In re Commitment of May

500 S.W.3d 515, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 8058, 2016 WL 4040186
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 28, 2016
DocketNO. 09-15-00513-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 500 S.W.3d 515 (In re Commitment of May) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas 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 May, 500 S.W.3d 515, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 8058, 2016 WL 4040186 (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

LEANNE JOHNSON, Justice

The State of Texas appealed an order releasing Alonzo May from civil commitment as a sexually violent predator. We reverse the trial court and remand the case to the trial court for entry of an order of commitment that places May into a tiered program of supervision and treatment. We conclude that the statute authorizing the civil commitment of sexually violent predators, as amended in 2015, is neither unconstitutionally retroactive nor punitive, nor has there been a denial , of May’s due process rights. We further conclude that the trial court’s findings of fact do not support the trial court’s decision to release May from civil commitment under any applicable legal theory.

Background

In 2013, a jury unanimously found beyond a reasonable doubt that Alonzo May is a sexually violent predator. Consistent with the jury verdict, the trial court signed a final judgment wherein it “ORDERED, ADJDUGED AND DECREED that ALONZO MAY is a sexually violent predator ... and is civilly committed as such in accordance with Texas Health & Safety Code § 841.081 for outpatient treatment and supervision ...” See generally Act of [518]*518May 30, 2003, 78th Leg., R.S., ch. 347, § 23, 2003 Tex. Gen. Laws 1505, 1516 (amended 2015, current version at Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. § 841.081 (West Supp. 2015)). A separate order of commitment required May to reside in supervised housing at a Texas Residential facility under contract with the Office of Violent Sex Offender Management (OV-SOM), ordered May to strictly comply with the commitment requirements of Section 841.082 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, and scheduled a biennial review for July 24, 2015. See Act of May 23, 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., ch. 1201, § 8, 2011 Tex. Sess. Law. Serv. 3195, 3200 (amended 2015, current version at Tex. Health & Safety Code § 841.082 (West Supp. 2015)). The judgment and the order of civil commitment were affirmed on appeal. See In re Commitment of May, No. 09-13-00513-CV, 2014 WL 6984086, at *3, 2014 Tex. App.‘ LEXIS 13273, at *6 (TexApp.— Beaumont Dec., 11, 2014, pet. denied) (mém. op.).

Effective June 17, 2015, Senate Bill 746 amended Chapter 841 of the Texas Health and Safety Code in several, respects. See Act of May 21, 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., ch. 845, 2015 Tex. Sess. Law Serv. 2701, 2701-12. The Legislature created a new state agency, the Texas Civil Commitment Office (TCCO), with the responsibility for treatment and supervision of sexually violent predators.1 Id. § 3 (current version at Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. § 841,007 (West Supp. 2015)). The Legislature required the TCCO to develop a tiered program of supervision and treatment that provides a seamless transition from a total confinement facility to less restrictive housing;and supervision and eventual release from civil commitment, based on the person’s behavior and progress in treatment. Id. § 16 (current version at Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. § 841.0831 (West’Supp. 2015)). Under the statute as amended, the TCCO transfers a committed person to less restrictive housing and supervision if the transfer. is in the best interests of the person and conditions can be imposed that adequately protect the community, and a committed person may petition the court for a transfer to less restrictive housing and supervision. Id. (current version at Tex. Health & Safety Code § 841.0834 (West Supp. 2015)). The enacting language of SB 746 provides:

If a- civil commitment requirement imposed under Chapter 841, Health and Safety Code, before the effective date of this Act differs from any of the civil commitment requirements listed in Section 841.082, Health and Safety Code, as amended by this Act, the applicable court with jurisdiction over the committed person shall, after notice and hearing, modify the requirement imposed as applicable to conform to that section.

Id § 40(b).

In July 2015, the TCCO notified May of the changes in the law. The State filed an opposed motion to place May in the tiered treatment program. After a hearing, the trial court ordered that May could not be placed in the tiered treatment program, finding:

1. ALONZO MAY was adjudicated a sexually violent predator (“SVP”) by Agreed Final Judgment and civilly committed on July 24, 2013 by Agreed Order of Commitment.
[519]*5192. At the last Biennial Review for ALONZO MAY, Relator ALONZO MAY’s behavioral abnormality, which causes him to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence, was still present.
3. The witness testimony and the evidence presented demonstrate that ALONZO MAY’s behavior and progress .in treatment will not benefit from placement in the Tiered Treatment Program.
4. The witness testimony and the evidence presented demonstrate that placement in the Tiered Treatment Program will not be in the best interest of ALONZO MAY and conditions can be imposed that, adequately protect the community.

The State filed a motion for reconsideration. May filed a response raising several challenges ,to the 2015 amendments to Chapter 841 and to TCCO’s implementation of the tiered treatment program.

On November 9, 2015, the elected judge in the 435th District Court signed a biennial review -order that found “there is no evidence to suggest that sex offender treatment of ALONZO MAY has resulted in his behavioral abnormality having changed to the extent that ALONZO MAY is no longer likely to engage in a predatory act of sexual violence[.]”2

After a hearing, on December 14,2015, a visiting judge sitting in the 435th District Court ordered May’s release from the civil commitment imposed on him by the judgment and order of civil commitment. Findings of fact and conclusions of law signed in connection with the judgment included findings that:

1.On July 24, 2013 the trial court signed a Final Judgment as the result of a Montgomery County ■ jury’s verdict that Alonzo May was a sexually violent predator. Whereupon the trial court signed an Order of Commitment that Alonzo May was indefinitely committed for outpatient treatment and supervision,
2. Evidence submitted to the jury showed that Alonzo May had been convicted of several sex- -crimes, served out the punishments imposed, and released from criminal confinement;
3. On June 17, 2015 SB 746 amended Chapter 841 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, ending funding for outpatient treatment and requiring those in Alonzo May’s circumstance to attend a “due process” hearing in advance of -being committed to “tiered inpatient treatment”.
4. Although called “due process” the only possible result that would provide any treatment was tiered inpatient treatment.
5. Alonzo May did not waive a hearing. At the conclusion of the September 09, 2015 hearing, the trial court denied the State’s petition to transfer Alonzo May from outpatient to tiered inpatient treatment. The State then moved for reconsideration. After discovery by Alonzo May, the December 08,2015 hearing was conducted;
6.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
500 S.W.3d 515, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 8058, 2016 WL 4040186, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-commitment-of-may-texapp-2016.