Serial rapist who sparked political furor is cleared for release from Minnesota's sex offender program

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1-11-18 Minnesota:

Judges say he is 'committed to change'; others insist he should remain locked up.

Thomas R. Duvall, a serial rapist who has spent the past 30 years locked up for a series of violent sexual assaults in the 1970s and 1980s, has been approved for conditional release from the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP).

In a decision Monday, a panel of state judges approved Duvall’s petition for provisional discharge, ruling that his progress in treatment outweighs his “fearful diagnosis” as a sexual sadist. ..Continued..

U.S. High Court Leaves Minnesota Sex Offender Program Running

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10-3-17 Minnesota:

Minnesota can keep its program that indefinitely locks up sex offenders after they finish serving prison terms.

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday, Oct. 2, that it will not consider a case brought by patients of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program, who claimed the state cannot keep them in a prison-like setting. That means the state program is constitutional and may continue.

Still, state officials said that they will continue to find ways to release sex offenders from the program after years of no releases.

“Importantly, this ruling does not mean that we abandon our ongoing reforms, to prioritize the safety and wellbeing of all Minnesotans,” Gov. Mark Dayton aid. “Rather, this ruling will allow us to continue the reforms we have begun, rather than operate under a federal directive.”

State officials had feared that a federal judge would take control of the state treatment program, potentially running up large expenses. But the governor and legislators had not agreed on any major reforms to avoid federal involvement.

Supreme Court judges make no comment when they reject a case, giving no hint as to why they turned down the case.

Monday’s announcement means a federal appeals court ruling governs the issue. The appeals decision overturned a lower court decision that found the sex offender program unconstitutional. The appeals ruling removed requirements for immediate changes the lower court was prepared to order.

State Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper said she is happy the high court allowed the appeals ruling to stand after long arguing that the program is constitutional. ..Continued..

The Supreme Court won't rule on Minnesota's Sex Offender Program

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10-2-17 Minnesota:

SCOTUS declined to take on the case about whether MSOP is constitutional.

The Supreme Court has declined to take on the case to decide whether Minnesota's Sex Offender Program is constitutional.

SCOTUS confirmed on Monday it will not take on Karsjens v. Piper, the case at the center of the debate over the controversial sex offender system in Minnesota.

Two years ago, District Judge Donovan Frank ruled MSOP to be unconstitutional, as sex offenders were being civilly-committed to the state's two sex offender treatment centers, in Moose Lake and St. Peter, with little hope of ever being released.

That ruling was overturned, however, by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, prompting lawyers representing a group of offenders in the program to appeal the case to SCOTUS. ..Continued..

Judge Stays Further Action in Minnesota Sex Offenders Case

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5-3-17 Minnesota:

A federal judge has stayed further proceedings in a class-action lawsuit over Minnesota's sex offender treatment program while lawyers for the offenders ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appeals court finding that the program is constitutional.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge has stayed further proceedings in a class-action lawsuit over Minnesota's sex offender treatment program while lawyers for the offenders ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appeals court finding that the program is constitutional.

U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank declared the program unconstitutional after phase one of the case in 2015 because only a handful of offenders had ever won provisional releases. However, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed him in January.

Sex offenders appeal federal ruling on constitutionality of state treatment program

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2-1-17 Minnesota:

Court finding that state treatment is constitutional is flawed, attorney says.

A group of Minnesota sex offenders are appealing a federal court ruling in early January that upheld the constitutionality of the state's sex offender program.

In a petition filed Tuesday, attorneys representing the offenders argue that a three-judge panel of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis erred when it overturned a 2015 court ruling out of Minnesota. The Minnesota judge had found that the state's sex offender program violated civil liberties by locking people up indefinitely without regular review.

The attorneys are seeking a rehearing before the full Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

After a six-week trial in 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Donovan Frank in St. Paul declared the Minnesota Sex Offender Program, or MSOP, unconstitutional, citing its low rate of release and the state's failure to conduct regular risk assessments of the roughly 720 offenders confined indefinitely at secure treatment centers in Moose Lake and St. Peter.

Appeals court ruling on Minnesota's sex offender program means uncertainty for offenders — and a new political reality for lawmakers

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1-20-17 Minnesota:

Dan Gustafson was disappointed — but hardly surprised.

Gustafson had spent more than six years suing Minnesota’s sex offender treatment program for locking up hundreds of offenders — most of whom had already served sentences in state prisons — without ever letting anyone out. Then, in 2015, he had a major victory: Federal Judge Donovan Frank declared the program to be unconstitutional, ruling that it had turned into permanent warehouse for sex offenders. Frank ordered the state to immediately make changes.

The state appealed the ruling, and on Jan. 3, a three-judge panel on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Frank's decision.

The state and proponents of the program celebrated the decision, saying it upheld a program that is necessary to keep the public safe from dangerous sex offenders. Gustafson and others pushing to change the way MSOP operates say Frank's ruling never meant that dangerous pedophiles and rapists would roam free, but that it did give hope to less dangerous offenders in the program that they might one day get out. And its reversal now puts nearly 100 offenders readying for release in limbo.

Appeals court upholds provisional release of man from Minnesota Sex Offender Program

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1-19-17 Minnesota:

The state Court of Appeals upheld a judicial panel's decision to provisionally release a man from the Minnesota Sex Offender Program, saying Tuesday that the evidence supports the panel's findings, despite conflicting expert opinions on the matter.

Jesse Lee, formally known as Dennis Wiesinger, pleaded guilty in 1976 to aggravated kidnapping and sodomy after he raped a woman and stabbed her multiple times with a file while on parole for a prior rape conviction, according to court documents.

He was committed as a psychopathic personality and in 2007 he entered the Minnesota Sex Offender Program, which houses civilly committed sex offenders after they complete their prison terms. In 2013, he petitioned for a provisional discharge from the program, and it was granted after hearings by a special review board and the judicial appeal panel.

Federal judges: MN sex offender program constitutional

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1-3-17 Minnesota:

A U.S. Court of Appeals panel has reversed a ruling that had declared Minnesota's sex offender confinement program unconstitutional, putting the matter back in the hands of a lower court and easing pressure on lawmakers to make major changes.

Tuesday's ruling overturned an order by federal Judge Donovan Frank that threatened to upend the program.

Minnesota is one of about 20 states where sex offenders can be confined through a civil court order either instead of prison or after an offender's prison sentence is up. It came under scrutiny because offenders had little chance of leaving the secured facilities once committed.

More than 700 civilly committed sex offenders had sued the state claiming it was unconstitutional to keep them locked up indefinitely and that they don't get adequate treatment from the program run by the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

FIRST unconditional release ordered from sex offender program

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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

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Minnesota House files amicus brief in sex offender program appeal

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12-29-15 Minnesota:

The Minnesota House of Representatives filed an amicus brief Tuesday in the state’s appeal of a judge’s ruling that the state’s Sex Offender Program is unconstitutional.

The brief, which argues the program is constitutional, is a show of bipartisan unity in the face of a June ruling from U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank that the program violates constitutional rights by confining offenders indefinitely even though they have already served their sentences.

Frank ruled that a program designed to treat offenders for their sexual disorders had become punitive in nature, wrongly confining the offenders behind razor wire even when they could be treated in less restrictive community settings such as halfway houses.

The judge gave the state until the end of 2017 to conduct independent risk evaluations of all 720 offenders now confined in the program and to create a road map for release.

The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave the state a victory this month when it ordered a stay until it hears the state’s appeal. Oral arguments are set for April.

Order Halts Changes to Minnesota Sex Offender Program

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12-16-15 Minnesota:

A federal appeals court has granted a full stay of a judge's order requiring changes to Minnesota's sex offender program.

In a one-page order Tuesday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put the ruling on hold while it considers the state's appeal. The court scheduled oral arguments for April 12 in St. Louis. The court granted a temporary stay earlier this month while it considered a full stay.

U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank declared the program unconstitutional in June, citing how rare it is for anyone to get released from it. In October, he ordered changes including risk assessments of all the more than 700 offenders in the program to determine which should be put on a pathway for release.

Appeals court stays federal judge's order on Minnesota sex offender program

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12-3-15 Minnesota:

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A federal appeals court has stayed a federal judge's order requiring changes to Minnesota's sex offender program.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the temporary stay on Wednesday in a two-sentence order. The court said the stay would be in effect as it considers Minnesota's motion for a stay pending appeal.

U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank declared the program unconstitutional in June, citing problems including the indefinite detention of the people in the program and the rarity of their release. In October, he ordered changes including risk assessments for all offenders to decide which can be put on a path toward release.

The state has argued it is properly holding more than 700 offenders it would be too risky to free. ..Source.. by Star Tribune

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Minn. political leaders struggle to fix constitutionally questionable sex offender policy

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11-26-15 Minnesota:

As judge presses for reforms, even defenders admit flaws.

Two years before Gov. Mark Dayton said that he “strongly believed” in the constitutionality of Minnesota’s legally questionable sex offender incarcerations, the DFL governor just as strongly criticized the program for practices he said left many offenders “warehoused forever” beyond their prison terms.

This week, U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank rejected the state’s request that he delay his own court-ordered reforms to the controversial Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP). The state immediately filed another appeal to stay Frank’s ruling, this time to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Dayton is fully on board with the appeals, as attorneys for the state look for a higher court to overturn Frank’s June ruling that the program is unconstitutional. The DFL governor said his earlier criticisms of the program still stand, arguing it’s not a contradiction.

“Something that may not be good public policy is not by definition then unconstitutional,” Dayton said in an interview with the Star Tribune. He said MSOP “wasn’t set up with this intention of holding people indefinitely.”

Judge rejects Minnesota's bid to delay reforms in sex offender program

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11-23-15 Minnesota:

He says Minnesota did not prove changes to sex offender program risked public safety.

Minnesota’s bid to delay dramatic court-ordered reforms in its controversial sex offender program has been rejected by a federal judge.

The decision, handed down Monday by U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank, means the state must promptly evaluate hundreds of sex offenders detained at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) and release those who no longer meet the legal criteria for confinement.

The state must also ensure that there are less-restrictive treatment alternatives in the community for those being released, according to an October court order.

In his ruling, Frank dismissed the state’s contention that moving forward with such changes would jeopardize public safety, saying the state “failed to articulate in sufficient detail” the safety risks.

“The court’s order simply requires [the state] to establish a system through which individuals who are assessed to no longer pose a safety risk may be promptly transferred to a less-restrictive alternative … or released into the community with proper transitional services,” Frank wrote.

Poll: Sex offender complexity leaves many confused about right choice

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11-14-15 Minnesota:

The moral and legal complexity of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program leaves many unsure about the right answer for the fraught civil commitment effort, according to The Free Press’ online poll.

A plurality of respondents — 84, or 43 percent — said they weren’t sure whether a recent judge’s order to evaluate inmates for potential release or discharge was the right move.

But, among those who had an opinion, voters were almost 2-to-1 in favor of keeping offenders confined rather then moving more of the roughly 700 inmates toward release, as the judge has sought. The program civilly commits sex offenders after they complete prison sentences and imposes treatment in an effort to lower their risk of reoffending.

The poll, sent to readers by email Wednesday, asked: “A federal judge has ordered the Minnesota Sex Offender Program to put more inmates on the path to transfer or discharge. Do you think this is an improvement?”

Lawyers for Minnesota sex offenders seek to keep pressure on

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11-5-15 Minnesota:

ST. PAUL — Lawyers representing Minnesota sex offenders in a confinement program deemed unconstitutional are urging a federal judge to keep the pressure on the state to make changes.

In a brief filed Wednesday, the attorneys said U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank should deny a state motion seeking to suspend his order spelling out a list of mandated changes. The Minnesota attorney general's office and key state officials want Frank to issue a stay of last week's ruling while they appeal his order. That appeal has been filed.

Frank ordered the more than 700 offenders in two secure treatment facilities to be urgently reevaluated, with those no longer seen as a serious risk moved to lesser-restrictive settings.

Their attorney, Dan Gustafson, says suspending the ruling would only further an unconstitutional loss of liberty. ..Source.. by Mankato Freepress.com

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Judge Orders Risk Review of Sex Offenders in Civil Program

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10-29-15 Minnesota:

A federal judge ordered a risk assessment Thursday of all sex offenders in Minnesota's restrictive civil confinement program to determine which of them can be put on a pathway for release.

Judge Donovan Frank laid out what he says must be done to fix problems with indefinite detentions that he ruled unconstitutional earlier this year.

His ruling sets a swift timetable for state officials to carry out the review and start transferring lower-risk offenders. While some evaluations must be conducted sooner, Frank said he wants the full program population reviewed by the end of 2017.

Lawyers for the state quickly filed a notice of appeal with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and Gov. Mark Dayton said he hoped Frank would stay his ruling pending the appeal. State officials argue they are properly holding more than 700 offenders they consider too risky to free, even after they have served their prison terms.

In his ruling, Frank cited the state's "decades-long history of operating an unconstitutional civil commitment program, the deeply systemic nature of the problems plaguing this state's sex offender civil commitment scheme, and the minimal progress made toward remedying any constitutional infirmities since the start of this litigation four years ago."

‘Somebody needed to do it’: why attorney Dan Gustafson took on the Minnesota Sex Offender Program

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10-21-15 Minnesota:

Dan Gustafson has never been a big planner.

He certainly wasn’t planning on becoming a lawyer when he dropped out of high school, and he wasn’t thinking much about politics as he worked as a line cook at Country Kitchen in Moorhead, Minnesota. And on a recent September afternoon, as he stepped up to a makeshift podium in front of a throng of television cameras, he said he didn’t plan any kind of speech. "Fire away," he told reporters.

The 57-year-old attorney would eventually make a name for himself in antitrust and medical device cases against big corporations. Even after that, though, he wouldn't have mapped out where he's ended up today: as one of the central figures in a high-profile class-action lawsuit that could upend the way the state deals with some of its most dangerous sex offenders.

But in some ways, Gustafson's blue-collar upbringing helped prepare him to be smack dab in the middle of a legal and political debate over the constitutional rights of more than 700 people locked up in the state’s sex offender treatment program — also known as his clients.

Hearing offers prelude to coming fight over Minnesota Sex Offender Program reforms

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10-1-2015 Minnesota:

The letters to U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank have come from all sides: from sex offenders locked up inside the state’s treatment program who are hoping to get out; from the victims and their families who hope those same sex offenders never see freedom.

All of it is in anticipation of what lawyers in Frank’s St. Paul courtroom Wednesday referred to as “Judgment Day.”

In June, Frank ruled that the 20-year-old Minnesota Sex Offender Treatment program is unconstitutional. But to the surprise of some, he didn’t order any specific changes to the program at that time, instead calling state lawmakers into his courtroom in August to try to hash out a solution.

But lawmakers showed little interest in participating, and Frank is running out of options. His next move — which will come sometime in the next 30 days — is to order the state to make specific changes to the troubled program, which the judge says offers the promise of treatment but has instead served as a place to indefinitely keep sex offenders locked away from the public.

Review panel recommends unconditional release of sex offender from state program

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9-8-15 Minnesota:

For the first time in more than two decades, a review board is recommending the full and unconditional release of a sex offender from Minnesota’s high-security treatment program.

On Sept. 8, the Special Review Board of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) recommended Eric Terhaar for release from the program with no conditions attached.

Since the program first opened its doors in Moose Lake in 1994, only five people have been recommended and approved for release, but nearly all of those offenders were sent to halfway houses or group homes and are still under intense supervision by the state. One offender broke the rules of his conditional release and was sent back to the program, while the latest offender’s provisional release is awaiting final approval.

Terhaar, 25, has spent the last six years in MSOP and has become a kind of mascot for the controversy surrounding the program. He’s part of a group of more than 60 men in MSOP whose only offenses were committed as juveniles. The way the program is set up, juvenile offenders are treated alongside adult serial rapists and pedophiles.

“I think it demonstrates, overall, that there are some serious flaws in the program,” said Timothy Churchwell, Terhaar’s lawyer who has represented clients in MSOP for 20 years. “As it relates to Mr. Terhaar, it’s a situation that has really gone way too far.”

The process isn’t complete yet: the Minnesota Department of Human Services and the Todd County prosecutor (where Terhaar was originally committed to the program) have 30 days after the recommendation to appeal his release.