Cal.1: Electronic search condition of juvenile probation was overbroad; no relation to underlying offense

An electronic search condition of juvenile probation was overbroad. There was no relation between the offense and the condition that officers be allowed to search his phone and social media. In re Mark C., 2016 Cal. App. LEXIS 65 (1st Dist. Jan. 28, 2016):

We first address the relationship between the electronics search condition and Mark’s offense. Mark argues that the condition has no connection to his underlying offense, possession of a knife on school grounds. The Attorney General argues that the condition is related to the underlying offense, noting that Mark has asserted a “need for self-defense and his belief that people are looking for him and provoke him.” The Attorney General contends that the electronics search condition “allows officers to monitor his associations and his possession of deadly or dangerous weapons.”

The Attorney General cites People v. Ebertowski (2014) 228 Cal.App.4th 1170, 1177, in support of that argument, but Ebertowski is distinguishable. In Ebertowski, the Court of Appeal upheld an electronics search condition as related to the defendant’s crimes where the defendant was convicted of gang-related offenses (id. at pp. 1176-1177), and there was evidence that defendant had used social media sites to promote his gang. (Id. at p. 1173.) Here, however, there was no evidence that Mark had used electronic devices in connection with the underlying offense, or indeed in connection with any other illegal activity. (See In re J.B. (2015) 242 Cal.App.4th 749, 756 (J.B.), distinguishing Ebertowski on similar grounds.)

Because there is no evidence that Mark used electronic devices or social media to facilitate his offense, and no evidence of any connection between Mark’s use of electronic devices and any illegal activity, we find no relationship between the electronics search condition and the underlying offense of possessing a prohibited knife on school grounds.