People v. Dobson
Annotate this CaseDefendant petitioned to modify his maximum term of confinement, contending that Penal Code section 1170.126 should be “interpreted” to permit people found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a state hospital (“NGI committees”) to petition for recalculation of their maximum term of confinement. Defendant further asserts that a contrary interpretation would violate equal protection principles. The court concluded that section 1170.126 does not permit an NGI committee to petition for recalculation of a maximum term of confinement where section 1170.126 applies exclusively to certain “persons presently serving an indeterminate term of imprisonment ….” The court also concluded that defendant has failed to present a viable equal protection claim where, under rational basis review, defendant is not similarly situated to three classes of persons where defendant failed to negate every conceivable basis for the statute's disparate treatment between himself and those convicted of similar offenses in the same time period; defendant failed to negate every conceivable basis for the statute's disparate treatment between himself and current felons; and defendant failed to develop his claim that the statute improperly treats him differently than pre-Act insanity committees subject to a determinate maximum term of confinement. Accordingly, the court affirmed the denial of defendant's petition.
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