Lopez

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant Elijah Samson Lopez appeals from an order of the trial court recommitting him to the Department of Mental Health for a period of two years under the Sexually Violent Predators Act (SVPA). (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6600 et seq.)

Defendant raises two issues on appeal: (1) the trial court erred in instructing the jury that as a matter of law defendant had suffered the requisite qualifying prior convictions; and (2) ineffective assistance of counsel, consisting of defense counsel’s failure to object on proper grounds to the admission of the prior trial testimony of Joseph, a victim witness.

For reasons that we will explain, we find no error and therefore we will affirm the recommitment order.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Procedural History

In 1990, defendant pleaded no contest to two counts of committing a lewd and lascivious act on a child. (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a).) The two victims were brothers Raul (age 11 or 12) and Gerardo (age 9). About a year after his release from prison in 1993, defendant was arrested and his parole was revoked as the result of an incident where he allegedly touched the penis and testicles of Mark (age…