P. v. Abrams
Appellant Cedric Rondell Abrams was found by a jury to be a mentally disordered offender (MDO) as defined in Penal Code section 2970.[1] The trial court ordered appellant committed to Atascadero State Hospital (Atascadero) for one year. On appeal, appellant contests the sufficiency of the evidence to support the finding that he is an MDO. He also contends that the court committed prejudicial instructional error and abused its discretion by not placing him in an outpatient treatment program.
On November 17, 2008, the day before oral argument was scheduled for this case, the Attorney General filed a motion to dismiss the appeal for mootness, as appellant was released from Atascadero after his commitment expired in February 2008. Appellant has filed a response to the motion, requesting that we not dismiss the appeal even though it is moot and that we, instead, issue a published opinion addressing some of the issues he has raised on appeal. As we are not convinced that the appeal presents issues of important public interest or that are likely to recur and yet evade review, we will dismiss the appeal as moot.
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