Source: postandcourier.com 6/22/23
COLUMBIA — He was not convicted of the sexual crimes South Carolina accused him in 2005 of committing. After years of forced psychological hospitalization, the doctors at the state Department of Mental Health recommended he be transferred to a residential care facility, as he was treated for schizophrenia and schizotypal personality traits.
But South Carolina’s High Court ruled June 21 that it’s constitutional for the state’s top lawyer to seek to keep Francis ____ confined anyway.
In a case originating out of Lexington County, the state Supreme Court ruled an obscure provision in state law that carves out a special process for involuntary commitment of those deemed sexually violent, even if they’re mentally incompetent to stand criminal trial, holds up to constitutional muster.
____’s lawyers declined to comment on the case.
____ was indicted in 2005 for a multitude of sex crimes — first degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, two counts of assault with intent to commit first degree criminal sexual conduct, sodomy and exposure of private parts in a lewd and lascivious manner. But when it was found his mental illness made him unable to stand trial, he was instead hospitalized with the state Department of Mental Health from 2005 until 2011.
Kind if disturbing how one need not even be convicted of a sex crime to be eligible for indefinite “treatment” in one of those not-a-prisons.