California Judge Says Serial Rapist to Be Released

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5-24-2014 California:

The so-called "Pillowcase Rapist" who attacked at least 40 women in the 1970s and 1980s will be freed and allowed to live in a remote Southern California desert area despite a host of vocal protests, a judge ordered Friday.

Christopher Evans Hubbart, 63, must be released from a state facility by July 7, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Gilbert Brown ruled.

Hubbart will be permitted to rent a small house near Palmdale, some 45 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

"Now we are preparing for his arrival," said District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who spent months fighting Hubbart's release. "We will do everything within our authority to protect the residents of Los Angeles County from this dangerous predator."

Sex Offender Program Brings Cowardice From Minnesota Government

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5-21-2014 Minnesota:

If anything brings out the cowardice in a government official, it is when an issue of right is in conflict with a representative’s desire to remain in office, and this is what is happening with the Minnesota Government in relation to their sex offender program. The Governor and both parties in the state legislature have been unable to reach an agreement on the program, and so it looks like that state is going to lose its control of it. This revelation comes as no surprise to anyone, as most expected that no one at the capital was interested in fixing a program that the federal courts agree is broken. Instead, they seem comfortable with the idea of letting the federal court determine who should be in the program, and removing all state sovereignty over the program itself.

Minnesota is like many other states, in that it has a program to civilly commit sex offenders that are deemed dangerous to society. This would include those that a judge feels meet a specific standard of behavior and conduct, which would make them high risk to reoffend. The difference between Minnesota’s program and others in the United States is that this program was created with the sole purpose of keeping people locked up for life. Civil commitment is being used as a form of extended incarceration.

Court poised to take over Minn. Sex Offender Program, says task force member

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5-19-2014 Minnesota:

Minnesota lawmakers this session did not act on a task force's recommendations to reform the Minnesota Sex Offender Program, and one task force member believes the federal court will take control of the state program and make changes.

The program has locked up about 700 sex offenders after their prison sentences have been completed, people deemed too dangerous to release, task force member Eric Janus told the MPR News program The Daily Circuit.

The program is about 20 years old and it's grown because almost no one has been released, he said. A class-action lawsuit has gone to federal court, challenging the constitutionality of the program. It's up to the court to decide if the program is constitutional.

Janus, president of St. Paul's William Mitchell College of Law, thinks the federal court will move with "deliberate speed" to take control of the program and make changes. "There are some key pieces that have to fall into place to bring this program even into a semblance of constitutionality," he said.

Full funding for St. Peter Security Hospital restored in House bonding bill

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5-16-2014 Minnesota:

A pair of capital investment bills passed by the House Friday not only restores full funding for building and renovation work at the Minnesota Security Hospital, but includes money for several other local projects.

Put forth by Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul, and Sen. LeRoy Stumpf, DFL-Plummer, the bills came Friday before the House just hours after leaders from both the House and Senate cut a deal on which projects would be included in both.

They contain not only funding for the Security Hospital, but $126 million for the renovation of the state capitol, $279 million for the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities systems and more than $100 million for roads and bridges. It also includes funding for the Lewis & Clark water pipeline in southwest Minnesota.

Both bills now go to the Senate where they were expected to be addressed later Friday.

“There are a lot of good things, many of them a backlog from previous vetoes, at least 20,” Hausman said. “The bill is filled with lines that leverage other money: federal money, local money, private money.”

Together, the two bills spend more than $1 billion on public works projects across the state. About $56.3 million will be used to design, construct, furnish and equip new residential, program and activity facilities at the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter.

Minnesota Sex Offender Program in St. Peter receives Governor's safety award

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5-16-2014 Minnesota:

For the second year in a row, the Minnesota Sex Offender Program in St. Peter received a Governor’s Safety Award from the Minnesota Safety Council.

“We strive to provide a treatment program that is safe for clients, staff and the community,” said Facility Director Bonnie Wold. “Getting this award for the second year is really a testament to the great staff we have here. I’m very proud of my team.”

To be eligible for the award, MSOP had to show three years of staff injury rates lower than the industry average.

For 80 years, the Governor's Safety Awards have spotlighted Minnesota employers with excellent safety performance and ongoing safety programs.

MSOP employs approximately 275 people in St. Peter. The program provides services to individuals who have been court-ordered to receive sex offender treatment. MSOP has locations in Moose Lake and in St. Peter. ..Source.. by Jessica Bies

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State attorneys fighting release of Franklin County sex offender

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5-15-2014 Washington:

ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE NEWS RELEASE -- Attorneys from the Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) Unit of the Attorney General’s Office are in the Tri-Cities fighting to prevent the release of a Franklin County sex predator who has been confined to the state’s Special Commitment Center for the past 13 years.

Ronald Love, 56, has been convicted of three sexually violent offenses committed over decades. He was confined to the Special Commitment Center in 2001, when the state filed a petition alleging he is a sexually violent predator. In 2005, a trial judge agreed, and ordered Love’s indefinite commitment. Love is now asking to be released unconditionally into the community.

Under Washington’s civil commitment law, the Attorney General’s Office must demonstrate Love suffers from specific mental abnormalities and/or personality disorders that cause him to have serious difficulty in controlling his dangerous behavior and make him likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence unless confined to a secure facility.

Can sex offender represent himself at commitment hearing? NJ Supreme Court will decide

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5-15-2014 New Jersey:

On May 7, 2014, the Supreme Court of New Jersey heard oral argument on whether convicted sex offenders may represent themselves in their own civil commitment hearing. Defendant, known as D.Y., was convicted of first-degree aggravated sexual assault against a child in 1999. After having served fifteen (15) years in prison, and prior to being released, D.Y. must undergo a civil commitment hearing pursuant to the Sexually Violent Predator Act (SVPA). D.Y. wishes to represent himself at the hearing, however, the Attorney General's Office opposes D.Y.'s request on the basis that it has never been done before. ..Source.. by Maynard & Sumner, LLC of Maynard & Sumner, LLC

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Commitment hearing reset for June 10

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5-15-2014 Minnesota:

GAYLORD - A one-day, contested hearing for 24-year-old Registered Sex Offender Cedrick S. Ince, formerly held in the Sibley County Jail, was rescheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 10.

Sibley County District Court Judge Tom McCarthy granted Mankato attorney Ryan Magnus' request to continue the matter for several weeks Wednesday.

"We're asking for time to gather more information from witnesses we feel can significantly benefit Cedrick Ince," Magnus said.

Ince was moved to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) Moose Lake while awaiting a ruling on whether or not he should remain civilly committed.

On April 21, the Minnesota Supreme Court reversed Ince's commitment to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program and sent the case back to Sibley County District Court to determine his path forward.

The Supreme Court maintained previous rulings requiring that sex offenders must be found to be "highly likely" to re-offend before courts civilly commit them to the state's secure treatment program, an issue being constitutionally challenged in federal court and debated in the Legislature.

Findings may keep Aurora sex offender in jail

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5-9-2014 Illinois:

New details inside the mind of convicted sex offender 26-year-old Eric Paxton of Aurora have led the state to file a petition to keep him off the streets.

Paxton, who was sentenced to four years in prison after he was convicted of one count of child pornography in 2012, was expected to be released from prison on Saturday, having served the required 50 percent of his sentence.

But, based on an evaluation conducted in May by board certified forensic psychiatrist Angeline Stanislaus, the odds of Paxton offending again are high. She recommended that the Aurora man, who worked with children at a local YMCA, be committed as a sexually violent person, and be civilly committed until he is deemed no longer a threat.

This means that Paxton could be detained for the rest of his life by Illinois’ Department of Human Services. Illinois law requires that anyone convicted of certain types of sex offenses be evaluated before the end of their sentence. If the evaluation indicates that the person may be sexually violent it is up to the court to decide whether they will be released.

The next court date in the matter is June 12 in Kane County Court.

According to the evaluation conducted by Stanislaus, Paxton has admitted to a series of disturbing behaviors. These admissions range from wanting to strangle and sexually assault young girls, to entering their homes and stealing their undergarments.

He was arrested in May 2012, after he was questioned about peeping in the windows of Aurora residents.

Fox’s bill on sexually violent predators moves forward

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5-8-2014 California:

SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Steve Fox (D-Palmdale) on Tuesday announced that his Assembly Bill (AB) 1607 received unanimous bipartisan support from the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

The bill revises the Sexual Violent Predator (SVP) Act to make the process of conditional release of these offenders more transparent and allow input from the areas most affected by their release.

“Courts have been allowed to make unilateral decisions about placing high risk parolees into other counties without including those communities in the conditional release process,” said Fox. “This bill will allow local courts and communities to retain control of sexual violent predators.”

AB 1607 is a technical revision to the Sexual Violent Predator Act and requires that a potential county of domicile for a sexual violent predator (county where the SVP is allegedly from and may be released back to) be given notice and an opportunity to be heard in court prior to determining the location where the SVP will be required to live.

Once the court determines domicile, the placement and conditional release will be supervised by the county of domicile – transferring the jurisdiction from one court to another.

New director finds sex offender office in shambles

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5-7-2014 Texas:

When Marsha McLane showed up to her new job as director of the embattled state agency that supervises Texas' most violent sex offenders, she found her office stacked with dusty cardboard boxes, dead crickets littering the dirty carpet, no computer and telephones that did not connect with those of any other employees. Wanted posters of sex offenders decorated the walls.

The three employees in the office worked in separate cubicles, amid a maze of workstations occupied by employees of another state agency that shared the office space. In fact, McLane quickly determined that most of her agency's 26 employees worked from their homes, as had her predecessor, apparently for years.

In short, officials said Tuesday, the Office of Violent Sex Offender Management was an agency without a headquarters.

The focus of a raft of ongoing investigations, the office is responsible for residential programs for more than 300 sex offenders deemed too dangerous to be released back into society. Instead, the men are kept in state custody via civil commitments after serving their criminal sentences.

Sex offender to remain in Moose Lake

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5-2-2014 Minnesota:

Court re-examining his commitment status

A Sibley County District Court judge has ruled that the sex offender at the center of a Supreme Court ruling that left a judge and attorneys confused as to what to do next will stay in Moose Lake until it gets sorted out.

Cedrick Scott Ince, 24, who has been in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program since August 2012, had been convicted of raping a woman in October 2008. Upon completion of his sentence, however, Sibley County prosecutors had him committed to the sex offender unit in Moose Lake.

But Ince appealed that commitment, and the Supreme Court ruled last week that the district court failed to establish that other, less severe alternatives are available.

Sibley County District Court Judge Thomas McCarthy issued an order Thursday saying Ince should remain in the Moose Lake facility until May 14, the day of his hearing. After the hearing, he will be driven back. The cost of both trips will be covered by the Sibley County Sheriff's Department.

In that order, McCarthy points out, the court found "clear and convincing" evidence that "as a result of his past course of harmful sexual conduct, his mental disorders and his lack of power to control his sexual impulses, it is highly likely that Ince will engage in further harmful sexual conduct and he is dangerous to others."

Sibley County sex offender ruling confuses

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5-2-2014 Minnesota:

Lawyers, judges struggle with the case of Cedrick Ince that the Supreme Court reversed

Uncertainty was the major issue Wednesday in Sibley County District Court as the judge, prosecution and defense struggled to determine the path forward after the Minnesota Supreme Court reversed the civil commitment of a former Sibley County sex offender.

Cedrick Scott Ince, 24, is a registered sex offender who was prosecuted for two sex crimes involving rape in Sibley County in 2007 and 2008. The first took place Feb. 11, 2007, when Ince, then 17, sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl who had passed out after drinking at a party. He pleaded guilty to fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct in juvenile court and was placed on probation.

On Oct. 5, 2008, three weeks after he was placed on probation, he broke into the house of another acquaintance and raped her. He pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct and was sentenced to 48 months in prison.

Embattled sex offender agency director quits

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5-2-2014 Texas:

AUSTIN - Allison Taylor, the embattled director of the state agency that supervises high-risk sex offenders after they finish serving their prison sentences, resigned Thursday to take a job at another state agency.

Stephanie Goodman, spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, confirmed that Taylor was joining her agency's inspector general's office as a Medicaid investigator effective immediately. Her annual salary will be $70,000.

Taylor, an Austin resident who had headed the state Office of Violent Sex Offender Management since 2003, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The agenda for a Saturday meeting of her agency's three-member governing board includes an item regarding possible termination of Taylor. With her departure, the board now is expected to discuss, and possibly appoint, an interim replacement.

Lawsuit hits methods at Bridgewater State Hospital

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Apparently the lawsuit is not supposed to include civilly committed folks (See highlight)

5-2-2014 Massachusetts:

Lawyers for three mental health patients at Bridgewater State Hospital filed a class-action lawsuit against the facility Thursday, arguing that more than half of the patients there are being wrongly held in “harsh conditions of confinement,” even though they are not serving criminal sentences.

The lawsuit, filed in Norfolk Superior Court, calls for the transfer of approximately 175 patients locked up at Bridgewater mainly because they can be violent, not because they have been convicted of crimes. The lawsuit argues that the men need treatment, not incarceration.

Massachusetts is one of the few states that house civilly committed mental health patients — including those referred for psychiatric evaluations to determine whether they are competent to stand trial — in facilities run by the prison system. Most states house such patients in hospitals run by a department of mental health.

The mental and physical health of many Bridgewater patients is deteriorating, the lawsuit asserts, because the hospital illegally isolates patients, sometimes strapping them to beds. The suit says the hospital delivers inadequate mental health care “that would shock the conscience of a reasonable person.”

The mother of one of the three plaintiffs said she saw the class-action lawsuit as the only way to help her son, who has been diagnosed with autism and schizophrenia and has been held at Bridgewater since 2013, often in complete isolation.

“The system would just process and crush him, and he’d be there forever, secluded forever,” said the mother, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her family’s privacy. Her son is identified only as John Doe in the lawsuit.

Repeat sex offender again lives in care center

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5-2-2014 Iowa:

An unidentified Iowa judge has issued a secret court order placing a sexual predator in a state-run care facility alongside elderly and disabled residents.

As a result of the judge's order, William Cubbage, a four-time convicted sex offender, will not stand trial in civil proceedings based on the alleged 2011 sexual assault of a 95-year-old nursing home resident. He has instead been moved into a geriatric ward at the Mental Health Institute in Clarinda.

"I think they found a place to stash him and try to forget about him," said Willis Hamilton, an attorney for the family of Mercedes Gottschalk, one of Cubbage's alleged victims.

Until recently, the 85-year-old Cubbage was being held by the Iowa Department of Corrections pending a civil trial to decide whether he should be recommitted to the Iowa Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders. But after 28 months of court delays, the Iowa attorney general asked a judge last month to dismiss the case in its entirety. The judge agreed, and Cubbage now lives at the state-run Mental Health Institute in Clarinda.

"My mother died never having her day in court, never seeing justice," said Becky Rassler, Gottschalk's daughter. "It isn't right. He should have been brought to justice."

To have Cubbage re­admitted to the sex-offender unit, the attorney general had to prove Cubbage suffered from a "mental abnormality" that made him "likely to engage in predatory acts constituting sexually violent acts if not confined in a secure facility," court records indicate.

But on March 10, an Iowa judge declared that Cubbage was mentally impaired due to dementia — which, according to the attorney general, does not meet the legal definition of "a mental abnormality." State officials say the judge ordered Cubbage's immediate involuntary placement in the Mental Health Institute's geriatric program, which provides long-term care to adults with chronic psychiatric and behavioral problems.