Needham

Filed 8/8/

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

NICHOLAS NEEDHAM,

Petitioner,

v. G060670

THE SUPERIOR COURT OF ORANGE (Super. Ct. No. M-16870)

COUNTY,

OPINION

Respondent;

THE PEOPLE,

Real Party in Interest.

Petition for a writ of mandate/prohibition to challenge an order of the Superior Court of Orange County, Elizabeth G. Macias, Judge. Petition granted. Martin Schwarz, Public Defender, and Elizabeth Khan, Deputy Public Defender, for Petitioner. Todd Spitzer, District Attorney, and Yvette Patko, Deputy District Attorney, for Real Party in Interest. * * * The People filed a petition against Nicholas Needham seeking to commit 1 him under the Sexually Violent Predator Act (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6600 et seq. ) (SVPA), which authorizes the involuntary civil commitment and treatment of sexually violent predators (SVP) at the conclusion of their prison term. Preparing for trial on the petition, the district attorney retained a psychological expert to evaluate Needham and testify at trial that he qualifies as…