IN RE STATE OF NEW YORK, pet-res, v. HOWARD H., res-res

4112-4112A. IN RE STATE OF NEW YORK, pet-res, v. HOWARD H., res-res — Marvin Bernstein, Mental Hygiene Legal Service, New York (Diane Goldstein Temkin of counsel), for ap — Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, New York (Philip V. Tisne of counsel), for res — Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Michael A. Gross, J.), entered July 11, 2016, which, to the extent appealed from, memorialized the court's finding, after a nonjury trial, that respondent suffers from a mental abnormality within the meaning Mental Hygiene Law §10.03[i], unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the article 10 petition dismissed. Appeal from order, same court and Justice, entered May 22, 2015, which denied respondent's motion to preclude the State's expert from testifying at trial about unspecified paraphilic disorder (USPD), unanimously dismissed, without costs, as academic.

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4112-4112A. IN RE STATE OF NEW YORK, pet-res, v. HOWARD H., res-res — Marvin Bernstein, Mental Hygiene Legal Service, New York (Diane Goldstein Temkin of counsel), for ap — Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, New York (Philip V. Tisne of counsel), for res — Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Michael A. Gross, J.), entered July 11, 2016, which, to the extent appealed from, memorialized the court’s finding, after a nonjury trial, that respondent suffers from a mental abnormality within the meaning Mental Hygiene Law §10.03[i], unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the article 10 petition dismissed. Appeal from order, same court and Justice, entered May 22, 2015, which denied respondent’s motion to preclude the State’s expert from testifying at trial about unspecified paraphilic disorder (USPD), unanimously dismissed, without costs, as academic.

The State seeks civil commitment of respondent under Mental Hygiene Law article 10 based on a diagnosis of USPD, antisocial personality disorder, psychopathy, and multiple substance-use disorders (in remission). To qualify as a “mental abnormality” under article 10, respondent’s disorders must affect his “emotional, cognitive, or volitional capacity… in a manner that predisposes him… to the commission of conduct constituting a sex offense and that results in [his] having serious difficulty in controlling such conduct” (Mental Hygiene Law §10.03[i]). “Thus, it must be shown that the offender’s disorder ‘results in both a predisposition to commit sex offenses and a serious difficulty controlling the behavior’” (Matter of State of New York v. Floyd Y., 135 AD3d 70, 72 [1st Dept 2015], lv granted 27 NY3d 902 [2016], quoting Matter of State of New York v. John S., 23 NY3d 326, 348 [2014]).

IN RE STATE OF NEW YORK, pet-res, v. HOWARD H., res-res

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