Judge rules sex offender Cory Roberts didn’t violate probation

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8-26-2014 Washington:

A King County judge’s ruling has again freed a sex offender whose release in June from the state’s center for sexually violent predators concerned law enforcement and residents alike.

Cory Roberts, 37, was arrested late July after allegedly failing to disclose a romantic relationship to his community corrections officer. He was released from jail after a judge determined Aug. 15 that he had not violated his probation.

Roberts was convicted of sexually and physically assaulting a 3-year-old girl in 1990 when he was 13. He was babysitting the toddler in Benton County when the assault took place.


The girl suffered permanent brain damage and paralysis, as well as blindness in one eye and diminished sight in the other.

Four years later Roberts was convicted of third-degree rape for sexually assaulting two roommates while serving time at a King County juvenile facility while serving time for the 1990 crime.

He spent 11 years at the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island before being released into Tacoma in June after two experts decided he didn’t meet the criteria to remain at the SCC. ..Source.. by Stacia Glenn

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Career criminal's latest effort gets attention of Minnesota Court of Appeals

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8-26-2014 Minnesota:

Judges cited public safety and an invalid marriage certificate.

Arthur Senty-Haugen has been a fraud artist most of his life. On Monday, his latest stunt got a knockdown from Minnesota’s Court of Appeals.

The 47-year-old career criminal has been indefinitely committed to the state’s sex offender program since 1996, and is confined to its treatment facility in Moose Lake. That’s where he met fellow offender Brandon Benson. The two recently claimed to have married in Iowa in 2012 and asked that the program recognize their union and a legal name change for Senty-Haugen.

But like many things in Senty-Haugen’s life, the request was underlaid with fraud. The court not only pointed out that the claimed marriage was invalid because the men were incarcerated and never even in Iowa, it denied Senty-Haugen’s name change request, citing public safety concerns.

The judges noted that Senty-Haugen has committed theft and fraud in the past and currently faces charges of identity theft and credit-card fraud. Many of his crimes have been committed from behind bars. Taking Benson’s last name would make it more difficult for law enforcement, as well as creditors, financial institutions and other victims, to seek restitution and other court judgments in their favor, the Appeals Court said.

CA8: Video recording bathroom stalls of civilly committed sex offenders violates Fourth Amendment

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8-25-2014 Iowa:

Putting video camera over bathroom stalls of the Iowa Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders violated the inmates’ reasonable expectation of privacy. The recordings were not monitored in real time. Arnzen v. Palmer, 713 F.3d 369 (8th Cir. 2013):

A search occurs under the Fourth Amendment when, as relevant here, “the government violates a subjective expectation of privacy that society recognizes as reasonable.” Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27, 31-33, 121 S. Ct. 2038, 150 L. Ed. 2d 94 (2001); see also United States v. Jones, 132 S. Ct. 945, 950, 181 L. Ed. 2d 911 (2012). “[I]nvoluntarily civilly committed persons retain the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches that is analogous to the right retained by pretrial detainees.” Beaulieu v. Ludeman, 690 F.3d 1017, 1028 (8th Cir. 2012).

Although the expectation of privacy shared by involuntarily civilly committed persons and pretrial detainees is of a “diminished scope,” see Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 559, 99 S. Ct. 1861, 60 L. Ed. 2d 447 (1979), neither our court nor the Supreme Court has ever outlined exactly what expectation of privacy these persons reasonably have, outside of our holding that detainees do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their jail cells, see United States v. Hogan, 539 F.3d 916, 923 (8th Cir. 2008).

We believe, though, that single-person bathrooms (intended for functions “‘traditionally shielded by great privacy’”) are inherently different from cells, and that a civilly committed person has a reasonable expectation of privacy in a single-person bathroom when there is no immediate indication that it is being used for purposes other than those ordinarily associated with bathroom facilities. …

We therefore believe that by capturing images of patients while they occupy single-user bathrooms, CCUSO violated its patients’ reasonable expectation of privacy, thus conducting a search under the Fourth Amendment, irrespective of whether there is some chance that those images will not be viewed, see Kyllo, 533 U.S. at 31-33.

After we determine that the government’s action is indeed a search, as we did here, we apply a so-called “balancing test” to determine whether the search or seizure of involuntarily committed individuals is reasonable, considering the “‘scope of the particular intrusion, the manner in which it is conducted, the justification for initiating it, and the place in which it is conducted.’” See Serna v. Goodno, 567 F.3d 944, 949 (8th Cir. 2009), cert. denied, 558 U.S. 972, 130 S. Ct. 465, 175 L. Ed. 2d 312 (2009) (quoting Bell, 441 U.S. at 559).

We “must defer to the judgment of correctional officials unless the record contains substantial evidence showing their policies are an unnecessary or unjustified response to problems of institutional security.” Beaulieu, 690 F.3d at 1029 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

..Continued.. by 4th Amend Blog

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Non-Sex Crime May Trigger Management, Panel Says

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8-24-2014 New York:

The state may initiate civil management proceedings against a sex offender who, while on supervised release, committed a non-sex crime, a state appeals panel has held.

In Matter of State v. Claude McC., 2014 NY Slip Op 05885, the Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi (See Profile), and held that the defendant was a "detained sex offender" as contemplated under the Mental Hygiene Law, and subject to civil management.

Here, the defendant pleaded guilty in 2005 to a count of attempted course of sexual conduct against a child and was sentenced to six years in prison plus five years of post-release supervision. While on release, McC pleaded guilty to possessing a stolen credit card and was sentenced to a 1 1/2-to-3-year prison term. The term of post-release supervision on sex crime was held in abeyance.

The attorney general's office, which did not begin civil management proceedings while McC was in prison on the sex offense, filed a petition while he was incarcerated on the stolen property charge.

Patience is no virtue on MSOP injustice

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8-24-2014 Minnesota:

A federal judge seems willing to give the state more time. There’s scant evidence it will be used well.

For many years, critics of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program have worried that this state may be guilty of cruel injustices.

They’ve worried that Minnesota’s sweeping, inconsistent system for dumping sex offenders who have completed prison sentences into so-called “treatment centers” may be imposing retroactive life sentences on some “clients” who pose no serious threat to the public, while giving them no effective treatment.

As of this summer, this is no longer a worry.

Now it’s a fact.

Mankato attorney steeped in sex offender controversy

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8-24-2014 Minnesota:

Ryan Magnus sat on state task force

As an attorney for dozens of sex offenders and a member of a high-profile panel to guide lawmakers and the courts, Ryan Magnus has a unique view of Minnesota’s sex offender quandary.

When Magnus, a defense attorney with Mankato-based Jones and Magnus, looks at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program, he doesn’t only see the worst of the worst.

He sees people who only committed crimes as juveniles, before they mentally matured. It's too soon to reliably guess if they’ll re-offend as adults. The poster child for these cases is Eric Terhaar, a 24-year-old whose offenses were committed between the ages of 10 and 14.

He sees people who have lived crime-free after their sentences, only to be swept up by a system whose only option to monitor them was confinement in St. Peter or Moose Lake. Among them are Cedrick Ince, who was successfully on supervised release for eight months before being committed.

February trial date set for constitutional challenge of Minnesota sex offenders program

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8-21-2014 Minnesota:

A Feb. 9 trial date has been set for a constitutional challenge to Minnesota's sex offenders treatment program.

U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank set the date Thursday during a hearing in St. Paul on the case.

Some 700 people are indefinitely committed to the program. Almost no one has gotten out of the program since it was launched, and patients have argued that makes it unconstitutional.

Frank had hoped to bring the lawsuit to trial before the end of the year, but experts evaluating the patients said they couldn't finish their work that quickly. Frank has asked those experts to make their report by mid-November.

The exact scope of the trial has yet to be determined. ..Source.. by The Republic

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California Supreme Court: Prosecutor did not engage in 'pervasive pattern' of misconduct

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This decision overturns THIS earlier POST

8-18-2014 California:

In a political victory for Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, the California Supreme Court on Monday cleared his chief of staff and best friend of a misconduct finding that threatened to taint Rosen's legacy and the chief's effectiveness.

The justices rejected an appellate panel's ruling that Chief Assistant District Attorney Jay Boyarsky had engaged in a "pervasive pattern" of misconduct that justified overturning a jury's decision to commit a convicted child molester to a state mental hospital.

The unanimous ruling by the high court not only largely restores Boyarsky's reputation, but it also spares Rosen from having to harshly discipline his close ally.

Since he took office in 2011, Rosen has fulfilled his promise to crack down on overzealous prosecutors, but the union that represents government attorneys says he has shown favoritism to his supporters and members of his administration rather than being evenhanded.

Monday's 56-page ruling comes after Boyarsky had been slammed in late 2012 by a Sixth District Court of Appeal panel, which reversed a jury's judgment that convicted child molester Dariel Shazier was a sexually violent predator.

Experts Seek More Time To Issue Sex Offender Program Report

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8-18-2014 Minnesota:

Four court-appointed experts who are evaluating the Minnesota Sex Offender Program are asking a federal judge for more time to finish their work.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank last week, the experts said they were optimistic when they said they could have a final report by the end of this month. They are now proposing an extension until mid- or late-November.

Frank says in a document filed last week that the implications of this request will be discussed at a status conference Thursday. At a hearing in July, Frank had expressed interest in accelerating the case and getting a trial underway as soon as this fall.

The experts are reviewing MSOP as part of litigation that alleges the program is unconstitutional. ..Source.. by CBS Minnesota

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24-year-old likely to be released soon from Minn. sex offender program

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8-14-2014 Minnesota:

During federal court hearing for a young sex offender, the state commits to “expedited process.”

A young man who has spent the past five years under state confinement as a sex offender for acts he committed as a youth could soon become just the third person ever discharged from the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP).

At a federal court hearing Tuesday, a top official said the state could petition to release Eric Terhaar, 24, with certain conditions, within months after he is moved to a less-secure facility.

“We are committed to an expedited process for Mr. Terhaar,” said Nancy Johnston, executive director of the MSOP.

The decision signals a change in the state’s attitude toward juvenile offenders and could set the stage for the release of other younger offenders held at MSOP treatment centers in Moose Lake and St. Peter, attorneys said.

Terhaar, who himself grew up in horrific conditions of abuse, is one of more than 50 men held indefinitely in MSOP who have never been convicted of sex crimes as adults. Their detention among older rapists, child molesters and other adult offenders has been roundly criticized by experts, who argue that juveniles are at a low risk of reoffending and should receive specialized treatment.

Our View: Risk grows in sex offender program

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8-13-2014 Minnesota:

Why it matters: Minnesota's program of confinement / treatment of sex offenders risks being overturned

In another reminder of Minnesota’s flawed policy on sex offenders, a federal judge raised clear doubts about the constitutionality of the entire program even though he ruled to prohibit immediate release of two offenders.

Judge Donovan Frank ruled Monday that two sex offenders who are part of a class action suit would not be immediately released and the petition of their lawyers was denied.

But Frank’s opinion was heavy with suggestions that the Minnesota program is unconstitutional and he moved to speed up the trial date of the class action suit brought on behalf of numerous offenders.

Some Minnesota legislators said this wouldn’t happen -- that a federal judge would never want the release of sex offenders on his watch. But that assurance seems iffy at best now. Some legislators used that as a reason for not acting on real reform.

Judge won't allow release of sex offender

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8-12-2014 Minnesota:

In denying motion, court raised concerns about a systemic failure in Minnesota’s treatment of sex offenders after prison time.

A federal judge has rejected motions to release or transfer two sex offenders while raising serious doubts about the constitutionality of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP).

In a ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank denied a motion for the immediate release of Eric Terhaar, 24, who has spent the past five years under state confinement for acts he committed as a juvenile. Frank also denied a motion to immediately transfer Rhonda Bailey, 48, the only woman ever committed as a sex offender in Minnesota, to a separate women’s facility.

But while the ruling is a setback for individual sex offenders seeking short-term relief, Frank indicated there may be a deeper, systemic failure with MSOP and Minnesota’s current system of locking away sex offenders indefinitely in treatment centers after they have completed their prison sentences.

Frank quoted a state task force report that said there is “broad consensus that the current system of civil commitment of sex offenders in Minnesota captures too many people and keeps too many of them too long,” as well as a critical report in 2011 by the state legislative auditor.

“Both reports indicate there may be systemic problems with MSOP and its application of the commitment statutes,” Judge Frank wrote. In a ruling earlier this year, Frank had referred to the sex offender program as “clearly broken” and in need of immediate reform.

Federal judge to expedite constitutional challenge to Minnesota Sex Offender Program

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8-11-2014 Minnesota:

A federal judge has denied motions for the immediate release of a man from the state's sex offender program and the transfer of the only woman in the program to a less-restrictive facility.

But U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank also said in an order Monday that he wants to expedite a class-action challenge to the constitutionality of the program and set it for trial later this year. He told attorneys for both sides to come with trial dates in mind when they hold a previously scheduled pretrial conference next week.

The lawsuit alleges that the Minnesota Sex Offender Program is unconstitutional because it keeps offenders locked up indefinitely. Nearly 700 offenders have been civilly committed to high-security facilities in Moose Lake or St. Peter after their prison terms were completed. ..Source.. by StarTribune

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Section 246B.09 Claim Against Estate of Deceased Civilly Committed Sex Offender

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8-7-2014 MINNESOTA STATUTES AND CODES:

246B.09 CLAIM AGAINST ESTATE OF DECEASED CIVILLY COMMITTED SEX OFFENDER.

Subdivision 1. Estate of a civilly committed sex offender.

Upon the death of a civilly committed sex offender, or a former civilly committed sex offender, the total cost of care provided to the individual, less the amount actually paid toward the cost of care by the civilly committed sex offender, must be filed by the commissioner as a claim against the estate of the civilly committed sex offender with the court having jurisdiction to probate the estate, and all proceeds collected by the state in the case must be divided between the state and county in proportion to the cost of care each has borne.

Subd. 2.Preferred status.

An estate claim in subdivision 1 must be considered an expense of the last illness for purposes of section 524.3-805.

If the commissioner determines that the property or estate of a civilly committed sex offender is not more than needed to care for and maintain the spouse and minor or dependent children of a deceased civilly committed sex offender, the commissioner has the power to compromise the claim of the state in a manner deemed just and proper.

Subd. 3.Exception from statute of limitations.

Any statute of limitations that limits the commissioner in recovering the cost of care obligation incurred by a civilly committed sex offender or former civilly committed sex offender must not apply to any claim against an estate made under this section to recover cost of care.

History:

2009 c 79 art 3 s 15; 2010 c 300 s 17 ..Source..

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Appeals court orders Jacksonville sex offender released from commitment

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8-7-2014 Florida:

An appeals court has ordered the release of a Jacksonville sex offender who was committed under the state’s Jimmy Ryce Act after he had completed his prison sentence.

Prosecutors said the case was not over and stressed that Victor V. Reed was unlikely to get out anytime soon.

The case will go to the Florida Supreme Court for a final ruling, but prosecutors said the “loophole” that might let Reed get out has already been closed as part of a modification of the Jimmy Ryce Act that occurred earlier this year.

The act allows for the psychiatric review or civil commitment of sexually violent offenders even after they finish their prison sentences.

Reed, 48, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual battery in May 2013. Circuit Judge Virginia Norton sentenced him to the 481 days he had already served in jail.

Usually that would mean Reed was free, but he remained in custody overnight to be “processed out.” The next day the Department of Corrections notified the Department of Children and Families that Reed was a potential Jimmy Ryce inmate. Children and Families responded with a “detainer” letter asking for Reed to be transported to the Florida Civil Commitment Center, which is where sexual offenders and predators are held under the Jimmy Ryce Act.

Pedophile refuses to have mental evaluation

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8-7-2014 Washington:

A case against a convicted pedophile from Kennewick was put on hold Wednesday because he refuses to participate in a mandatory psychological evaluation.

Stephen Robinson's decision in Benton County Superior Court means he will be held indefinitely in McNeil Island's Special Commitment Center until he changes his mind.

The state Attorney General's Office has been trying to keep Robinson locked up, possibly for the rest of his life, but needs a ruling by a judge or a jury that he's a sexually violent predator. An evaluation by a mental health professional is a required part of the process.

Robinson, 57, has a history of sex crimes going back three decades, continues to fantasize about young girls and would be a danger to the community if released from custody, Assistant Attorney General Jeremy Bartels has said.

Robinson was convicted of indecent liberties in Benton County in 1984. He started molesting a 3-year-old girl within days of meeting her, and the abuse lasted more than six months until the girl reported it to her father, according to court documents.

Man asks to be released from predator commitment

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8-6-2014 Iowa:

The fate of a former Evansdale man accused of abusing children in the 1990s is in the hands of a judge.

Galen Kendric Shaffer has spent the last 20 years in prison for sex abuse or been civilly confined for sex offender treatment.

Now 38, Shaffer said he is ready to be released from the state’s Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders in Cherokee. During a bench trial Tuesday, he told the judge he has achieved insights into his offense, and he has a relapse prevention plan and a support network to assist him.

He said he would prefer to be supervised after he is released.

“It gives everyone security knowing I’m under supervision,” he said.

Under the state’s sexual predator law, sex offenders can be committed for treatment if they have a mental abnormality that makes it more likely they will offend again.

Man escapes sex offender program Sunday

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UPDATE 8-8: Marshals arrest Iowa sex offender in Oklahoma.

8-3-2014 Iowa:

CHEROKEE (KWWL) - Authorities in northwest Iowa are looking for a 42-year-old man who escaped from a sex offender transition release program early Sunday. According to the Iowa Department of Human Services, he didn't return from his workplace and was last seen in the Storm Lake area.

Cory West is a white male, 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighing 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing a short-sleeved, red T-shirt with a University of Oklahoma symbol on the front, denim pants and a blue medical wrap on his left wrist.

The courts of the Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders (CCUSO) ordered West on the campus of the Cherokee Mental Health Institute in 2011. He became eligible for the transition release program in 2013.

For more information, the Iowa Department of Human Services can be contacted at 515-281-5454. ..Source.. by Ally Crutcher

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