THE STATE DID NOT DEMONSTRATE DEFENDANT WAS UNABLE TO CONTROL SEXUAL URGES, AS OPPOSED HAVING DIFFICULTY CONTROLLING SEXUAL URGES; THEREFORE CONFINEMENT IS NOT AN APPROPRIATE REMEDY (FOURTH DEPT).
The Fourth Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined petitioner did not demonstrate defendant was unable to control his sexual urges, as opposed to having difficulty controlling them. Therefore confinement of the defendant was not an appropriate remedy:
… [A] ” ‘[d]angerous sex offender requiring confinement’ ” is a sex offender “suffering from a mental abnormality involving such a strong predisposition to commit sex offenses, and such an inability to control behavior, that [he or she] is likely to be a danger to others and to commit sex offenses if not confined” (Mental Hygiene Law § 10.03 [e]). The statutory scheme “clearly envisages a distinction between sex offenders who have difficulty controlling their sexual conduct and those who are unable to control it. The former are to be supervised and treated as ‘outpatients’ and only the latter may be confined” … . In other words, only where the offender is “presently ‘unable’ to control his [or her] sexual conduct” may he or she be confined under section 10.03 (e) … .
… [P]etitioner failed to meet its burden of proving, by clear and convincing evidence, that he is “presently ‘unable’ to control his sexual conduct” and is thus a dangerous sex offender requiring confinement … . Contrary to petitioner’s contention, the record does not establish that respondent touched an unknown adult female without her knowledge on an unknown date; rather, the record reflects only the possibility that such an act might have taken place. The balance of respondent’s alleged SIST [strict and intensive supervision and treatment] violations are technical missteps that do not evince an ” ‘inability’ ” to control sexual misconduct … . … [T]he report of petitioner’s expert failed to meaningfully address respondent’s successful integration into the community while on SIST. At most, petitioner established that respondent “was struggling with his sexual urges, not that he was unable to control himself” … , and that is legally insufficient to justify confinement under Mental Hygiene Law § 10.03 (e) … . Matter of State of New York v Scott M., 2022 NY Slip Op 00595, Fourth Dept 1-28-22