Linehan, Matter of

• Decision Date: 09 February 1996
• Docket Number: No. C1-95-2022,C1-95-2022
• Citation: 544 N.W.2d 308
• Parties: In re the Matter of Dennis Darol LINEHAN.
• Court: Minnesota Court of Appeals

Page 308

544 N.W.2d 308

In re the Matter of Dennis Darol LINEHAN.

No. C1-95-2022.

Court of Appeals of Minnesota.

Feb. 9, 1996.

Review Granted March 19, 1996.

Syllabus by the Court

The sexually dangerous persons statute, Minn.Stat. § 253B.02, subd. 18b, is valid under both the state and federal constitutions. The statute, as applied to Dennis D. Linehan, violates neither the rights to due process and equal protection nor the prohibitions against ex post facto laws and double jeopardy.

Appeal from District Court, Ramsey County; Bertrand Poritsky, Judge.

Lisbeth J. Nudell, Minneapolis, Eric S. Janus, St. Paul, for appellant Linehan.

Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Attorney General, John L. Kirwin, Assistant Attorney General, St. Paul, for respondent State of Minnesota.

Susan Gaertner, Ramsey County Attorney, Mark Nathan Lystig, Assistant County Attorney, St. Paul, for respondent Ramsey County.

Daniel W. Homstad, Minneapolis, Kathleen Milner, Minneapolis, for amicus curiae Minnesota Civil Liberties Union.

Considered and decided by SHORT, P.J., RANDALL and PETERSON, JJ.

OPINION

SHORT, Judge.

On appeal from a judgment of commitment as a sexually dangerous person, Dennis D. Linehan argues: (1) the proof fell short, as a matter of law, of the statutory elements; and (2) the sexually dangerous persons statute is unconstitutional.

FACTS

While on parole from a state training school on July 25, 1956, Linehan took indecent liberties with a four-year-old girl. In February 1960, at the age of 19, Linehan engaged in sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. In July 1963, Linehan beat and repeatedly raped L.H. In June 1965 Linehan engaged in window peeping, spotted a young babysitter, and strangled her to death during an attempted sexual assault. Prior to his arrest, Linehan committed several more sexual assaults, including criminal sexual conduct with two 11- and 12-year-old sisters, and the rape of 22-year-old W.L.

In July 1965, Linehan was arrested. A grand jury indicted Linehan for murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, and kidnapping. On October 1, 1965, Linehan pleaded guilty to kidnapping, and received a 40-year sentence. In June 1975, he escaped from the minimum security unit at Stillwater. Eleven days later, he was arrested in Michigan for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl. He was tried and convicted in Michigan. When the verdict was read, Linehan pointed a finger to the victim and said, "When I get out I am going to kill you." From July 1975 through September 1980, he served time in a Michigan prison and was returned then to complete his Minnesota sentence.

Linehan was due for parole in May 1992. In March, the Ramsey County Attorney's Office filed a petition for Linehan's commitment as a chemically dependent person and a psychopathic personality. After commitment hearings, the trial court denied the petition for commitment as a chemically dependent person, but committed Linehan for an indeterminate period as a psychopathic personality. We affirmed. The supreme court reversed the commitment, citing a lack of clear and convincing evidence that Linehan had an utter lack of power to control his sexual impulses. In re Linehan, 518 N.W.2d 609 (Minn.1994) (Linehan I ). In 1994, Linehan was paroled, subject to specified conditions imposed by the Department of Corrections. First, Linehan lived in a house on the grounds of the Stillwater Correctional Facility. Second, Linehan's communications were subject to monitoring. And third, Linehan was under 24-hour-a-day surveillance by means of 4 cameras located at the house.

In September 1994, Ramsey County petitioned for Linehan's commitment under the newly-enacted sexually dangerous persons statute, Minn.Stat. § 253B.02, subd. 18b. At his commitment hearing, the trial court heard testimony from mental health professionals and corrections personnel. The director of a sex offenders group, in which Linehan has participated during his probation, described his participation in the group as appropriate and noted Linehan has developed a plan to avoid relapse. One of Linehan's parole agents testified he saw no indication that Linehan wanted to use chemicals or drugs, which conduct had played a role in his assaults. A court-appointed examiner testified Linehan does not presently exhibit a personality disorder, a sexual disorder, or a mental disorder, even though that expert had diagnosed Linehan with an antisocial personality disorder in 1992. By contrast, a licensed psychologist testified Linehan has an alcohol dependence (in remission), impulse control disorder, and an antisocial personality disorder and supported his commitment as a sexually dangerous person. Another licensed psychologist also diagnosed Linehan as a paraphilia with an antisocial personality disorder, and testified Linehan is highly likely to engage in harmful sexual conduct. Based on historical information, Linehan's treating psychologist at the security hospital diagnosed Linehan as having an antisocial personality disorder.

After considering the testimony, the trial court granted the county's petition, finding clear and convincing evidence that the combination of Linehan's course of harmful sexual conduct and personality disorder results in a high probability he will engage in future harmful sexual conduct.

ISSUES

I. Is there clear and convincing evidence that Linehan meets the standards for commitment as a sexually dangerous person?

II. Is the sexually dangerous persons statute constitutional?

ANALYSIS

I.

To support the commitment of a sexually dangerous person, the state must establish the statutory elements by clear and convincing evidence. Minn.Stat. § 253B.18, subd. 1 (1994); see Minn.Stat. § 253B.185, subd. 1 (1994) (court shall hear petition for commitment as a sexually dangerous person as provided in Minn.Stat. § 253B.18). We will not reverse a trial court's findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous. In re Joelson, 385 N.W.2d 810, 811 (Minn.1986). However, we review de novo challenges that the state failed to prove, by clear and convincing evidence, the elements required to commit an individual under the sexually dangerous persons statute. Cf. Linehan I, 518 N.W.2d at 613 (reviewing de novo whether the state proved the elements necessary for commitment as a psychopathic personality).

A sexually dangerous person is an individual who (1) has engaged in a course of harmful sexual conduct, (2) has manifested a sexual, personality, or other mental disorder or dysfunction, and, (3) as a result, is likely to engage in future acts of harmful sexual conduct. Minn.Stat. § 253B.02, subd. 18b(a) (1994). Linehan argues the state failed to prove these elements by clear and convincing evidence.

A. Course of Harmful Sexual Conduct

Harmful sexual conduct is sexual conduct that "creates a substantial likelihood of serious physical or emotional harm to another." Minn.Stat. § 253B.02, subd. 7a(a) (1994). A rebuttable presumption exists that conduct described in the definitions of criminal sexual conduct, in the first through fourth degrees, constitutes harmful sexual conduct. Minn.Stat. § 253B.02, subd. 7a(b) (1994). This presumption also applies to conduct described in the definitions of certain other serious crimes if the individual's sexual impulses motivated the behavior or if the conduct was part of a pattern of behavior having criminal sexual conduct as a goal. Id.

The trial court found Linehan engaged in numerous harmful acts, including taking indecent liberties with a four-year-old girl, raping two women, committing criminal sexual conduct with four different females, and killing a 14-year-old girl while attempting to sexually assault her. Most, if not all, of these acts create rebuttable presumptions of harmful sexual conduct under Minn.Stat. § 253B.02, subd. 7a(b). While they did not all result in criminal convictions, the statute does not require a conviction to establish a rebuttable presumption of harmful sexual conduct. See id. (creating a rebuttable presumption based on conduct described in various criminal statutes). This pattern of eight harmful sexual acts clearly and convincingly establishes a course of harmful sexual conduct. See Linehan I, 518 N.W.2d at 613 (finding this same conduct constituted a "habitual course of misconduct in sexual matters" for purposes of commitment as a psychopathic personality).

Linehan argues his acts of sexual misconduct are too remote in time to support commitment under the statute. However, Minn.Stat. § 253B.02, subd. 18b, contains no requirement of a recent overt act. Cf. In re Young, 122 Wash.2d 1, 857 P.2d 989, 1008-09 (1993) (concluding, under Washington's sexually violent predators statute, that the constitution does not require evidence of a recent act to prove dangerousness when the individual is currently incarcerated); State v. Carpenter, 197 Wis.2d 252, 541 N.W.2d 105, 114 (1995) (holding, under Wisconsin's sexually violent person statute, that the state need not produce evidence of a recent overt act to prove the probability of future acts of sexual violence if the committed person was incarcerated at the time the state filed the commitment petition, even though the defendant had been on parole for nine months before his reincarceration in July 1994). While Linehan has been on parole recently, he has been under 24-hour surveillance and living in a residence on the grounds of the correctional facility, thus simulating the protective conditions of prison. The psychopathic personality statute also allows the state to establish a "habitual course of misconduct in sexual matters" by evidence of remote acts of misconduct. See Minn.Stat. § 253B.02, subd. 18a (1994) (requiring evidence of a "habitual course of misconduct in sexual matters"); Linehan I, 518 N.W.2d at 613 (finding Linehan's criminal history (which remains unchanged in the current proceedings) demonstrates a habitual course of misconduct). The...