Scott Felix v. Michael Hennessey

MEMORANDUM

Petitioner Scott Emerson Felix appeals from the district court’s denial of his habe-as petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . Petitioner raises a due process claim premised on errors in his 1998 civil commitment trial under California’s Sexually Violent Predators Act (“SVPA”), Cal. Welf. & InstCode §§ 6600-6609.3. The district court denied the petition. Reviewing de novo, Stanley v. Schriro, 598 F.3d 612, 617 (9th Cir.2010), we affirm.

At the 1998 trial, the jury was instructed that it was required to find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Petitioner was more likely than not to commit a sexually violent crime in the future. In closing argument, the prosecutor told the jury that it had to find only that Petitioner was “likely to commit sexually violent crimes at some point.... It doesn’t have to be predatory.” Four years later, the California Supreme Court held that the SVPA “contains an implied requirement that a trier of fact must find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is likely to commit sexually violent predatory criminal acts before the defendant can be committed as a sexually violent predator.” People v. Hurtado, 28 Cal.4th 1179 , 124 Cal.Rptr.2d 186 , 52…