California Welfare and Institutions Code Section 707(B) - Interpretation

In People v. Garcia (1999) 21 Cal. 4th at page 3, our Supreme Court was asked to resolve the question of whether a prior juvenile adjudication for an offense that would qualify as a strike if it were the subject of an adult conviction qualifies as a strike if the offense is not also listed in Welfare and Institutions Code section 707, subdivision (b) (hereafter Welfare and Institutions Code section 707(b)). In People v. Garcia, supra, 21 Cal. 4th at page 4, the defendant was sentenced under the Three Strikes law on the basis of a juvenile adjudication for burglary of an inhabited dwelling, which is not an offense listed in Welfare and Institutions Code section 707(b), but is listed as a serious felony in section 1192.7, subdivision (c)(18). The Supreme Court held the adjudication did not qualify as a strike because the requirement of paragraph (D) had not been satisfied. (People v. Garcia, supra, at p. 15.) The high court rejected a number of proposals that called for disregarding part of the statutory language as "inadvertent drafter's error." (Id. at p. 9.) Instead, the Supreme Court construed section 667, subdivision (d)(3) in a manner to give effect to all of its provisions, holding that under paragraph (D) a prior adjudication of a serious or violent felony not listed in Welfare and Institutions Code section 707(b) counts as a strike only if it was part of a wardship adjudication that was also based on commission of at least one Welfare and Institutions Code section 707(b) offense. (People v. Garcia, supra, at pp. 6, 13.)