jlf1961
Posts: 14840
Joined: 6/10/2008 From: Somewhere Texas Status: offline
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quote:
Judge orders legally incompetent sex offender released PROVO — A judge ordered Thursday that a man declared incompetent to stand trial on charges of child sex abuse be released from jail. But 4th District Judge James Taylor said he plans to review the case of Lonnie Johnson in six months and wants two evaluations by new doctors when the case is reviewed on Nov. 17. Johnson, 38, who is a registered sex offender from a child rape conviction in Washington state, has spent the past year and a half in the Utah State Hospital. Prosecutors wanted the judge to order the Utah State Hospital to continue treating Johnson until he could face 21 counts against him of rape, sodomy and aggravated sexual assault of a child. But Taylor said he had no legal authority to keep Johnson locked up. "The constitution prohibits me from holding someone who has not been convicted and who cannot participate in their own defense," the judge said. “We are at the end of the road. I can’t do anything but have him be released from the state hospital.” Johnson has a cognitive disorder, prosecutors said. He was charged in 2007 with the 21 sexual assault charges. Authorities allege he had inappropriate contact with his stepdaughter and her cousin over five years beginning in 2001. Both alleged victims are now adults. Taylor deemed Johnson incompetent for trial in 2008. Under Utah law, a defendant fits that condition if he suffers from mental illness, cannot understand the charges against him or is unable to participate in his own defense. For a civil commitment, a doctor must find that a person's mental illness makes him a danger to himself or others. Judge orders legally incompetent sex offender released The published rates of recidivism are in the range of 10% to 50% for pedophiles depending on their grouping. http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/82/4/457.full Considering that this individual is already known to be a repeat offender, how can anyone say he is not a danger to the public? I heard about this initially on HLN, and according to all accounts, this mentally incompetent individual has been a successful business owner.
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Boy, it sure would be nice if we had some grenades, don't you think? You cannot control who comes into your life, but you can control which airlock you throw them out of. Paranoid Paramilitary Gun Loving Conspiracy Theorist AND EQUAL OPPORTUNI
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