Court: Old age not a reason for release

Earl Hoffman has had multiple convictions for child molesting, the last one in 1988. After being held for 20 years in a state mental hospital awaiting a verdict on whether he should be confined as a “sexually violent predator,” Hoffman argued that, at age 74, and with no record of violence for many decades, he is too old to be dangerous.

A state appeals court was unpersuaded.

“While a person may ‘slow down’ with age, it does not necessarily follow that interest in sexual deviancy slows down . ... ‘Old age,’ standing alone, does not relieve a person from SVP commitment,” the Second District Court of Appeal in Ventura said Tuesday in upholding a trial judge’s decision to keep Hoffman in the hospital.

Hoffman’s case illustrates the wide reach of California’s SVP law, which authorizes the state to hold sex offenders in mental hospitals at the end of their prison term if a judge or jury

finds they have a mental disorder and are likely to commit violent sex crimes if freed. They can be confined until state officials or a court find that they are safe to release.

Hoffman was first convicted of a sexrelated crime, “contributing to the delinquency of children,” in Michigan in 1963 for marrying a 16yearold girl when he was 19. He was sentenced to five years in prison in 1967 for molesting a 13yearold girl, moved to California after his release, and was convicted of various sex and drugrelated offenses in Placer and Ventura counties through 1997, serving time in prison and 15 months in a mental hospital.

After completing his last prison term, for a drug crime,

Hoffman was taken to another mental hospital in 2000 to determine whether he should be confined indefinitely as a sexually violent predator. Hoffman committed no further violations in the hospital, but the court said he also refused to take part in treatment or cooperate with staff psychologists before his case finally went to trial in 2020.

When prosecutors argued that Hoffman would molest additional victims if released, Hoffman and his lawyer noted that his last sex crime conviction was more than 30 years ago. Among five psychologists who assessed him, two said he was too old to pose a threat.

“A male’s sexual drive, and propensity for committing sexual offenses, diminishes drastically with age,” Hoffman’s attorney, Gerald Miller, said in a court filing.

But the appeals court said there was evidence to support a Ventura County Superior Court Judge Anthony Sabo’s conclusion, after a nonjury trial, that Hoffman should remain confined.

At one point during the proceedings, the court said, Hoffman declared: “Nobody can predict what I can do in the future. Not even I can.”

“We take (Hoffman) at his word,” Justice Kenneth Yegan said in the 30 ruling.