State High Court to Review Rapist’s Bid for Freedom

The California Supreme Court agreed unanimously Wednesday to review whether a serial rapist should remain locked up in a state mental hospital even though independent forensic psychologists have concluded he is no longer dangerous.

The decision, made in a closed session, will keep Patrick Ghilotti, 45, at Atascadero State Hospital until the justices vote on his case after a Feb. 6 hearing. Ghilotti, convicted of four rapes in Marin County and the admitted perpetrator of at least six others, has spent half his life behind bars.

Marin County Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Charmatz was pleased with the court’s ruling on a petition filed by state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer.

“At least they’re not going to let him go without taking a thorough look at this issue,” Charmatz said. “That’s very encouraging.”

Deputy Public Defender Frank Cox expressed disappointment.

“I did not think there was any substance, factually or legally, to the attorney general’s position,” Cox said. “But the court is acting very cautiously.”

Ghilotti had been scheduled for release this month. He would have been the first sexual predator freed after completing a medical treatment program the law created for repeat sex offenders.

The predator law, passed in 1996, says the state must have the support of two independent mental health experts to commit a sexual predator to Atascadero after the offender has completed his prison sentence.

Marin County Superior Court Judge John S. Graham ordered Ghilotti’s release last month after three independent forensic psychologists, trained and certified by the state, said he was no longer a threat.

Graham said he was “uncomfortable” that Ghilotti was to be released without supervision, but added that it was beyond his power to do anything about it.

The state Department of Mental Health insists that Ghilotti is still dangerous and that the law allows the director of the department to petition for continued confinement.

The state Supreme Court, in a written order, asked the attorney general and the defense lawyer in the case to submit written arguments on whether the sexual predator law allows the department to file a petition for recommitment without the support of two mental health evaluators.

If the law does not give the Department of Mental Health that authority, the court said, attorneys should consider whether the trial judge should independently examine the evaluators’ reports to make sure they complied with the law.

The court also asked the lawyers for the correct legal interpretation of the phrase “likely to engage in acts of sexual violence without appropriate treatment and custody.” (The court added the italics in its order.)

The court requested that briefs be submitted on an expedited schedule, and said it will decide the case within 90 days of the February hearing.

One of Ghilotti’s victims, now in her 60s, said she hoped the Supreme Court could simplify the law. “The confusion is massive,” she said. “With the situation we have now, the Atascadero doctors who work with him every day say he shouldn’t be out but the evaluators they bring in for the tests say he should.”

In anticipation of his release, Marin County officials paid to have a burglar alarm installed at her home, she said, “so I can sleep better.”

The case is People vs. Superior Court, Ghilotti, S102527.