In re Commitment of Gavin

2024 IL App (1st) 230246
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 4, 2024
Docket1-23-0246
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 2024 IL App (1st) 230246 (In re Commitment of Gavin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Commitment of Gavin, 2024 IL App (1st) 230246 (Ill. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

2024 IL App (1st) 230246 No. 1-23-0246 Opinion filed October 4, 2024 Sixth Division

IN THE

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

FIRST DISTRICT

) In re COMMITMENT OF EDWARD ) Appeal from the Circuit Court GAVIN ) of Cook County. ) ) No. 06 CR 80009 ) (The People of the State of Illinois, ) The Honorable Petitioner-Appellee, v. Edward Gavin, ) Hon. Laura Ayala-Gonzalez, Defendant-Appellant). ) Judge, presiding. )

JUSTICE HYMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice Tailor and Justice C.A. Walker concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

¶1 In 2006, the State sought to commit Edward Gavin under the Sexually Violent Persons

Commitment Act (SVP Act) (725 ILCS 207/1 et seq. (West 2004)). A determination in 2017 made

Gavin an SVP, leading to his commitment. In 2019, Gavin petitioned for discharge. The trial court

found probable cause to believe that Gavin no longer met the criteria for an SVP. In September

2022, a jury determined that Gavin remained an SVP under the statute. He was remanded to the

custody of the Department of Human Service Treatment and Detention Facility (TDF) for “control,

care, and treatment in a secure setting until further order of court.” 1-23-0246

¶2 Gavin appealed. He contends that the State failed to meet its burden of proof in establishing

that (i) he continues to suffer from a mental disorder and (ii) this disorder makes it substantially

probable that he would engage in acts of sexual violence if released. See 725 ILCS 207/5(f),

65(b)(2) (West 2018).

¶3 Further, Gavin argues that the trial court erred by (i) denying his motion in limine to

exclude testimony regarding his diagnoses and (ii) granting the State’s motion in limine to exclude

raising the diagnoses of “Other Specified Paraphilic Disorder, Non-Consent” (OSPD Non-

Consent).” Gavin also argues that (iii) the State’s repeated misuse of a limited-purpose opinion

testimony as substantive evidence during argument denied him a fair trial and (iv) the trial court

erred by instructing the jury that OSPD Non-Consent is generally accepted.

¶4 We find the State did not prove that Gavin was “substantially probable” to reoffend as the

SVP Act requires. Thus, we need not reach Gavin’s other claims and reverse.

¶5 BACKGROUND

¶6 Edward Gavin was born in 1958. In 1975, he was convicted of rape, indecent liberties with

a child, and attempted rape after he sexually assaulted two victims in a public housing complex’s

elevator on the same day. In 1980, Gavin was convicted of attempt rape, and in 1988, he was

convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

¶7 While on parole in 1996, Gavin did not commit another sex offense but was arrested for

two burglaries and eventually released on bond.

¶8 In 2006, the State petitioned to commit Gavin under the SVP Act (725 ILCS 207/1 et seq.

(West 2004)). After a jury trial in which two expert witnesses testified regarding their diagnoses

of Gavin with “paraphilia, not otherwise specified, nonconsent,” he was committed to the custody

of the Department of Human Services’ TDF. In re Commitment of Gavin, 2014 IL App (1st)

-2- 1-23-0246

122918, ¶ 14 (Gavin I). Gavin appealed. This court reversed and remanded for a new trial based

on the finding that prosecutorial error deprived him of a fair trial. After a second trial, a jury again

found Gavin an SVP under the statute. On appeal, this court affirmed. In re Commitment of Gavin,

2019 IL App (1st) 180881 (Gavin II).

¶9 In 2019, Gavin petitioned for discharge. The circuit court found probable cause to believe

Gavin was no longer an SVP under the statute, and the matter went to trial on whether Gavin

remained an SVP. The State needed to prove by clear and convincing evidence (725 ILCS

207/65(b)(2) (West 2018)) that (i) Gavin had a conviction for a sexually violent offense, (ii) Gavin

still suffered from a qualifying mental disorder, and (iii) the disorder made future acts of sexual

violence substantially probable. 725 ILCS 207/5(f) (West 2018). The first element was

uncontested, but the second and third elements were litigated. A jury decided Gavin remained an

SVP.

¶ 10 Pretrial Motions

¶ 11 Gavin filed a motion in limine to preclude testimony regarding “paraphilia or paraphilic

disorder involving sexual attraction to non-consenting persons,” the diagnosis proffered by the

State. In the alternative, Gavin sought to exclude testimony that did not comply with the “Rule

702/Daubert standard ([Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993)]) or

the Frye-plus-reliability standard.” Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013, 1014 (D.C. Cir. 1923)

(requiring expert testimony that scientific evidence “gained general acceptance in the particular

field in which it belongs”).

¶ 12 The State countered by filing a motion in limine to preclude “any pleading, testimony,

remarks, questions, or argument that might state, infer, or imply” that OSPD Non-Consent (i)

-3- 1-23-0246

cannot legally be used in SVP cases, (ii) is inadmissible, (iii) is not generally accepted or a valid

diagnosis, or (iv) violates a psychologist’s code of ethics.

¶ 13 The court denied Gavin’s motion and granted the State’s, barring Gavin from eliciting

testimony that OSPD Non-Consent is not generally accepted.

¶ 14 Trial

¶ 15 State’s Evidence

¶ 16 The State presented one witness, Dr. David Suire, a licensed clinical psychologist for the

Department of Human Services qualified as an expert in the evaluation and risk assessment of sex

offenders. For his risk assessment of Gavin, Suire considered (i) actuarial data, (ii) empirically

identified risk factors (also known as dynamic risk factors), (iii) factors specific to Gavin, and (iv)

protective factors. Suire described actuarial instruments as a “means for combining variables to

determine overall risk” and equated their use in predicting the likelihood that someone will commit

a future sex offense to how insurance companies set car premiums.

¶ 17 Suire first evaluated Gavin in 2022. Gavin declined to be interviewed in person, so Suire

based his report on a review of Gavin’s records. He used the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

Mental Disorders (DSM) to opine that Gavin still suffered from OSPD Non-Consent because

sexual identity and interests are “generally lifelong” and “don’t tend to go away,” even though

older people are “[t]ypically *** better at managing their sexual urges.” On cross, he admitted that

researchers “assume” OSPD Non-Consent is lifelong but knew of no study determining this.

¶ 18 Suire believed that Gavin was dangerous due to his OSPD Non-Consent, which affects

emotional or volitional control and makes it substantially probable that he will engage in acts of

sexual violence. On cross, Suire agreed that the DSM defines mental disorder differently from the

SVP Act in that a DSM mental disorder need not predispose an individual to engage in acts of

-4- 1-23-0246

sexual violence. He also agreed that the DSM is cautious about its use in forensic settings because

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2024 IL App (1st) 230246, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-commitment-of-gavin-illappct-2024.