In Re Detention of Hovinga

130 P.3d 830
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedMarch 14, 2006
Docket55140-0-1
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 130 P.3d 830 (In Re Detention of Hovinga) 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 Hovinga, 130 P.3d 830 (Wash. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

130 P.3d 830 (2006)
132 Wash.App. 16

In re the DETENTION OF Deryle D. HOVINGA, Petitioner.

No. 55140-0-1.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 1.

February 6, 2006.
Publication Ordered March 14, 2006.

*831 Oliver Davis, Elaine Winters, Washington Appellate Project, Seattle, WA, for Appellant.

David Hackett, King County Prosecutor, Seattle, WA, for Respondent.

BAKER, J.

¶ 1 Deryle Hovinga appeals his commitment as a sexually violent predator, arguing that the State was required to plead and prove to the jury that he committed a recent overt act. He also argues that the superior court erred by precluding the defense expert from testifying about an e-mail that the defense received mid-trial. Because Hovinga was incarcerated for a recent overt act at the time the State filed the commitment petition, the State was not required to plead and prove a recent overt act to the jury. Additionally, the court did not abuse its discretion by excluding proffered evidence because it had very little probative value and it had the potential to cause undue delay in the trial proceedings. We affirm.

I.

¶ 2 In August 1981, Hovinga entered an Alford[1] plea to statutory rape in the first degree of a nine-year-old girl, committed while he was examining her as a treating chiropractor. He was sentenced to a maximum term of 20 years in prison, which was suspended on the condition that he complete the sexual psychopath program at Western State Hospital. After spending five years in the program, Hovinga was sent to prison for not complying with the program rules. After he refused to return to in-patient treatment, his sentence was modified to impose the full 20-year prison sentence.

¶ 3 In August 1988, Hovinga was released into the community on parole. In April 1992, his parole was revoked due to sexually deviant behavior.[2] Hovinga spent the next 11 *832 years in prison. Shortly before his scheduled release, the State petitioned to commit Hovinga as a sexually violent predator under chapter 71.09 RCW.

¶ 4 Hovinga moved to vacate the arrest warrant and dismiss the State's petition. He argued that the petition failed to allege that he committed a recent overt act during the time that he was released on parole. The court rejected Hovinga's argument, concluding that the State did not need to show a recent overt act because Hovinga was confined for a sexually violent crime or, alternatively, because his parole violation constituted such a recent overt act.

¶ 5 A couple of days before the State rested its case, Hovinga's attorney sent the State a copy of an e-mail written by Dr. Cheryl Milloy, a researcher who conducted a study on recidivism rates of offenders who committed sexually violent crimes. The State moved in limine to exclude the e-mail from evidence and preclude Hovinga's expert witness, Dr. Richard Wollert, from testifying about the e-mail under ER 703. The court granted the State's motion, stating that "it's too late to inject something new into the case the day before the prosecution rests." During Dr. Wollert's testimony, Hovinga moved for reconsideration, but the court adhered to its earlier ruling.

¶ 6 A jury concluded that Hovinga is a sexually violent predator. Hovinga appeals the court's commitment order.

II.

¶ 7 Hovinga argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the State's petition because the State was required to plead and prove that he committed an overt act while released on parole. He maintains that a jury must find that he committed a recent overt act beyond a reasonable doubt. He also claims that the trial court abused its discretion by not allowing the defense expert to testify about Dr. Milloy's e-mail.

A. Recent Overt Act

¶ 8 Whether chapter 71.09 RCW or due process requires the State to plead and prove a recent overt act in order to commit an individual as a sexually violent predator is a question of law, which we review de novo.[3]

¶ 9 Chapter 71.09 RCW is a civil statute that authorizes the State to involuntarily commit an individual to a secure treatment facility when he is found by a court or jury to be a sexually violent predator.[4] 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."[5] To commit a person as a sexually violent predator, the State must prove that the individual (1) has been convicted of or charged with a crime of sexual violence; (2) suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder that causes him to have some difficulty controlling his dangerous behavior; and (3) that the disorder makes him more likely than not to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence if not committed to a secure treatment facility.[6]

¶ 10 The basis for involuntary civil commitment is the person's dangerousness.[7] In order to satisfy due process, the State must establish that a defendant poses a current threat to the community. In In re Personal Restraint of Young,[8] our Supreme Court held that, when a defendant has been released from confinement since his last sex offense but before sexually violent predator proceedings are initiated against him, the *833 State must prove that he committed a recent overt act to establish his current dangerousness.[9]

¶ 11 The Legislature subsequently amended the statute to include the recent overt act requirement.[10] RCW 71.09.060(1) provides that, "[i]f, on the date that the petition is filed, the person was living in the community after release from custody, the state must also prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person had committed a recent overt act."[11] "`Recent overt act' means any act or threat that has either caused harm of a sexually violent nature or creates a reasonable apprehension of such harm in the mind of an objective person who knows of the history and mental condition of the person engaging in the act."[12]

¶ 12 Our Supreme Court has noted that "the statute unambiguous[ly] direct[s] that the State need not prove a recent overt act when the subject of a sexually violent predator petition is incarcerated on the day the petition is filed."[13] Additionally, due process does not require the State to prove a recent overt act when an individual is incarcerated for a sexually violent offense or an act that would qualify as a recent overt act on the day a sexually violent predator petition is filed.[14] Thus, we must determine whether Hovinga was incarcerated for a sexually violent offense or a recent overt act at the time the State filed its petition for commitment.

¶ 13 We note that Hovinga's situation is distinguishable from the circumstances presented in In re Detention of Albrecht.[15] In Albrecht, our Supreme Court held that the State must allege a recent overt act where an offender is released from prison on community placement and then returned to total confinement after violating the terms of his community placement.[16]

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130 P.3d 830, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-detention-of-hovinga-washctapp-2006.