In the Matter of the Civil Commitment of P.D. (083027)(Essex County & Statewide) (A-94-18; 083027)
A person facing a civil commitment hearing under the SVPA may not take discovery under Rule4:10-1, Rule 4:17-1, or Rule 4:18-1. The discovery permitted by those rules is not authorized by the SVPA and cannot be accomplished on the expedited schedule that the statute prescribes. However, based on the terms of the SVPA, a person subject to an SVPA civil commitment hearing is entitled to limited discovery focused on the elements of the State’s burden of proof. The Court therefore adopts a new court rule in which it enumerates the categories of documents subject to discovery in an SVPA proceeding and sets forth the requirements for the reports of the State’s experts.
