Ronald Taylor v. San Diego County

In this appeal, Ronald Taylor (Taylor) seeks federal habeas corpus relief from a state-court order committing him indefinitely for involuntary treatment as a sexually violent predator, in accordance with California law. Two issues were certified for appeal by a motions panel of this Court. The first issue is whether Califor nia’s Sexually Violent Predator Act violates the Equal Protection Clause because it contains release procedures that are more onerous than those placed on other civilly committed detainees. The second is whether the statute violates the federal Due Process Clause because it contains a burden-shifting scheme requiring the detainee to prove that he is no longer a sexually violent predator in order to terminate his commitment.

On habeas review, we affirm the district court’s denial of Taylor’s habeas petition because the state courts’ denial of relief was not contrary to or an unreasonable application of controlling Supreme Court-precedent.

I. BACKGROUND

Taylor was convicted of committing forcible rape in 1975, 1979, and 1989 against three separate victims. The state courts determined that Taylor was a sexually violent predator, and in 2005, Taylor was…