State High Court Rules On Predator Law
Written by admin on January 29, 2010
The state Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the state might not be able to indefinitely hold sexually violent predators in jail, as authorized under a 2006 proposition approved by voters.
In a 5-2 decision in a case from San Diego, the court said state prosecutors had to provide more evidence that treating sexually violent predators differently than others who are also held under civil commitment rules — such as mentally disordered offenders — does not violate the equal protection guarantees of the Constitution They sent the case back to San Diego for such a hearing. The court majority did not strike down the measure, known as “Jessica’s Law,” which created a range of regulations dealing with different classes of sexual offenses, from registered sex offenders to the more serious sex predators.
The ruling came in the case of Richard McKee, who had been convicted of committing lewd acts on two girls under 11. In 2007, the San Diego District Attorney’s Office sought to have him committed as a sexually violent predator.
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