8-26-16 Minnesota:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A court panel has ordered the first full and unconditional release from the Minnesota Sex Offender Program, a 26-year-old man
who has been confined for six years because of sex acts he committed as a child.
The Supreme Court Appeal Panel ruled Wednesday that Eric Terhaar no longer requires inpatient treatment and supervision, that he is not a danger to the public and that his continued confinement is unconstitutional. The ruling affirms an opinion two years ago from a panel of four court-appointed experts who unanimously recommended that Terhaar be unconditionally discharged.
“Simply put, (Terhaar) does not belong at MSOP and may never have,” the panel said in its ruling.
Terhaar was committed indefinitely to the program in 2009, even though he was never convicted of a sex offense as an adult. He was confined in part because of acts he committed when he was 10 that could have been influenced by his circumstances, court records show.
He was born in 1990 in Georgia. His birth father went to prison and his mother abandoned him in a Las Vegas motel room shortly after his birth. His grandmother briefly raised him, but then abandoned him at a day care center. At age 10, Terhaar sexually abused his sisters, ages 7 and 10, who both had developmental disabilities. His adoptive mother made Terhaar sleep in a closet on a towel for days as punishment, according to court records. He reported multiple incidents of sexual abuse.
Human Services Commissioner Emily Johnson Piper told the Star Tribune (http://strib.mn/2bIm4gp ) that the state is considering an appeal.
“I opposed Mr. Terhaar’s immediate and complete discharge from our program to protect the public’s safety and to ensure that people are reintegrated carefully and over time, which has been proven to reduce the risk of re-offense by sex offenders,” Piper said in a statement.
If the state does not appeal in 16 days, Terhaar would be the first person ever fully released from the program since it was established in the mid-1990s. A handful of patients have been provisionally released to halfway houses with strict limits on their freedoms such as round-the-clock surveillance, GPS monitoring and random searches.
The program holds more than 700 civilly committed offenders who have completed their prison sentences. A federal judge declared it unconstitutional last year, citing the rarity of anyone’s release, and ordered major changes. A federal appeals court heard oral arguments in the state’s appeal in April, but has yet to issue a ruling. The case has put the state under increased legal pressure to demonstrate that the program provides actual treatment and a clear path toward release.
..Source.. by Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com
