Holtcamp v. State
| Decision Date | 31 July 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. SC 88914.,SC 88914. |
| Citation | 259 S.W.3d 537 |
| Parties | In re the Care and Treatment of Jackie HOLTCAMP, a/k/a Jackie L. Holtcamp, a/k/a David Lee, a/k/a Jack Holtcamp, a/k/a Jackie D. Holtcamp, a/k/a Louis Holtcamp, a/k/a Lee D. Holtcamp, a/k/a Davi Lee, a/k/a Jackie Hallcamp, a/k/a Jack Louis Holtcamp, Appellant, v. STATE of Missouri, Respondent. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Emmett D. Queener, Columbia, for Appellant.
James R. Layton, Jefferson City, for Respondent.
1
Jackie Holtcamp pleaded guilty to attempted forcible rape, served his sentence, and was released. Nearly 14 years after his release, Holtcamp pleaded guilty to second-degree statutory sodomy. Before he completed his sodomy offense imprisonment, the state filed a petition to have Holtcamp treated under the sexually violent predator law.2 The petition alleged Holtcamp's attempted forcible rape conviction as the predicate offense. The sodomy offense is not a predicate offense under the sexually violent predator law.
Holtcamp argues that the probate division is without jurisdiction to commit him under the sexually violent predator law because he is not currently incarcerated for a sexually violent offense. The probate division has jurisdiction. Its judgment committing Holtcamp to the department of mental health as a sexually violent predator is affirmed.
The parties agree on the pertinent facts. In 1983, Holtcamp pleaded guilty to attempted forcible rape. He served his sentence and was released in 1985. In 1999, Holtcamp pleaded guilty to second-degree statutory sodomy. The imposition of sentence was suspended, and he was placed on five years' probation. In 2001, his probation was revoked, and he was incarcerated for the 1999 offense.
The State filed its petition to civilly commit Holtcamp under the sexually violent predator law five days before Holtcamp's scheduled release from prison. The petition alleged that Holtcamp qualified for commitment because of his 1983 attempted forcible rape conviction; that he would soon be released from a correctional center; and that he was a sexually violent predator.
Holtcamp filed a motion to dismiss. He noted he was not, at that time, incarcerated for a sexually violent offense; therefore, the probate division did not have jurisdiction to commit him under the sexually violent predator law. The court overruled Holtcamp's motion to dismiss and ordered that he be committed for control, care, and treatment until he was rendered safe to be at large.
Holtcamp appeals.3
Missouri's sexually violent predator law
The Missouri legislature created a mechanism to civilly commit sexually violent predators; i.e., "any person who suffers from a mental abnormality [that] makes the person more likely than not to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence if not confined in a secure facility and who ... [h]as pled guilty ... of a sexually violent offense." Section 632.480(5)(a). For purposes of this law, attempted forcible rape is a sexually violent offense; second-degree statutory sodomy is not. Section 632.480(4).
If the department of corrections or department of mental health believes a person in its custody is a sexually violent predator, then the agency may forward written notice to the attorney general and a multidisciplinary team to determine if the subject is a sexually violent predator. Section 632.483. The notice is provided within 360 days prior to the anticipated release from a correctional center of the department of corrections of a person who has been convicted of a sexually violent offense. Section 632.483.1(1). The multidisciplinary team is to determine if the person meets the definition of a "sexually violent predator." Section 632.483.4. The team's assessment is provided to the attorney general and to the prosecutors' review committee. Id.
The five-person prosecutors' review committee is appointed by the prosecutors coordinators training council. It also determines if the person meets the definition of a "sexually violent predator." Section 632.483.5. If the prosecutors' review committee determines by majority vote that the person meets the definition of a "sexually violent predator," the attorney general may file a petition in the probate division of the circuit court in which the person was convicted alleging that the person is a sexually violent predator. Section 632.486.4
Standard of review
Holtcamp presents a question of law: whether the court had jurisdiction to determine if he was a sexually violent predator. Because the facts are uncontested and the only question at issue is the interpretation of a statute, review is de novo. Missouri Soybean Ass'n v. Missouri Clean Water Com'n, 102 S.W.3d 10, 22 (Mo. banc 2003); see also In re Care and Treatment of Coffman, 225 S.W.3d 439, 442 (Mo. banc 2007).
The statute is ambiguous
Section 632.483.1(1) provides that the department of corrections is to give notice to the attorney general "[w]ithin three hundred sixty days prior to the anticipated release ... of a person who has been convicted of a sexually violent offense." The State argues a plain reading of this statute permits proceedings against any inmate convicted of a predicate offense, regardless of when the offense occurred, who will soon be released from the State's custody. Holtcamp argues that, in the context of all the sexually violent predator law provisions, the predicate offense must be the one the inmate is currently serving.
Holtcamp provides a reasonable interpretation of the statute but no compelling justification for construing the statute narrowly. Similarly, the State's interpretation is reasonable yet divines more from the statute than is apparent. Because the language of the statute is ambiguous — its plain language does not answer the current dispute as to its meaning — the Court turns to established rules of construction.
The sexually violent predator law is remedial
The primary rule of statutory construction is to ascertain the intent of the legislature from the language used, to give effect to the intent if possible, and to consider the words in their plain and ordinary meaning. In re Care and Treatment of Norton, 123 S.W.3d 170, 172 (Mo. banc 2003).
The sexually violent predator law does not impose punishment, but rather is rehabilitative. The sexually violent predators' confinement is for the purpose of holding the person until his mental abnormality no longer causes him to be a threat to others, and he is permitted to be released on a showing that he is no longer dangerous. Murrell v. State, 215 S.W.3d 96, 114 (Mo. banc 2007). The law seeks, above all else, the protection of society against a particularly noxious threat: sexually violent predators. See generally Laura Barnickol, Missouri's Sexually Violent Predator Law: Treatment or Punishment, 4 Wash. U. J.L and Pol'y 321, 322 (2000).
This Court gives broad effect to a statute's language to effectuate the purpose of the legislature. Abrams v. Ohio Pac. Express, 819 S.W.2d 338, 341 (Mo. banc 1991). Where the statute is remedial, it should be construed so as to meet the cases that are clearly within the spirit or reason of the law, or within the evil which it was designed to remedy, provided such interpretation is not inconsistent with the language used, resolving all reasonable doubts in favor of applicability of the statute to the particular case. State ex rel. LeFevre v. Stubbs, 642 S.W.2d 103, 106 (Mo. banc 1982).
The current confinement need not be for a sexually violent offense
Holtcamp argues that the statute is unambiguous and does not permit the proceedings to begin while he is incarcerated for a non-sexually violent offense. First, he compares Missouri's law to several other jurisdictions applying their own sexually violent predator laws. Massachusetts, Iowa, Florida, Arizona, and New Jersey have all reached the current issue and disagree on how to proceed. Massachusetts and Iowa require that the subject be currently incarcerated for a sexually violent offense. See Commonwealth v. McLeod, 437 Mass. 286, 771 N.E.2d 142, 147 (2002); In re Detention of Gonzales, 658 N.W.2d 102, 104-05 (Iowa 2003). Florida, Arizona, and New Jersey do not require that the suspected predator be presently confined for a sexually violent offense. See Hale v. State, 891 So.2d 517, 520-21 (Fla.2004); In re Detention of Wilber W., 203 Ariz. 301, 53 P.3d 1145, 1152 (2002) (); In re Civil Commitment of P.Z.H., 377 N.J.Super. 458, 873 A.2d 595, 598 (2005).
Holtcamp emphasizes Massachusetts and Iowa law because, like Missouri, their laws do not expressly provide for civil commitment based on a sexually violent crime committed in another state. He accurately notes that Florida, Arizona, and New Jersey, unlike Missouri, have express provisions in their statutes allowing importation of the predicate sexually violent crime. See Fla. Stat. Section 916.32(8)(g) (Supp. 1998); Ariz.Rev.Stat. Section 36-3701(6)(d) (2005); N.J.Stat.Ann. Section 30:4-27.26(a) (1998). Holtcamp also contends that the venue provisions of section 632.484 ensure that Missouri may not import sexually violent predicate offenses from other jurisdictions. These provisions state:
[T]he attorney general may file a petition for detention and evaluation with the probate division of the court in which the person was convicted, or committed pursuant to chapter 552, RSMo, alleging the respondent may meet the definition of a sexually violent predator and should be detained for evaluation for a period of up to nine days.
No Missouri court, however, has determined if Missouri allows such an importation even in the absence of explicit statutory authorization. There is no reason, based on the plain language of the venue provisions, why the attorney general would be prohibited from filing a petition in the Missouri county where the subject was convicted...
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