Rahmatollah Shivaee v. Commonwealth of Virginia* Orlando Lawarren Butler v. Commonwealth of Virginia**

Summary

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the civil commitments of Rahmatollah Shivaee and Orlando Lawarren Butler under Virginia's Sexually Violent Predators Act (SVPA), holding that the Act satisfies substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment and the co-extensive due process protections of the Constitution of Virginia. The court held that the SVPA's requirement that a person 'finds it difficult' to control his predatory behavior satisfies Crane, that the statute is not void for vagueness, that as a civil, non-punitive statute it violates neither the double jeopardy prohibition nor the ban on ex post facto laws, and that its clear-and-convincing evidentiary standard meets due process. The court further held the evidence sufficient to support Shivaee's commitment, as both experts diagnosed pedophilia and the Commonwealth produced clear and convincing evidence that his mental abnormality makes it difficult for him to control his predatory behavior.