Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

My brother in law spent 27 yrs in prison and was release on 11/17/08. He was sent to ventura county jail to be released, but they held him on the new law of SVP. He has never had a crime like this before, and is not mentally ill nor has a violent pass. He thinks it's a vendetta against the family, because their uncle had a run in with the police a long time ago and the police beat him crippple and the family sued and won. Police use to tell my brother in law and the other brothers they will not stop until all is in jail. They have been succssful(police). It's been a year now and counting, what can he do to be released from the county jail? The public defender offfers no hope. Hired a lawyer, and he took $3000 went to the court house but got no where. He didn't know much about the SVP law and told the family that the court will do what they want. The lawyer called the brother in new york(lawyer) and he said the same, the court in CA will do what they want when it comes to the SVP laws. He wanted much more money. Can you offer some soultion or maybe a lawyer who can do pro bono work. Can we contact the FBI to investigate if we believe his civil rights are being violated? He has not been able to have visit for four months and ever time we ask when is he able to visit, they give new dates, but on the given date still no visit. It is not like him not to call or to write. Something fishy is going on and we cannot find it out. when he first got to the county jail, the police opened his cell when he was sleeping and in inmate came in his cell and started to fight with him for no apparent reason. something is fishy!!! And to top it all off he is INNOCENT. PLEASE HELP!!


Asked on 1/25/10, 1:44 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Marshall Law Office of Robert L, Marshall

You probably aren't going to like this answer... but your brother's best bet is to go back to the Public Defender. The Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) laws are very complex and private attorneys don't handle these cases very often because most SVP defendants can't afford to hire a lawyer.

Under the SVP laws (which aren't new, but have been amended over the past couple of years), a state prison inmate who has been convicted of certain sex crimes, and suffers from a mental disorder that predisposes him to committing sex offenses, and is likely to re-offend, can be committed to a state mental hospital at the end of his sentence. It doesn't matter whether the current sentence was for the SVP qualifying crime; any past conviction of one of the listed offenses. When the defendant is close to being released from prison, he is examined by a psychologist to see if he has a diagnosable mental disorder that would qualify him for SVP commitment.

You are unlikely to find a qualified attorney for an SVP case for $3,000.00.

Lawyers are like doctors, plumbers or any other professional person. They need to be paid for their time or they don't stay in business long. Public defenders are lawyers paid to defend people accused of crime. A public defender who is handling SVP cases is likely to be experienced and well trained, and will have access to extensive resources to handle these cases.

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Answered on 1/30/10, 2:16 pm


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