MA- Court: Sex offender board OK to work with openings

12-12-2008 Massachusetts:

BOSTON (AP) Vacancies or a shortage of mental health experts on the state's Sex Offender Registry Board do not strip the agency of its power to label dangerous convicts, the highest court in Massachusetts ruled Friday.

The Supreme Judicial Court rejected a convicted sex offender's challenge that he should not have been labeled a Level 3 sex offender those considered the most likely to re-offend because the seven-member Sex Offender Registry Board had just one licensed psychologist or psychiatrist with expertise in evaluating those offenders. The law that created the board requires there be at least two such experts.

But the court said the law says that as long as there are four sitting members, the board has the authority to classify offenders.

The court said it ruled in the case because a large number of offenders were classified while the board had vacancies.

''Significantly, that statute does not limit the types of board members that must comprise the 'four sitting members.' The board, therefore, is authorized to carry out its legislatively mandated duties, regardless whether it is fully constituted with two licensed psychologists or psychiatrists,'' the court said in its written ruling.

The man, identified only as ''John Doe,'' pleaded guilty in 2000 to rape and indecent assault and battery of a 6-year-old boy. He served four years in prison.

His attorney, Stephen Kaplan, said he was disappointed with the SJC's ruling. Kaplan argued that the Legislature, in passing the law that set up the board, intended for the board to have at least two members with substantial experience in evaluating sex offenders.

''The governor is required to see to it that the board is properly constituted and has these mental health professional experts on it,'' Kaplan said.

The board issued a statement praising the ruling.

''The state Supreme Judicial Court today affirmed the board's action and we will continue to safeguard the people of the commonwealth,'' the board said.

In a separate decision Friday, the SJC said the board should have considered an indigent sex offender's request for funds to pay for an expert to testify about the link between his mental illness and his risk to re-offend.

The man was classified as a Level 2 sex offender based on convictions of open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior. The court said the board should have considered his request for money to pay for his own expert even though the board did not intend to rely on the testimony or report of its own expert witness.

Brandon Campbell, the man's lawyer, said the decision will ''level the playing field'' for indigent offenders.

''The way the system is now, people who have money can hire as many experts as they want to come in and do reports on their risk to re-offend, where indigent former offenders who can't afford to do that don't have access to any of that type of evidence,'' Campbell said. ..News Source.. by WBZTV.com