Bill would boost juries’ role in sex crime cases

Sponsors cite a recent attack

By Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff | February 8, 2008

A group of lawmakers filed legislation yesterday to give prosecutors power to demand that juries decide whether offenders nearing the end of their prison terms should be placed in a state treatment facility.

The proposal was filed a week after convicted Level 3 sex offender Corey Saunders was arrested on charges he raped a 6-year-old boy in a New Bedford library. Level 3 is the most dangerous category and is considered likely to reoffend.

The lawmakers, along with community activists and Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr., said the legislation would give more power to prosecutors and community members to decide which sex offenders are released.

Under current law, prosecutors can ask that offenders who have served most of their sentences be tried to determine if they are sexually dangerous, a designation that would commit them to the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater. Offenders and their lawyers can choose whether a judge or jury hears their case.

“My son and I were driving along on the highway when we heard that a 6-year-old was raped in a library in New Bedford; we both gasped audibly,” said Mary Lauby, executive director of Jane Doe Inc., a supporter of the legislation who appeared at a press conference yesterday at the State House.

The legislation “is a step in a direction that can make a difference,” she said. “The more transparent we are, the more opportunities we have for communities to be involved, the more likely that a sexual offender will be held accountable.”

Critics said the proposal would make it harder for offenders to get a fair hearing.

“They’re trying to take it out of the hands of the judges to reach the emotions of the jurors,” said Michael G. Cashman, a lawyer who has represented sex offenders. He added that judges are better equipped to make decisions based on the law.

In making a case for changing the law, Leone said that since 1999, 25 of the 47 trials to determine if a convicted sex offender is sexually dangerous in Middlesex County have gone before judges. In 60 percent of those cases, offenders were ruled sexually dangerous. In 22 cases heard by juries, 68 percent were ruled sexually dangerous, Leone said.

Lawmakers supporting the bill include state Senator Steven Baddour of Methuen and state Representative Charles A. Murphy of Burlington.

“It’s outrageous that convicted sex offenders have a say over . . . their future,” Baddour said.

Between 2004 and 2007, judges and juries released more than half of the 181 sexual offenders who prosecutors and psychologists argued were sexually dangerous, according to the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association.

Saunders had been released from the Bridgewater center by a judge in 2006, despite arguments by prosecutors and two court-appointed psychologists that he posed a threat to children. Saunders is being held at the Bristol County House of Correction.

New Bedford police Lieutenant Jeffrey P. Silva lauded the legislation.

“I think what it gives citizens is the opportunity to be represented at the table,” Silva said of yesterday’s proposal. “If the sex offender and his or her counsel are the only ones who dictate the forum [of judge or jury] you no longer have equipoise. . . .

“I think it was a lopsided system of justice, and I think this will level the playing field.”

Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com.