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Name: Hudec v. Superior Court
Case #: G047465
Opinion Date: 07/26/2013
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 3
Citation: 218 Fed.3d 311
Summary

Mentally ill petitioner who killed his father and was found not guilty by reason of insanity could not be compelled to testify at a trial for his extended commitment. In 1981, Hudec killed his father. Hudec was a paranoid schizophrenic and believed he heard voices telling him to commit the killing. After a stipulation that Hudec was not guilty by reason of insanity, he was committed to a state hospital for committing voluntary manslaughter, rather than first degree murder. In 2012, the prosecutor filed a petition to extend Hudec’s commitment and to compel his testimony at trial. The trial court granted the motion to compel the testimony, and Hudec petitioned for writ of mandate to overturn the court’s order. The appellate court granted the writ. Under Penal Code section 1026.5, subdivision (b)(7) a person in an extended commitment proceeding is entitled to the rights guaranteed under the federal and state Constitutions for criminal proceedings. Because the plain words of the statute provide that the rights afforded in criminal proceedings “shall” be afforded to individuals facing a section 1026.5 commitment extension hearing, the prosecution was barred from calling Hudec as a witness in the proceeding.