In Re Detention of Broten

62 P.3d 514
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJanuary 31, 2003
Docket26704-7-II
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 62 P.3d 514 (In Re Detention of Broten) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Detention of Broten, 62 P.3d 514 (Wash. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

62 P.3d 514 (2003)
115 Wash.App. 252

In re DETENTION Of Richard A. BROTEN, Appellant.

No. 26704-7-II.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 2.

January 31, 2003.

*515 Gregory D. Weber, Gregory Prosser Canova, Seattle, WA, for Respondent.

Peter B. Tiller, Centralia, WA, for Appellant.

PART PUBLISHED OPINION

ARMSTRONG, J.

Richard Broten appeals his commitment after a jury found that he was a sexually violent predator. Broten served a prison sentence for child rape and was then released on community custody. But, he violated the community custody conditions[1] and was again incarcerated. While he was in custody for the violations, the State filed a sexual predator petition, including an allegation that Broten had committed a recent overt act. But shortly before trial, the State amended the petition to omit the recent overt act allegation. Broten argues that the trial judge erred in allowing the State to commit him without proving a recent overt act. Broten raises a number of other issues, including whether the court erred in admitting an expert's opinion based in part on actuarial studies, whether the commitment statutes violate due process, whether the court erred in instructing the jury, and whether his counsel was effective.[2] We hold that the court erred in allowing the State to commit Broten without proof of a recent overt act. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for a new trial.

FACTS

Richard Broten was convicted of indecent liberties in 1986 and first degree rape of a child in 1989. During mandatory polygraph interviews, he admitted to sexually offending against 35-60 victims. He began sexually offending as a child; his victims included children of both sexes, teenage, adult, and elderly women, relatives, friends, and strangers.

While on parole for the indecent liberties charge, Broten raped his infant daughter. He served a 75-month sentence in prison for this offense and then was released to community custody. During his community custody time, he "cruis[ed]" malls and parks, picked up a prostitute, possessed pornography, masturbated to fantasies of small children (including his daughter), and pursued a relationship with a mother of a small child, among other things. RP at 104. With each incident, Broten violated the terms of community custody; he was returned to incarceration a number of times. Ultimately, the judge revoked his community custody status, and he was serving the remainder of his *516 original sentence when the State filed this sexually violent predator petition.

The State's expert, Dr. Dreiblatt, testified that in his opinion Broten was a sexually violent predator. Dr. Dreiblatt had reviewed police reports, psychology reports, the Department of Corrections file, and reports from various treatment programs. He had also talked with Broten's therapists and interviewed Broten. He used four actuarial instruments to help determine the likelihood that Broten would reoffend. Broten had also retained an expert, but the expert apparently agreed with Dr. Dreiblatt's findings and Broten did not offer his testimony. Broten's counsel did cross-examine Dr. Dreiblatt about his actuarial tools.

The jury found that Broten suffered from a mental or personality disorder that made it difficult for him to control his behavior and made him likely to engage in future predatory sexual violence if not confined. The trial court accordingly ordered him committed, and he appeals.

ANALYSIS

I. Recent Overt Act

To involuntarily commit a person under the Sexually Violent Predator Act (SVPA), the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person is a sexually violent predator. RCW 71.09.060(1). A sexually violent predator is "any person who has been convicted of or charged with a crime of sexual violence and who suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder which makes the person likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence if not confined in a secure facility." RCW 71.09.020(16). If the person is not "totally confined" at the time the State files the petition, the State must, in addition to the other elements, prove that the person has committed a recent overt act. RCW 71.09.060(1); .020(10). But when,

on the day a sexually violent predator petition is filed, an individual is incarcerated for a sexually violent offense, RCW 71.09.020(6), or for an act that would itself qualify as a recent overt act, RCW 71.09.020(5), due process does not require the State to prove a further overt act occurred between arrest and release from incarceration.

In re Detention of Henrickson v. State, 140 Wash.2d 686, 695, 2 P.3d 473 (2000). A recent overt act is an act that causes harm or creates a reasonable apprehension of harm of a sexually violent nature. RCW 71.09.020(5).

Broten contends that since he was incarcerated for violating the conditions of community placement, not for the original offense, the State was required to prove a recent overt act.

Division One recently considered this issue. In re Detention of Davis, 109 Wash. App. 734, 37 P.3d 325 (2002). Davis was arrested and incarcerated for violating his community placement terms. Davis, 109 Wash.App. at 737, 37 P.3d 325. While he was in prison for this violation, the State filed a petition under the SVPA. Davis, 109 Wash. App. at 737, 37 P.3d 325. The court found that under a literal reading of the SVPA, the State would not have to prove that Davis committed a recent overt act. Davis, 109 Wash.App. at 743, 37 P.3d 325. But to equate incarceration for a community placement violation with incarceration for a sexually violent offense was fundamentally unfair, the court said, and raised due process concerns. Davis, 109 Wash.App. at 744, 37 P.3d 325.

To comport with due process, the State's statutory obligation to plead and prove a recent overt act beyond a reasonable doubt should not turn on whether the individual is found, by only a preponderance of the evidence, to have violated community placement terms which may be vague or relatively insignificant.

Davis, 109 Wash.App. at 745, 37 P.3d 325.

Our Supreme Court has further clarified the role of due process in SVPA cases. In re Detention of Albrecht, 147 Wash.2d 1,

Related

Matter of Personal Restraint of Young
857 P.2d 989 (Washington Supreme Court, 1993)
State v. Prado
937 P.2d 636 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1997)
In Re Detention of Davis
37 P.3d 325 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2002)
Detention of Henrickson v. State
2 P.3d 473 (Washington Supreme Court, 2000)
In re the Detention of Albrecht
51 P.3d 73 (Washington Supreme Court, 2002)
Davis v. State
109 Wash. App. 734 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2002)
In re the Detention of Broten
115 Wash. App. 252 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2003)

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