Force

In 2000, the Orange County District Attorney filed a petition seeking to have defendant Steven Daniel Force, then a state prison inmate, committed to the State Department of Mental Health (department) under the Sexually Violent Predator Act (Act). (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6600 et seq.; all further statutory references are to this code unless otherwise indicated.) As a result of numerous continuances, a hearing on the petition did not begin until April 2007. The jury returned a finding that defendant is a sexually violent predator (SVP) as defined in the Act, and the trial court committed him for an indeterminate period pursuant to the amendments to the Act made by Proposition 83, known as The Sexual Predator Punishment and Control Act: Jessica's Law, a voter initiative enacted on November 7, 2006 (Proposition 83).

Defendant contends use of the Act, as amended, resulted in the violation of his state and federal constitutional rights concerning due process, ex post facto laws, and double jeopardy, and violated the principle against retroactive application of laws. He further argues the trial court erred by excluding evidence that would have allowed him to contest his…