People v. Wells CA5

INTRODUCTION

Appellant and defendant Marlin Merrill Wells (appellant) was convicted and sentenced to prison in three separate cases for sexually molesting three children over the span of 30 years: his eight- or nine-year-old stepdaughter in 1983, and a 13-year-old boy in 1999, both occurring in Washington State; and John Doe, his 14-year-old grandson, in Merced County in 2014. While he was completing his prison sentence for the Merced County convictions, a petition was filed under the provisions of the Sexually Violent Predator Act (the Act) that alleged appellant was a sexually violent predator (SVP) and should be committed to the State Department of State Hospitals (the DSH). (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6600 et seq.) At the jury trial on the petition, two experts testified for each side, the trial court admitted certified records of his prior sexual molestation convictions, and the jury found the petition’s allegations were true. The court committed appellant to the DSH. On appeal from the commitment order, appellate counsel filed a brief pursuant to People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 and Conservatorship of Ben C. (2007) 40 Cal.4th 529, but also requested this court exercise its…