People v. Gonzales CA6

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

In 2007, the Santa Clara County District Attorney filed a petition to commit defendant Ramiro Gonzales as a sexually violent predator (SVP) under the SVP Act. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6600 et seq.)1 A jury found that defendant was an SVP, and the trial court ordered defendant to be committed for an indeterminate term. Defendant appealed from the commitment order. On appeal, defendant made four arguments: 1) the trial court erred in releasing psychological records to the prosecution and in admitting the testimony of defendant’s former therapist; 2) there was insufficient evidence of materially changed circumstances since a 2004 determination that defendant was not an SVP; 3) the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury that defendant’s

1 Subsequent unspecified statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code. mental retardation was not a mental disorder for purposes of the SVP Act; and 4) indeterminate commitment under the SVP Act violates various constitutional guarantees. We held that defendant’s first argument warranted reversal. Specifically, we held that the trial court erred in releasing privileged psychotherapeutic records and in…