Ruling Favors Accessing Mental Health Records
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In a decision benefiting prosecutors statewide, the state Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the Ventura County district attorney’s office has a legal right to access the mental health records of suspected sexually violent predators.
The decision stems from a petition local prosecutors filed in August 1998 to have convicted rapist Clarence Albertson held in a mental hospital for an additional two years under the state’s Sexually Violent Predator Act.
The law says sexual predators can be committed after serving prison time if a jury finds they meet certain criteria. Albertson, who is confined at Atascadero State Hospital, has three sexual assault convictions.
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