A California Court of Appeal decision (People v. Quintero) reverses, on state law grounds, a probation condition requiring that the probationer (who had been convicted of methamphetamine possession) “[k]eep the probation officer informed of place of residence, cohabitants and pets, and give written notice to the probation officer twenty-four (24) hours prior to any changes. The court applied the California Supreme Court’s test for probation conditions — “A condition of probation will not be held invalid unless it ‘(1) has no relationship to the crime of which the offender was convicted, (2) relates to conduct which is not in itself criminal, and (3) requires or forbids conduct which is not related to future criminality'” — and reasoned that all three elements were satisfied.
The dissent argued that the condition was nonetheless valid because it helped protect the probation officer against surprising encounters with the probationer’s possibly dangerous pets. But, much more importantly, the dissent also provided the first judicial citation that I could find to cuteoverload.com.