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Name: People v. Sheek
Case #: E034840
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 2
Opinion Date: 10/14/2004
Summary

A parolee may not be committed for treatment under the Mentally Disordered Offenders Act (Pen. Code, sec. 2960 et seq.) absent proof that he received 90 days of treatment for his severe mental disorder in the year prior to his parole or release. The trial court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss for insufficient evidence under Penal Code section 2966, subdivision (b), and on appeal the People challenged the court’s jurisdiction to grant such a motion without conducting a jury trial. The appellate court affirmed, holding that trial courts possess an inherent power to provide for the orderly conduct of proceedings before them and may thus entertain and grant dispositive pretrial motions. Moreover, the People failed to prove that defendant had received any treatment for his pedophilia, which was not diagnosed until after his treatment for depression had ceased. The only treatment defendant had received in prison was for depression, which was in remission at the time of the proceedings in this case. The People had thus provided insufficient evidence to support the commitment.