5-15-15 Florida:Victor Vaughn Reed appeared to be free and clear last month after the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee ordered him released from civil commitment and the Florida Supreme Court refused to reverse the lower appellate court.
But Reed, 49, now sits in a Jacksonville jail cell after police arrested him again in what prosecutors are calling a cold case that was recently connected to Reed.
Lawyers for Reed say his arrest was improper, could be double jeopardy, and he should be released.
The issue goes before Circuit Judge Marianne Aho next month, and Reed will remain locked up until then.
Reed pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual battery in May 2013 and got sentenced to the 481 days he had already served in jail. But before he got out authorities had him civilly committed as a sex offender under the Jimmy Ryce Act. The act allows for the psychiatric review or civil commitment of sexually violent offenders even after they finish their prison sentences.
Reed’s lawyers spent the next two years arguing that the state had no right to commit him because his prison sentenced ended before he was committed.
