California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Superior Court, 14 Cal.App.3d 935, 92 Cal.Rptr. 545 (Cal. App. 1971):
The People do not give much weight to the alleged charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. They acknowledge the holding in People v. Simon (1955) 45 Cal.2d 645, 290 P.2d 531 where the court ruled, 'The mere fact, however, that defendant was walking on the street with a 20-year-old friend who had a bottle did not constitute reasonable cause to believe that defendant was committing or attempting to commit an offense in the officer's presence by either aiding or abetting his friend in committing a crime or contributing to the delinquency of a minor. (Citations.)' (45 Cal.2d at p. 649, 290 P.2d at p. 534.) They contend that the circumstances, as distinguished from those in Simon, were sufficient to give the officer reasonable cause to believe that the offense of contributing had been committed even though the evidence at the preliminary hearing demonstrates that the defendant could not have been successfully prosecuted for that offense. The charge was not included in the complaint, or the information, nor is there anything to show that the defendant was in fact booked in jail on that charge.
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