Beasley v. Molett
| Decision Date | 19 December 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 09-01-078 CV.,09-01-078 CV. |
| Citation | 95 S.W.3d 590 |
| Parties | William J. BEASLEY, et al., Appellants, v. Maria MOLETT, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Tracy Davenport, Todd J. Keller, Kenneth W Balusek, State Counsel for Offenders, Huntsville, for appellants.
John Cornyn, Atty. General, Seth Byron Dennis, Jim Moellinger, Asst. Atty's Gen., Austin, for appellee.
Before WALKER, C.J., BURGESS and GAULTNEY, JJ.
William J. Beasley and others1 sought to enjoin all judicial proceedings currently being conducted under the terms of the Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators Act ("Act"), Title 11, Chapter 841 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, and requested that Maria Molett, the Council on Sex Offender Treatment's representative on the multidisciplinary team ("Team"), and her successors be enjoined from attending meetings of the Team. They also sought a judgment declaring the statute unconstitutional on its face and in its application. The trial court denied the relief requested. This appeal raises issues concerning due process, equal protection, the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, separation of powers, double jeopardy, ex post facto law, and the Texas Open Meetings Act.
In the first section of the Act, the Texas Legislature in effect set out the purpose for the Act in legislative findings, as follows:
§ 841.001. Legislative Findings
The legislature finds that a small but extremely dangerous group of sexually violent predators exists and that those predators have a behavioral abnormality that is not amenable to traditional mental illness treatment modalities and that makes the predators likely to engage in repeated predatory acts of sexual violence. The legislature finds that the existing involuntary commitment provisions of Subtitle C, Title 7, are inadequate to address the risk of repeated predatory behavior that sexually violent predators pose to society. The legislature further finds that treatment modalities for sexually violent predators are different from the traditional treatment modalities for persons appropriate for involuntary commitment under Subtitle C, Title 7. Thus, the legislature finds that a civil commitment procedure for the long-term supervision and treatment of sexually violent predators is necessary and in the interest of the state.
TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. § 841.001 (Vernon Supp.2003). The Act then sets forth a civil commitment procedure for the long-term supervision and treatment of sexually violent predators.
The statute is attacked in this proceeding as unconstitutional. In cases involving assertions that a statute is unconstitutional, courts begin the analysis with a presumption that the statute is valid. Texas Workers' Compensation Comm'n v. Garcia, 893 S.W.2d 504, 520 (Tex.1995). The legislature is presumed not to have acted unreasonably or arbitrarily. Id A mere difference of opinion, where reasonable minds could differ, is not a sufficient basis for striking down legislation as arbitrary or unreasonable. Id. The wisdom or expediency of the law is the legislature's prerogative. Id.
For the reasons detailed below, we affirm the trial court's judgment.
Appellants contend in issue I.A. that the "behavioral abnormality" standard expressed in the Act violates due process because, they say, the standard does not require a "mental" condition. Section 841.003 of the Act defines a sexually violent predator as a repeat sexually violent offender who suffers from a behavioral abnormality that makes the person likely to engage in a predatory act of sexual violence. TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. § 841.003 (Vernon Supp.2003). Section 841.002(2) of the Act defines "behavioral abnormality" as a "congenital or acquired condition that, by affecting a person's emotional or volitional capacity, predisposes the person to commit a sexually violent offense, to the extent that the person becomes a menace to the health and safety of another person." TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. § 841.002(2) (Vernon Supp. 2003).
In Kansas v. Hendricks, 521 U.S. 346, 357, 117 S.Ct. 2072, 138 L.Ed.2d 501 (1997), the Supreme Court held that a Kansas law dealing with sexual predators did not violate due process. The Kansas law required a showing that the person sought to be committed had been convicted of or charged with a sexually violent offense and that the person suffered from a mental abnormality or personality disorder, making the person likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence. Id. 521 U.S. at 351-52, 117 S.Ct. 2072. The law defined a mental abnormality as "a congenital or acquired condition affecting the emotional or volitional capacity which predisposes the person to commit sexually violent offenses in a degree constituting such person a menace to the health and safety of others." See KAN. STAT. ANN. § 59-29a02(b) (1994).
Appellants concede that the Texas definition of "behavioral abnormality" is virtually the same as the Kansas definition of "mental abnormality." However, they argue that the Texas statute does not meet due process requirements because it does not use the term "mental" in its description of the condition required for commitment. But the United States Supreme Court has held that state legislatures are not required to adopt a particular nomenclature in drafting civil commitment statutes. Hendricks, 521 U.S. at 359, 117 S.Ct. 2072. Statutory terms need not mirror terms used by the medical profession; they serve different purposes. Id. Furthermore, we focus not on the label but on the proof requirement itself as set forth in the definition. Because the proof requirement of the Act is virtually the same as that upheld in Hendricks, we reject appellants' due process challenge to the "behavioral abnormality" standard.
Appellants argue that the Act violates equal protection because it allows a category of sex offenders targeted by the Act to be civilly committed on the basis of antisocial personality disorders, while not providing for similar treatment of other violent criminals on the same basis. We first note that the Act does not use the phrase "antisocial personality disorder." The Act does target what the legislature characterizes as "a small but extremely dangerous group of sexually violent predators" who "have a behavioral abnormality that is not amenable to traditional mental illness treatment modalities and that makes the predators likely to engage in repeated predatory acts of sexual violence." § 841.001. The legislature found that "the existing involuntary commitment provisions ... are inadequate to address the risk of repeated predatory behavior that sexually violent predators pose to society." Id. Appellants do not challenge the legislative findings.
Under the rational relation test, the statutory distinction is presumed constitutional as long as the distinction is rationally related to a legitimate governmental purpose. See Kadrmas v. Dickinson Pub. Schs., 487 U.S. 450, 457-58, 108 S.Ct. 2481, 101 L.Ed.2d 399 (1988). Given the inadequacy of the ordinary civil commitment process and treatment modalities, the Act's establishment of a separate civil commitment procedure that provides longterm supervision and outpatient treatment for sexually violent predators is rationally related to the legitimate governmental purpose of protecting society while providing necessary treatment and supervision. The Supreme Court has held the legislature is free to recognize degrees of harm, and the legislature may properly confine restrictions to those classes of cases where the need is deemed to be clearest. See Minnesota ex rel. Pearson v. Probate Court of Ramsey County, 309 U.S. 270, 275, 60 S.Ct. 523, 84 L.Ed. 744 (1940). The statute is not to be overthrown because there are other instances to which it might have been applied. Id. Distinguishing a class of sexually violent predators from violent criminals for the purpose of involuntary commitment does not violate equal protection rights under the United States Constitution. See id. 309 U.S. at 274-75, 60 S.Ct. 523. We overrule issue I.A.
DUE PROCESS AND EQUAL PROTECTION: EXPERT TESTIMONY
In issue I.B., appellants urge the Act violates their rights to due process and equal protection because, they say, the Act does not require that the determination of status as a sexually violent predator be based upon competent expert testimony. Article I, section 15-a, of the Texas Constitution provides that no person shall be committed as a person of unsound mind except on competent medical or psychiatric testimony. See TEX. CONST. art. I, § 15-a. The Act provides, in determining whether to seek commitment of a person, the multidisciplinary team ("Team") may request the assistance of others in making a determination of whether the person is likely to commit a sexually violent offense after release or discharge. See TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. § 841.022(b), (c) (Vernon Supp.2003). If the Team recommends the assessment of a person for a behavioral abnormality, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice ("TDCJ") or the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation ("MHMR") must use an expert to examine the person to aid in the determination. See TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. § 841.023(a) (Vernon Supp.2003). Both the person whose commitment is sought and the State are entitled to an immediate examination of the person by an expert prior to trial. TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. § 841.061(c) (Vernon Supp.2003). These statutory provisions, when read together with the constitutional requirement that an involuntary commitment not occur in the absence of competent medical or psychiatric testimony, indicate the legislature intended there be...
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