People v. Carlin CA6

I. Background

Carlin was serving a 16-year sentence for molesting 10-year-old Ethan F. when the petition to commit him as an SVP was filed in 2000. (People v. Carlin (2007) 150 Cal.App.4th 322, 329, 336 (Carlin I).) His first trial resulted in a mistrial. (Id. at p. 329.) He was retried in 2005, and a jury found the petition true. (Ibid.) This court reversed the commitment order, concluding that the prosecution’s reliance on multiple hearsay to prove qualifying sexually violent offenses violated Carlin’s right to due process. (Carlin I, at pp. 339-345.) Carlin was retried in 2012. He waived his right to a jury trial and stipulated that he had suffered two qualifying convictions. The parties also stipulated that “although we’re reverting to the 2000 petition, the state of the law currently is going to apply to the case. And that would mean that a commitment under the statute would be for the term prescribed by law, which is life with options for hearings after that . . . .” Clinical psychologist Dr. Robert Owen and psychologist Dr. Douglas Korpi testified as experts for the prosecution at trial. Dr. Owen evaluated Carlin in 1999 and provided updated evaluations in 2000, 2003,…