to seal juvenile court records and for the disclosure of such records, erred in failing to apply the most recently enacted statute pertaining to the sealing of juvenile court records.

At the age of 15, I.F. admitted an allegation of grand theft. He was declared a ward of the court and placed on probation. While on probation, I.F. sustained 21 referrals to the probation department, prompting eight additional wardship petitions and resulting in four sustained felonies and eight sustained misdemeanors. I.F.'s final placement ended five days after his 18th birthday. The juvenile court found I.F. had successfully completed probation, dismissed the probation order, and terminated jurisdiction and wardship. The juvenile court also dismissed I.F.'s delinquency and probation violation petitions. I.F., in turn, filed a petition asking the court to seal his juvenile records pursuant to Welf. & Inst. Code §781(a). Five months later, while that petition was still pending, a felony complaint was filed charging I.F., age 19, with attempted murder and robbery. The prosecutor assigned to I.F.'s criminal case filed a petition for disclosure of his juvenile records pursuant to §827 for the purpose of impeaching him in his criminal trial. I.F. objected.