People v. Ballardo CA2/4

INTRODUCTION

In February 2005, the People filed a petition to commit appellant Victor Ballardo as a sexually violent predator (SVP). After a March 2018 trial, the court found appellant to be an SVP and ordered him committed for a two-year term. On appeal, appellant does not dispute that substantial evidence supported the court’s finding that he was an SVP. Instead, he argues that: (a) the length of delay between the filing of the petition and the trial thereon violated his due process right to a timely trial; (b) the court erred in failing to inquire into a potential conflict of interest between his counsel and him, namely that bringing a motion to dismiss would have been beneficial to appellant, but damaging to his counsel; and (c) his counsel was ineffective in failing to bring a motion to dismiss. We conclude: (a) that appellant’s due process rights were not violated because his counsel requested or agreed to virtually all the continuances in this case, and those actions are charged to appellant; (b) that appellant has failed to cite any evidence presented to the court regarding a potential conflict of interest, and thus failed to demonstrate that any lack of inquiry…