Section 793.

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(a) If it appears to the prosecuting attorney, the court, or the probation department that the minor is not performing satisfactorily in the assigned program or is not complying with the terms of the minor’s probation, or that the minor is not benefiting from education, treatment, or rehabilitation, the court shall lift the deferred entry of judgment and schedule a dispositional hearing. If after accepting deferred entry of judgment and during the period in which deferred entry of judgment was granted, the minor is convicted of, or declared to be a person described in Section 602 for the commission of, any felony offense or of any two misdemeanor offenses committed on separate occasions, the judge shall enter judgment and schedule a dispositional hearing. If the minor is convicted of, or found to be a person described in Section 602, because of the commission of one misdemeanor offense, or multiple misdemeanor offenses committed during a single occasion, the court may enter judgment and schedule a dispositional hearing.

(b) If the judgment previously deferred is imposed and a dispositional hearing scheduled pursuant to subdivision (a), the juvenile court shall report the complete criminal history of the minor to the Department of Justice, pursuant to Section 602.5.

(c) If the minor has performed satisfactorily during the period in which deferred entry of judgment was granted, at the end of that period the charge or charges in the wardship petition shall be dismissed and the arrest upon which the judgment was deferred shall be deemed never to have occurred and any records in the possession of the juvenile court shall be sealed, except that the prosecuting attorney and the probation department of any county shall have access to these records after they are sealed for the limited purpose of determining whether a minor is eligible for deferred entry of judgment pursuant to Section 790 and as described in subdivision (d).

(d) (1) A record that has been sealed pursuant to this section may be accessed, inspected, or utilized by the prosecuting attorney in order to meet a statutory or constitutional obligation to disclose favorable or exculpatory evidence to a defendant in a criminal case in which the prosecuting attorney has reason to believe that access to the record is necessary to meet the disclosure obligation. A request to access information in the sealed record for this purpose, including the prosecutor’s rationale for believing that access to the information in the record may be necessary to meet the disclosure obligation and the date by which the records are needed, shall be submitted by the prosecuting attorney to the juvenile court. The juvenile court shall review the case file and records that have been referenced by the prosecutor as necessary to meet the disclosure obligation and any response submitted by the person having the sealed record. The court shall approve the prosecutor’s request to the extent that the court has, upon review of the relevant records, determined that access to a specific sealed record or portion of a sealed record is necessary to enable the prosecuting attorney to comply with the disclosure obligation. If the juvenile court approves the prosecuting attorney’s request, the court shall state on the record appropriate limits on the access, inspection, and utilization of the sealed record information in order to protect the confidentiality of the person whose sealed record is accessed pursuant to this subdivision. A ruling allowing disclosure of information pursuant to this subdivision does not affect whether the information is admissible in a criminal or juvenile proceeding. This subdivision does not impose any discovery obligations on a prosecuting attorney that do not already exist.

(2) This subdivision shall not apply to juvenile case files pertaining to matters within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court pursuant to Section 300.

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 50, Sec. 4. (AB 1537) Effective January 1, 2020.)


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