People v. Whaley CA6

I. INTRODUCTION

Since 1999, defendant George Whaley has been committed as a sexually violent predator under the Sexually Violent Predator Act (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6600 et seq.;1 SVPA). (People v. Whaley (2008) 160 Cal.App.4th 779, 784 (Whaley).) The present appeal arises from the August 5, 2013 order finding true the allegation in the People’s most recent recommitment petition that he is a sexually violent predator within the meaning of section 6600 and directing that Whaley be committed to the Department of Mental Health for an indeterminate term. On appeal, Whaley contends that (1) the 2013 amendments to section 6608, which provide that a committed person may not petition for unconditional discharge prior to a

1 All further statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code unless otherwise indicated. minimum of one year on conditional release (former § 6608, subd. (k), now § 6608, subd. (m)), violate his constitutional rights to due process and equal protection; (2) this court should not follow the decision in People v. McKee (2012) 207 Cal.App.4th 1325 (McKee II) that the SVPA does not violate a committed person’s constitutional right to equal protection; and…