People v. Superior Court

Allen Douglas Butler and Michael Thomas Cheek were found to be sexually violent predators under the Sexually Violent Predators Act (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6600 et seq.) 1 and were committed to the custody of the state Department of Mental Health (DMH) for two years. We affirmed those commitments in People v. Butler (1998) 68 *955 Cal.App.4th 421 [ 80 Cal.Rptr.2d 357 ] (Butler I), 2 and People v. Cheek (1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 282 [ 89 Cal.Rptr.2d 125 ] (Cheek), review granted December 15, 1999, S083305.

Before Butler’s and Cheek’s initial two-year commitments expired, the district attorney filed petitions to extend their commitments for additional two-year periods. The petitions were each supported by one current evaluation from a DMH clinical psychologist. After the trial court found probable cause to believe that Butler and Cheek were likely to engage in sexually violent predatory criminal behavior upon their release (§ 6602), Butler and Cheek sought relief in this court. We considered the cases together, in Butler v. Superior Court (2000) 78 Cal.App.4th 1171 [ 93 Cal.Rptr.2d 468 ] (Butler II). 3 We held that the petitions to extend Butler’s and Cheek’s commitments should…