People v. Joiner CA4/1

INTRODUCTION

In this second appeal, Charles Joiner challenges an order─which the trial court

reinstated on remand after we issued both a majority opinion and a concurring and

dissenting opinion in his first appeal (People v. Joiner (Feb. 8, 2013, D056622) [nonpub.

opn.] (Joiner I))─involuntarily committing him for an indeterminate term to the custody

of the State of California Department of Mental Health (DMH), now the State of

California Department of State Hospitals (DSH), at the Coalinga State Hospital after a

second jury in late 2009 unanimously found he is a sexually violent predator (SVP)

within the meaning of the Sexually Violent Predators Act (SVPA) (Welf. & Inst. Code,

§ 6600 et seq.).

As discussed more fully, post, Joiner's first trial ended in a mistrial when the jury

became hopelessly deadlocked after voting eight to four in favor of finding Joiner was

not an SVP. Before the second trial commenced, the trial court denied Joiner's motion to

dismiss the SVPA civil petition on the ground the court believed it had no authority to

dismiss the petition for insufficiency of the evidence presented at the first trial. After the

second jury returned its…