Madison — Gov. Scott Walker’s administration Wednesday dropped a controversial new hire charged with evaluating sex offenders for release back into Wisconsin communities, a move that came only hours after Walker said he opposed the psychologist. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported on the hire of Daniel Montaldi as “evaluation director” at the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center, a state facility for sex predators. Montaldi, who was to evaluate sex offenders and recommend to court officials which ones should be released, resigned from his post running Florida’s sex predator program six…
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MO: Sex offender from Ballwin area faces legal limbo
STE. GENEVIEVE COUNTY • There is a special wing here at the county jail that holds nine detainees who were convicted long ago for sex crimes. They already served their time in prison. Still, they wear bright orange jumpsuits as they await another kind of trial. Flagged as possible sexually violent predators, the Missouri attorney general’s office wants them held indefinitely at a secure state mental institution called Sex Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Services, or SORTS. But first, in most of their cases, juries will be asked to make a rare decision in…
Read MoreAppellate court rejects “past as prelude” myth
In a strongly worded ruling, a federal appellate panel has ordered that a Native American man be freed from civil confinement due to evidence of his rehabilitation while in prison. Both a judge and an expert witness had downplayed this evidence, condemning the man as a future risk based on long-ago transgressions, the Fourth Circuit panel concluded. Full Article
Read MorePeople of Campo tell judge not to place sex offender in their community
SAN DIEGO (CNS) – Campo residents told a judge today they don’t want a soon-to-be-released sexually violent predator placed in their rural southeastern San Diego County community. After a hearing last August, Superior Court Judge David Gill found that ____ ____ could safely be released into the community for continued treatment and supervision. Last month, the Department of State Hospitals proposed placing Badger at a 5.07-acre private residence on Custer Road in Campo. The nearest schools are Campo Elementary, located 2.2 miles away, Mountain Meadow High School and Potrero Elementary School,…
Read MoreJuror in child molester case removed for using dictionaries
Judge finds juror committed ‘serious, willful misconduct’ for using standard dictionaries to look up a critical word during deliberations. SANTA ANA – A juror was removed for misconduct Wednesday for using dictionaries to look up a word during deliberations in a trial to determine whether a twice-convicted child molester should remain locked up in a mental hospital as a sexually violent predator. The juror referenced the word “likely” in a dictionary at home and brought another dictionary into the deliberating room, disobeying repeated admonishments from Orange County Superior Court Judge…
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