People v. Yartz

Opinion

CHIN, J.

We must decide whether a 1978 conviction based on a nolo contendere, or no contest, plea may serve as a predicate prior conviction in a civil commitment proceeding under the Sexually Violent Predators Act (SVPA or Act). (Welf. & Inst. Code,1 § 6600 et seq.) Before its 1982 amendment, Penal Code section 1016, former subdivision (3), provided that a defendant’s nolo contendere plea “may not be used against the defendant as an admission in any civil suit based upon or growing out of the act upon which the criminal prosecution is based.” (Stats. 1976, ch. 1088, § 1, p. 4931.) The…