The Second Appellate District granted a petition for writ of mandate. The court held that assignment to a referee of a delinquency matter in which all parties had not stipulated in writing that the referee could act as temporary judge “for all purposes including trial” was made without statutory authority.
Minor D.M. was charged with assault on a school employee and unlawfully resisting a peace officer. D.M. peremptorily challenged the referee before whom he had been arraigned. The referee denied the challenge as untimely, finding that D.M.’s affidavit of prejudice was not filed, as required by Code Civ. Proc. §170.6(a)(2), within ten days of the assignment of D.M.’s matter to the referee “for all purposes including trial.”
