California Court of Appeal

Defendant's petition for habeas relief challenging SVPA commitment proceedings is granted where: 1) balancing the factors articulated by the United States and California Supreme Courts to identify the procedural guarantees appropriate for this context under the due process clauses of the federal and California Constitutions, the state may not proceed with an initial SVPA commitment trial while the defendant is incompetent; and 2) the trial court has inherent power to adopt procedures to hold a competency hearing in connection with an SVPA commitment proceeding.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/22/2010
• Published 03/22/2010

Judges

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel