The Supreme Court said it will decide whether states must prove sexually violent predatorscannot control their dangerous criminal behavior before they can be committed for treatment. Theyagreed to consider whether constitutional due process principles require proof the predators wereunable to control themselves when state seek involuntary civil commitment after the prison terms ofthe predators have ended. State officials were appealing a Kansas Supreme Court ruling last Julythat a lower court had strayed from that standard in the case of Michael T. Crane. He had beenconvicted of exposing himself to
Angela Coffel, 22, would be the first woman in Missouri committed to a mental hospital under the state’s 1998 sexual predator law. Prosecutors call her a sexually violent predator who should be committed indefinitely because she’s a danger to society. Coffel was sentenced in 1996 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to performing oral sex on two boys, aged 11 and 14. Her attorney, Lyn Ruess contends that Coffel, who was 17 at the time, was drunk and obliging the boys’ request in a game of Truth or
Davis Carpenter, Jr., 38, and Joshua Brown, 22, are charged with capital murder and six counts of rape in the death of 13 year old Jesse Dirkhising. Jesse was found September 26th in the men’s home where he had been going on weekends because he occasionally worked at the hair salon where Carpenter was a stylist. Brown told police he was Carpenters homosexual lover and had sexual relations with Jesse. Jesse was found nude and unconscious on the floor with duct tape wrapped around his right hand and an empty
Martin Frank, a 55 year old Medford man, was charged with one count of second degree sexual abuse, one count of public lewdness and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, all misdemeanors. In August, he allegedly inappropriately touched a 13-year-old girl in his car and in November, he allegedly masturbated in front of a 14-year-old girl, again in his car. Frank is married and has three teenage sons. He told neighbors he was a former New York City Police Department detective, but he is actually retired from
Robert Ableman, a 38-year-old convicted pedophile who teaches at a Brooklyn yeshiva, was charged with disseminating indecent material to minors and failure to register as a sex offender with state authorities. He posed on the Web as the head of a modeling agency, allegedly scamming dozens of teenage and pre-teen girls into meeting him and posing naked for videos. He was picked up at his home where police found piles of pictures and videos of girls as young as 12 posing in lingerie or nude. Ableman served a prison term
The New York State Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that police agencies do not have to release records that would reveal victim identities. The decision could severely restrict the ability of sex offenders to obtain reviews of their convictions. The case involves a conflict between two sensibilities: concern for the victims of sex crimes versus a remedy for possible wrongful convictions. Kathryn Kase, immediate past president of the state Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said, I understand the concern that victims of sex crimes not be revictimized, but this ruling
