Fran Pavley

A state Assembly committee, after listening to emotional testimony from a rape victim, approved a bill by Sen. Fran Pavley to give criminal prosecutors an opportunity to keep sexually violent predators out of communities.

The Assembly Public Safety Committee Tuesday unanimously voted for Pavley’s Senate Bill 507, which is sponsored by the Los Angeles County District Attorney.

The legislation gives prosecutors the same access as defense lawyers to state hospital records of sexually violent predators, when their commitments are under review. SB 507 seeks to avoid releasing dangerous offenders who might engage in more violent acts if returned to the streets.

“SB 507 plugs a loophole in the law that has been used to deny access to state hospital records when a sexually violent predator seeks release into the community,” said Los Angeles County District Atty. Jackie Lacey. “Without these records, the district attorney is unable to present evidence that will enable a judge or jury to determine whether or not it is safe to release the offender from the state hospital. This is a grave risk to public safety.”

Jeri Elster, the victim of a brutal sexual attack in 1992, told the committee that this change in the law, if in place earlier, could have prevented the man who raped and sodomized her and other women from being allowed to return to her Los Angeles neighborhood.

“I was victimized by the justice system because I could not convict him,” Elster said. “He lives around the corner from me now.”

Pavley’s measure would give more direction to California judges, who now interpret the law in a variety of ways. Such specificity is needed in Los Angeles County, where prosecutors have been unable to access any state hospital medical and psychological records.

Over the last four years, 47 pending cases seeking continued commitments of sexually violent predators, have been dismissed, testified Susan Nava, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County’s sex crimes unit. In each of these cases, prosecutors could not make informed decisions on whether an offender might still be a sexually violent predator, she said.

The law defines a predator as having a history of a mental disorder that makes him a danger to the health and safety of others.

Pavley’s SB 507 passed the state Senate on a 40-0 vote. It now goes to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where it will be heard in August.

The bill is supported by a number of local and statewide law enforcement organizations.