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 section 812.5, or the person has been found not guilty of a sexually violent offense by reason of insanity, 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 or insanity 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.  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 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. 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. The number and selection of jurors shall be determined as provided in chapter 607A. If no demand is made, the trial shall be before the court.

3.  At trial, the court or jury shall determine whether, beyond a reasonable doubt, the respondent is a sexually violent predator. If the determination that the respondent is a sexually violent predator is made by a jury, the determination shall be by unanimous verdict of such jury.

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 at large. The determination may be appealed.

4.  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, 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 confinement of the director of the department of corrections pursuant to a chapter 28E agreement 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.

5.  If the court or jury is not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the respondent is a sexually violent predator, the court shall direct the respondent's release. 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 as provided in subsection 2.

Section History: Recent form

  98 Acts, ch 1171, §7; 99 Acts, ch 61, §6, 7, 14; 2000 Acts, ch 1058, §24


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