February 25, 2008
Court Cannot Require Parolee to Waive Therapist-Patient Privilege
A parolee cannot be required to waive the privilege for communications with his private therapist in the absence of evidence that he is seeking therapy for some "nefarious" reason, the Court of Appeal for this district has ruled. Div. Six Wednesday affirmed a Santa Barbara Superior Court judge's ruling striking down a probation officer's order that Reynaldo Corona either sign a waiver of therapist-patient privilege or stop seeing the therapist he retained after serving a sentence of more than three years in prison for molesting his two stepdaughters.
Corona was released on parole in May 2006, and directed to comply with various conditions, including participation in treatment as ordered by his parole officer. In his petition for writ of habeas corpus, Corona contended that he had been attending monthly therapy sessions in accordance with his parole agent's order but had, at his own expense, undertaken private counseling with a specialist in sex offenses "to understand [his] offense and to eliminate any possibility of future difficulties."
LINK - MetNews.com
