Judge Denies Bid to Strike Down ‘Predator’ Law

Four convicted sex offenders who have served their prison sentences remained in custody Thursday as an Orange County judge rejected a request by defense attorneys to strike down the state’s controversial new “sexual predator” law as unconstitutional.

Prosecutors contend the four inmates--three of whom committed crimes against children--are still dangerous, and have petitioned to confine the prisoners to state mental hospitals for treatment.

Superior Court Judge David O. Carter decided the cases against the four men, originally convicted in Orange County, could proceed under the new law, which allows juries to decide if prisoners deemed as sexual predators should be confined after finishing prison terms.

Deputy Public Defender Alan J. Crivaro argued that the law is unconstitutional, in part because it punishes someone twice for the same offense, and because it applies retroactively to crimes that were committed before the law was in effect.

But Carter said the state has a compelling interest in protecting society from violent sex offenders and providing treatment for them. He said the predator law is intended as a civil commitment for treatment, not as a punitive measure that would violate double jeopardy and other rights.

“It’s important not to be just turning these people loose in our communities,” said Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. E. Thomas Dunn Jr., who argued in support of the law during Thursday’s hearing.

Crivaro said he intends to appeal Carter’s decision on the four pending cases to the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana. He is representing another three sex offenders from Orange County whose releases also have been put on hold.

The sexual predator law, in effect since January, was motivated by public uproar over the release of rapists and child molesters who had served their sentences.

The law has provoked conflicting court rulings in counties throughout the state, and the U.S. Supreme Court last week agreed to review the issue in a case stemming from a similar law in Kansas.

Washington state in 1990 passed the first law permitting sexual predators to be detained. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Arizona and California followed suit.

Orange County used the law for the first time in April to detain a Norwalk man who was convicted of molesting a 10-year-old girl in a Disneyland parking lot in 1987, and raping another 10-year-old girl outside Knott’s Berry Farm in 1981. Since then, prosecutors have petitioned to detain six others who have completed prison terms.

California’s law applies to sex offenders who assault two or more victims. If two mental health experts find an offender “mentally defective” and still a likely danger to the community, the inmate is referred to the prosecutor in the county where the last offense was committed.

Prosecutors can then ask for a jury trial to determine whether the offenders should be committed for two years to a state mental hospital. A unanimous verdict is required and the civil procedure can be repeated every two years if the offender continues to be deemed a sexual predator by psychiatrists.