Illinois Supreme Court
Civil Court
Sexually Violent Persons
State has a right to appeal from a finding of no probable cause in a Sexually Violent Persons (SVP) proceeding, as such finding is a final and appealable civil order. Evidentiary standard for SVP probable cause hearing is that State need only present enough evidence to establish a plausible account on each of the required elements for SVP, when all reasonable factual inferences are considered. Court should not attempt to determine definitively at SVP probable cause hearing whether each element of State's claim can withstand close scrutiny as long as some "plausible" evidence, or reasonable inference based on that evidence, supports it. (FITZGERALD, FREEMAN, THOMAS, GARMAN, KARMEIER, and BURKE, concurring.)