ADVERTISEMENTS

Alejandro Perez forcibly took a $29 pair of pants from someone else (the victim wasn't wearing them; he had just bought them). He's convicted of second degree robbery. Fair enough.

Perez isn't a gang member but he has previously "tagged" places and is friends with a couple of gang members. So as a condition of probation, Perez is precluded from associating with gang members, be near gang activities, wear gang colors, associate with taggers, etc. Again: I'm fine with all that.

Here's the thing: Perez is also ordered not to "attend any court hearing or be within 500 feet of any Court in which [he] is neither a defendant nor under subpoena." What?! Where the heck does that come from?! He's never threatened a witness or trespassed on Court property or done anything to justify this condition. And we're talking about constitutionally protected rights here; the right to attend trials, to voluntarily testify, to file civil actions, etc. Not to mention the right to go to a county law library (which are often at or near the courthouse), attend a city council meeting (ditto), etc. This just seems a flatly and clearly impermissible condition of probation. And yet we spend time, effort and money -- on both the Attorney General's side as well as on the public defender's side and in the Court of Appeal -- to litigate and attempt to defend this clearly invalid provision.

Confessing error is a good thing -- indeed, often a very good thing -- on occasion. This was one of those times.

Even though the Court of Appeal does the right thing, I'm disappointed that it had to go this far.

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.