People v. Superior Court (Martin)

The People of the State of California, represented by the District Attorney of Los Angeles County, seek a writ of mandate to compel the superior court of that county to vacate an order dismissing their petition filed pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 6316.2, to extend the commitment of one Robert Martin (RPI) as a mentally disordered sex offender (MDSO). We grant the petition.

RPI was convicted in 1975 of a violation of Penal Code section 288 for sexually molesting a four-year-old female child. He had been charged with additional counts of kidnaping and oral copulation, which charges were dismissed upon his conviction for violating Penal Code section 288. RPI was found to be a MDSO under the provisions of then Welfare and Institutions Code section 6300 et seq., and committed to the Department of Mental Hygiene.

At the time of RPI’s conviction, the punishment for a violation of Penal Code section 288, as noted, was one year to life under the then existing Indeterminate Sentence Law, and under Welfare and Institutions Code section 6316 a commitment as an MDSO was for an indeterminate period.

With the advent of the determinate sentence law in 1976, the…