In re James M
Filed 5/16/06 In re James M. CA1/1
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION ONE
| In re JAMES M., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. | |
| THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JAMES M., Defendant and Appellant. | A110375 (Alameda County Super. Ct. No. SJ05000848-02) |
A Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 petition charged appellant James M. with involuntary manslaughter for conduct that allegedly caused a friend of appellant's to be struck and killed by a train. The juvenile court sustained the petition, declared appellant a ward of the court, and entered dispositional orders. Appellant contends there is insufficient evidence to support the true finding or to hold him criminally liable for his friend's death. We affirm the findings and order from which this appeal is taken.
I. BACKGROUND
Appellant James M. was born in April 1990. On April 8, 2005, a subsequent Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 petition was filed, charging appellant with involuntary manslaughter (Pen. Code, § 192, subd. (b)). After a contested jurisdictional hearing, the court sustained the petition. On May 24, 2005, appellant was declared a ward of the court and placed in a group home. The court determined his maximum confinement period to be four years four months. Appellant timely appealed from the juvenile court's findings and dispositional order.
A. Evidence at the Jurisdictional Hearing
On Friday, February 18, 2005, N.G. was 14 years old and attended Tennyson High School in Hayward. Around 2:10 p.m., N.G. and her friend, B., walked to the railroad tracks behind the school. A fence gate on the west side of the school grounds provides access to a pedestrian crossing over the tracks. The pedestrian crossing leads up a set of stairs to the tracks and across the tracks to Huntwood Avenue just south of its intersection with Schafer Road, near Sorensdale Park. N.G. was often down by the railroad crossing at lunchtime. She had seen many trains pass the pedestrian crossing. The trains went by at high speed.
A number of N.G.'s friends were gathered in the vicinity of a log located alongside the school fence on the east side of the tracks. The group included appellant, Jose, â€
