People v. Jeffrey G.

*503 Defendant Jeffrey G. has been confined to a state hospital for over 20 years. In 2015, he petitioned for transfer from the hospital to a conditional release program. At the hearing on his petition, defendant and a psychologist who had examined him testified regarding his likelihood of success in the unstructured environment of the conditional release program. In turn, the prosecution presented the testimony of three expert witnesses to contest his readiness. Under the law applicable at the time *504 of the hearing, an expert witness was permitted to testify with respect to the hearsay evidence on which the expert based his or her opinion, regardless of whether there was competent evidence in the record to support that testimony. On the basis of such testimony, the trial court denied defendant's petition. A short time after the hearing, the Supreme Court issued People v. Sanchez (2016) 63 Cal.4th 665 , 204 Cal.Rptr.3d 102 , 374 P.3d 320 ( Sanchez ), which substantially limited expert testimony with respect to case-specific hearsay evidence. Had the hearing been conducted under Sanchez , it is certain that at least some of the testimony of the prosecution's experts would have…