229A.7 - TRIAL, DETERMINATION, COMMITMENT PROCEDURE, CHAPTER 28E AGREEMENTS, MISTRIALS.
229A.7 TRIAL, DETERMINATION, COMMITMENT PROCEDURE,
CHAPTER 28E AGREEMENTS, MISTRIALS.
1. If the person charged with a sexually violent offense has been
found incompetent to stand trial and the person is about to be
released pursuant to chapter 812, or if a petition has been filed
seeking the person's commitment under this chapter, the court shall
first hear evidence and determine whether the person did commit the
act or acts charged. At the hearing on this issue, the rules of
evidence applicable in criminal cases shall apply, and all
constitutional rights available to defendants at criminal trials,
other than the right not to be tried while incompetent, shall apply.
After hearing evidence on this issue, the court shall make specific
findings on whether the person did commit the act or acts charged,
the extent to which the person's incompetence affected the outcome of
the hearing, including its effect on the person's ability to consult
with and assist counsel and to testify on the person's own behalf,
the extent to which the evidence could be reconstructed without the
assistance of the person, and the strength of the prosecution's case.
If, after the conclusion of the hearing on this issue, the court
finds, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the person did commit the act
or acts charged, the court shall enter a final order, appealable by
the person, on that issue, and may proceed to consider whether the
person should be committed pursuant to this chapter.
2. If a person has been found not guilty by reason of insanity,
the court shall determine whether the acts charged were proven as a
matter of law. If as a matter of law the finding of not guilty by
reason of insanity requires a finding that the underlying elements of
the charged offense were proven, then no further fact-finding is
required. If as a matter of law the finding of not guilty by reason
of insanity does not require a finding that the underlying elements
of the charged offense be proven, the case shall proceed in the same
manner as if the person were found to be incompetent to stand trial
as provided in subsection 1.
3. Within ninety days after either the entry of the order waiving
the probable cause hearing or completion of the probable cause
hearing held under section 229A.5, the court shall conduct a trial to
determine whether the respondent is a sexually violent predator. The
respondent or the attorney for the respondent may waive the
ninety-day trial requirement as provided in this section; however,
the respondent or the attorney for the respondent may reassert a
demand and the trial shall be held within ninety days from the date
of filing the demand with the clerk of court. The trial may be
continued upon the request of either party and a showing of good
cause, or by the court on its own motion in the due administration of
justice, and when the respondent will not be substantially
prejudiced. In determining what constitutes good cause, the court
shall consider the length of the pretrial detention of the
respondent.
4. The respondent, the attorney general, or the judge shall have
the right to demand that the trial be before a jury. Such demand for
the trial to be before a jury shall be filed, in writing, at least
ten days prior to trial. If no demand is made, the trial shall be
before the court. Except as otherwise provided, the Iowa rules of
evidence and the Iowa rules of civil procedure shall apply to all
civil commitment proceedings initiated pursuant to this chapter.
5. a. At trial, the court or jury shall determine whether,
beyond a reasonable doubt, the respondent is a sexually violent
predator. If the case is before a jury, the verdict shall be
unanimous that the respondent is a sexually violent predator.
b. If the court or jury determines that the respondent is a
sexually violent predator, the respondent shall be committed to the
custody of the director of the department of human services for
control, care, and treatment until such time as the person's mental
abnormality has so changed that the person is safe to be placed in a
transitional release program or discharged. The determination may be
appealed.
6. If the court or jury determines that the respondent is a
sexually violent predator, the court shall order the respondent to
submit a DNA sample for DNA profiling pursuant to section 81.4.
7. The control, care, and treatment of a person determined to be
a sexually violent predator shall be provided at a facility operated
by the department of human services. At all times prior to placement
in a transitional release program or release with or without
supervision, persons committed for control, care, and treatment by
the department of human services pursuant to this chapter shall be
kept in a secure facility and those patients shall be segregated at
all times from any other patient under the supervision of the
department of human services. A person committed pursuant to this
chapter to the custody of the department of human services may be
kept in a facility or building separate from any other patient under
the supervision of the department of human services. The department
of human services may enter into a chapter 28E agreement with the
department of corrections or other appropriate agency in this state
or another state for the confinement of patients who have been
determined to be sexually violent predators. Patients who are in the
custody of the director of the department of corrections pursuant to
a chapter 28E agreement and who have not been placed in a
transitional release program or released with or without supervision
shall be housed and managed separately from criminal offenders in the
custody of the director of the department of corrections, and except
for occasional instances of supervised incidental contact, shall be
segregated from those offenders.
8. If the court makes the determination or the jury determines
that the respondent is not a sexually violent predator, the court
shall direct the respondent's release. Upon release, the respondent
shall comply with any requirements to register as a sex offender as
provided in chapter 692A. Upon a mistrial, the court shall direct
that the respondent be held at an appropriate secure facility until
another trial is conducted. Any subsequent trial following a
mistrial shall be held within ninety days of the previous trial,
unless such subsequent trial is continued or the ninety days are
waived as provided in subsection 3. Section History: Recent Form
98 Acts, ch 1171, §7; 99 Acts, ch 61, §6, 7, 14; 2000 Acts, ch
1058, §24; 2002 Acts, ch 1139, §8, 9, 27; 2004 Acts, ch 1060, §1, 2;
2004 Acts, ch 1084, §2; 2005 Acts, ch 158, §11, 19; 2009 Acts, ch 41,
§228
Referred to in § 81.1