Badura

Defendant Michael James Badura appeals from an order extending his original commitment as a sexually violent predator for an additional two years. His sole contention is that he was entitled to dismissal because he was kept in custody beyond his original commitment without a finding of probable cause.

We disagree. When defendant first raised this issue in the trial court, by making a motion to dismiss, the trial court immediately made a preliminary finding of probable cause and ordered that defendant continue to be kept in custody. We will hold that the Legislature did not intend the trial court’s failure to make this determination three days earlier, when defendant’s original term expired, to be grounds for dismissal.

I

Factual and Procedural Background

In 1985, defendant was convicted of committing lewd and lascivious acts, many of them by force, upon two girls not related to him (as well as upon his nephew and his own son). He was sentenced to prison. He was scheduled to be released in April 1997. However, in March 1997, the People filed a petition to commit him as a sexually violent predator. On October 2, 1997, he was found to be a sexually violent predator, and…