Needham v. Superior Court

Summary

The court held that the Sexually Violent Predator Act does not authorize a prosecution-retained expert to compel a defendant to participate in a precommitment interview or testing, because formal evaluations are reserved to evaluators appointed by the Department of State Hospitals under the statutory protocol. The court also held that the People may call a qualified retained expert to testify at trial and offer an independent opinion on whether the defendant qualifies as a sexually violent predator, subject to the Evidence Code. The judgment was reversed and the matter remanded for trial, with the retained expert barred from relying on the prior unauthorized interview. Justice Groban, joined by Justice Liu, would have held that the People may not retain a testifying expert to opine on the defendant's SVP status.