Habeas Corpus – Sexually violent persons

Listen to this article

U.S. Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit Affirmed.

Criminal

Habeas Corpus – Sexually violent persons

A civil commitment as a sexually violent person is merely a collateral consequence of a criminal conviction, and thus insufficient to render the person in custody pursuant to that conviction.

As applied to this case, it is clear that Stanbridge is not in custody pursuant to his sexual abuse conviction. Although his physical liberty of movement is restrained in a non-negligible way, that restraint is not a direct consequence of his criminal conviction. Rather, his civil commitment is clearly a collateral consequence of his criminal conviction, as it was not part of the judgment in the criminal case. See George v. Black, 732 F.2d 108, 110 (8th Cir. 1984) (holding that the possibility of confinement pursuant to civil commitment proceedings after the expiration of a criminal sentence is a collateral consequence); cf. Chaidez v. United States, 133 S. Ct. 1103, 1108 n.5 (2013) (‘[E]ffects of a conviction commonly viewed as collateral include civil commitment.’).

Affirmed.

14-1548 & 14-2114 Stanbridge v. Scott

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, Bruce, J., Flaum, J.

Full Text