When a minor is questioned by a sheriff's deputy as a suspect in a sexual assault case, is the minor required to obtain the consent of an adult before making a confession?

3] Although our Supreme Court in People v. Lara (1967) 67 Cal.2d 365, 62 Cal.Rptr. 586, 432 P.2d 202, refused to require an adult's consent as a condition to a minor's waiver of his privilege against self-incrimination, it did state that such consent is to be desired and should be obtained whenever feasible. Whether or not such adult advice was sought and obtained for a minor is a factor to be considered in determining the admissibility of a minor's confession to the police. As the United States Supreme Court stated in reference to a 14-year-old whose confession was held inadmissible: "The prosecution says that the boy was advised of his right to counsel, but that he did not ask either for a lawyer or for his parents. But a 14-year-old boy, no matter how sophisticated, is unlikely to have any conception of what will confront him when he is made accessible only to the police. . . . He cannot be compared with an adult in full possession of his senses and knowledgeable of the consequences of his admissions. He would have no way of knowing what the consequences of his confession were without advice as to his rights from someone concerned with securing him those rights and without the aid of more mature judgment as to the steps he should take in the predicament in which he found himself. A lawyer or an adult relative or friend could have given the petitioner the protection which his own immaturity could not." (Gallegos v. Colorado (1962) 370 U.S. 49, 54, 82 S.Ct. 1209, 1212, 8 L.Ed.2d 325.)

In the present case the minor indicated uncertainty when asked by the deputy whether he wanted an attorney, saying that he would have to talk to his mother. When asked if he wanted to see her he (understandably) said "No, not really" and stated further, with some encouragement from the form of the officer's question, that he was willing to talk about the incident. At least one of the deputies present (Sgt. Rasure) while the questions were asked knew that the minor's maternal grandparents were with the mother at a nearby motel, a fact apparently unknown to the minor, and also knew that they were greatly concerned [84 Cal.App.3d 526] about the minor and his sister. Shortly after the minor had completed his confession telephone arrangements were made with the grandparents to pick up the sister from the sheriff's station, and this was done. Under these circumstances we perceive no reason for the sheriff's deputies not seeking the presence of the grandparents as responsible adults to counsel with the minor before he was questioned. We think that the recommendation in People v. Lara, supra, 67 Cal.2d 365, 62 Cal.Rptr. 586, 432 P.2d 202, that such procedure be followed comes close to being a mandate when dealing with a 13-year-old boy suspected of murder. The minor had already voiced difficulty in facing his mother, whom he rightly assumed to be highly distraught at the time. If he had been made aware of his grandparents' concern and that they were near there is good reason to believe that he would have sought their advice before responding to the officers' questions.