Young v. Weston
| Decision Date | 25 August 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. C94-480C.,C94-480C. |
| Parties | Andre Brigham YOUNG, Petitioner, v. David WESTON, Superintendent of the Special Commitment Center, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Washington |
Robert Charles Boruchowitz, Seattle, WA, for petitioner.
Sarah Sappington, Seattle, WA, for respondent.
ORDER ON CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
This matter comes before the Court on cross-motions for summary judgment. This case was previously referred to Magistrate Judge Philip K. Sweigert, who heard oral argument March 24, 1995. Neither party requests further oral argument. Having reviewed the relevant pleadings, memoranda, affidavits, and other documents on file, and having reviewed the transcript of the oral argument, the Court now finds and concludes as follows:
I. BACKGROUND
Andre Brigham Young is currently incarcerated at the Special Commitment Center in Monroe, Washington, serving an indefinite term of involuntary commitment pursuant to Washington's sexually violent predator statute, Wash.Rev.Code § 71.09. He petitions the Court for a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that his confinement is unconstitutional and that the statute is unconstitutional both facially and as applied.
The parties have filed cross-motions for summary judgment on purely legal issues. Petitioner Young requests an evidentiary hearing in the event the issues of law are not resolved in his favor. Because the Court agrees with Young that the statute is unconstitutional on its face, an evidentiary hearing is unnecessary. Nor is it necessary to address the State's argument that one of Young's twenty-two claims, the claim that the cumulative effect of evidentiary errors in the trial court violated his right to a fair trial, has not been exhausted.
II. THE SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATOR STATUTE
The Community Protection Act of 1990 comprises fourteen separate sections addressing various issues related to violent crimes, particularly violent sex offenses.1 Provisions of the Act increase the sentences for sex offenders, require community registration of sex offenders, and provide for compensation for victims, among other things.
The Act also includes the Sexually Violent Predator statute, codified at Wash.Rev.Code § 71.09 (hereafter "Statute"). The Statute authorizes the indefinite commitment of defendants determined to be "sexually violent predators." In formulating the Statute, the Legislature was guided by the following findings:
The legislature finds that a small but extremely dangerous group of sexually violent predators exist who do not have a mental disease or defect that renders them appropriate for the existing involuntary treatment act, chapter 71.05 RCW, which is intended to be a short-term civil commitment system that is primarily designed to provide short-term treatment of individuals with serious mental disorder and then return them to the community. In contrast to persons appropriate for civil commitment under chapter 71.05 RCW, sexually violent predators generally have antisocial personality features which are unamenable to existing mental illness treatment modalities and those features render them likely to engage in sexually violent behavior. The legislature further finds that sex offenders' likelihood of engaging in repeat acts of predatory sexual violence is high. The existing involuntary commitment act, chapter 71.05 RCW, is inadequate to address the risk to reoffend because during confinement these offenders do not have access to potential victims and therefore they will not engage in an overt act during confinement as required by the involuntary treatment act for continued confinement. The legislature further finds that the prognosis for curing sexually violent offenders is poor, the treatment needs of this population are very long term, and the treatment modalities for this population are very different than the traditional treatment modalities for people appropriate for commitment under the involuntary treatment act.
A "sexually violent predator" is a person "who has been convicted of or charged with a crime of sexual violence and who suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder which makes the person likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence." Wash.Rev.Code § 71.09.020(1). "Sexually violent offenses" include not only rape, rape of a child, and child molestation, but also such offenses as murder, assault, kidnapping, and burglary, when the offenses are determined to have been "sexually motivated." Wash. Rev.Code § 71.09.020(4).
The Statute does not attempt to define the term "personality disorder." However, "mental abnormality" is defined as "a congenital or acquired condition affecting the emotional or volitional capacity which predisposes the person to the commission of criminal sexual acts in a degree constituting such person a menace to the health and safety of others." Wash.Rev.Code § 71.09.020(2). "Predatory" acts, for purposes of the Statute, are "acts directed towards strangers or individuals with whom a relationship has been established or promoted for the primary purpose of victimization." Wash.Rev.Code § 71.09.020(3).
The Statute allows the State to initiate the involuntary commitment process when a person's sentence for a sexually violent offense is about to expire, or when a person who was incompetent to stand trial on a charge of a sexually violent offense or who was found not guilty by reason of insanity of a sexually violent offense is about to be released. Wash.Rev.Code § 71.09.030. To initiate the commitment process, the county prosecutor or the attorney general files a petition alleging that the person is a "sexually violent offender." Id. A judge determines whether there is probable cause to believe that the person is a sexually violent predator. Wash. Rev.Code § 71.09.030. If so, the judge directs that the person be taken into custody and transferred to a facility for evaluation "by a person deemed to be professionally qualified to conduct such an examination pursuant to rules developed by the department of social and health services." Id.
Wash.Rev.Code 71.09.060(1). The Statute forbids detaining persons classified as sexually violent predators in state mental facilities or regional rehabilitation centers, "because these institutions are insufficiently secure for this population." Wash.Rev.Code § 71.09.060(3). Rather, the Statute allows confinement only in facilities located within correctional institutions. Id.; Wash.Rev. Code § 10.77.220.
The Statute sets forth no particular requirements for treatment of the detainee, except that care and treatment must conform to "constitutional requirements." Wash.Rev. Code § 71.09.080. Once each year, the mental condition of a person committed under the Statute is evaluated. Wash.Rev.Code § 71.09.070. A report of this examination is provided to the court. Id.
To obtain release, the detainee must petition the court. If it appears to the Secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services that "the person's mental abnormality or personality disorder has so changed that the person is not likely to commit predatory acts of sexual violence if released," then the Secretary authorizes the detainee to file a petition. Wash.Rev.Code § 71.090.90. The court must hold a hearing within 45 days. Id. At the hearing, the State bears the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the petitioner's mental condition "remains such that the petitioner is not safe to be at large and that if discharged is likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence." Id.
The detainee may petition the court for release even if the Secretary has not authorized the petition. Wash.Rev.Code § 71.09.090(2). Once each year, the Secretary is required to provide the detainee written notice of his or her right to petition without the Secretary's approval. Id. Such notice must be accompanied by a waiver of rights. If the detainee does not waive the right to petition, the court must hold a show cause hearing "to determine whether facts exist that warrant a hearing on whether the person's condition has so changed that he or she is safe to be at large." Id. Although the detainee has a right to counsel at the hearing, the detainee has no right to be present. Id. If the court concludes that there is probable cause, it must hold a hearing similar to the original commitment hearing, affording the detainee the right to appointed or retained counsel and experts, and affording both parties the right to a jury trial. Id.
Other than these annual review procedures, the detainee has no right to a hearing on a petition for release "unless the petition contains facts upon which a court could find that the condition of the petitioner had so changed that a hearing was warranted." Wash.Rev.Code § 71.09.100. Absent such a showing, the court is required to summarily deny the petition. Id.
III. PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Andre Brigham Young was convicted of rape on three occasions over a period spanning some twenty-two years. On October 24, 1990, one day prior to his scheduled release from prison on a 1985 conviction,...
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