Hartshorn

Defendant Brandon Hartshorn appeals from an order granting a petition to extend his commitment pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 6500, following a jury finding he is a “mentally retarded person, is a danger to himself or others, and has serious difficulty controlling his dangerous behavior because of his mental retardation . . . .” 1 Raising equal protection grounds, Hartshorn contends the trial court prejudicially erred by failing to instruct the jury that he posed a substantial risk of serious physical harm to himself or others to support a tme finding under section 6500.

The People argue Hartshorn’s equal protection claims are forfeited and will be moot by the time we consider this appeal. They otherwise concede Hartshorn’s claim of instructional error, accepting the proposition that section 6500’s requirement that the person be a “danger to himself or herself, or others” means the trial court should have instructed the jury he had “the potential for infliction of substantial physical harm upon the respondent himself or upon others.” We agree Hartshorn forfeited his equal protection claim. While technically his remaining claims of instructional error…