Buffington

A defendant is committed to the custody of the State Department of Mental Health under the Sexually Violent Predator Act (SVPA) if a jury finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant has been “convicted of a sexually violent offense against one or more victims” and “has a diagnosed mental disorder that makes the person a danger to the health and safety of others in that it is likely that he or she will engage in sexually violent criminal behavior.” (Welf. & Inst. Code, 1 § 6600, subd. (a)(1); see id., § 6604.)

*448 Here, to raise a reasonable doubt that defendant Larry Buffington was a sexually violent predator (SVP), the defense called psychologist Theodore Donaldson to testify that in his opinion defendant was able to control his sexually dangerous behavior. To show the psychologist’s bias or prejudice, the People cross-examined him about the facts of three other SVPA cases in which he had testified and his opinion that those defendants were not SVP’s.

In the published part of this opinion, we hold that the facts of the three other SVPA cases and the psychologist’s opinion in those cases were not relevant to show his bias or prejudice, but we reject defendant’s…

Did the prosecutor go too far in showing that a defense expert’s opinion testimony that defendant is not a sexually violent predator was based not on principle, but on profit? The majority conclude the trial court erred in failing to rein in the prosecutor. I disagree.

Dr. Theodore Donaldson, a clinical psychologist, testified as an expert for the defense and opined there was insufficient evidence that defendant had a diagnosed mental disorder which makes him likely to engage in sexually violent criminal behavior. Donaldson so opined despite defendant’s history of committing numerous violent sex offenses against adult women and young girls.

The prosecutor was permitted to cross-examine Dr. Donaldson about his apparent bias in favor of defendants in Sexually Violent Predator Act (SVPA) cases. Among other things, the court allowed the prosecutor to raise specific facts underlying Donaldson’s expert opinions in favor of defendants in three other SVPA cases. The majority find fault in this latter ruling. In their view, “the facts of the three other SVPA cases and the psychologist’s opinion in those cases were not relevant to show his bias or prejudice . . . .” (Maj. opn., ante, at…

Certified for Partial Publication. [*]

A defendant is committed to the custody of the state Department of Mental Health under the Sexually Violent Predator Act (SVPA) if a jury finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant has been "convicted of a sexually violent offense against one or more victims" and "has a diagnosed mental disorder that makes the person a danger to the health and safety of others in that it is likely that he or she will engage in sexually violent criminal behavior." (Welf. & Inst.Code, [1] §§ 6600, subd. (a)(1), 6604.)

Here, to raise a reasonable doubt that defendant Larry Buffington was a sexually violent predator (SVP), the defense called psychologist Theodore Donaldson to testify that in his opinion defendant was able to control his sexually dangerous behavior. To show the psychologist's bias or prejudice, the People cross-examined him about the facts of three other SVPA cases in which he had testified and his opinion that those defendants were not SVP's.

In the published part of this opinion, we hold that the facts of the three other SVPA cases and the psychologist's opinion in those cases were not relevant to show his bias or…