MN- Clay County judge rejects civil commitment for sex offender

12-21-2008 Minnesota:

For the first time in Minnesota's Clay County, a judge has denied a request to have a convicted sex offender indefinitely committed.

It means David Bryon Baker, 50, could be released from custody as soon as Thursday.

But county and state officials plan to fight a ruling by Clay County District Court Judge Steven Cahill that Baker does not meet the definition of a “sexually dangerous person” and should not be sent to a state hospital indefinitely.

Baker pleaded guilty in 2001 in Otter Tail County District Court to two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving two girls.

He served time in a halfway house before being sent to jail and later to prison for violating terms of release.

During treatment, Baker disclosed he had committed a number of offenses against children he was never prosecuted for, according to court documents.

One case involved a 2-year-old child.

Baker was set to be released from prison earlier this year when the Clay County attorney’s office and the Minnesota attorney general’s office filed a petition in Clay County District Court seeking to have him committed indefinitely to a state hospital.

Following court proceedings in Moorhead, Cahill ruled there was no clear and convincing evidence that Baker, who acknowledged sexually assaulting more than a dozen young victims, is highly likely to re-offend.

Cahill said Baker has expressed remorse for his actions and has gained insight into his patterns of offending.

“The actuarial instruments showed Baker to be borderline in terms of being a high risk to reoffend,” Cahill wrote in his decision.

“Borderline, when coupled with Baker’s displayed insight and remorse, does not equate to clear and convincing evidence of his being highly likely to re-offend,” Cahill added.

“With all due respect to the judge, we completely disagree,” said Clay County Attorney Brian Melton.

“You have 16 separate victims that the judge found have been sexually abused by the defendant. This person is a danger to public safety and a danger to society,” Melton said.

In addition to the victims Baker has acknowledged, four people testified during the civil commitment proceedings that Baker sexually abused them when they were children.

Ryan Magnus, Baker’s attorney, said civil commitment is less about what someone has done in the past and more about what their future conduct will likely be.

“The important thing on cases like this is looking at his present risk to re-offend sexually … his ability to recognize past errors and attempt to take steps to make sure those things don’t happen again,” said Magnus, who statewide has defended about 50 convicted sex offenders in civil commitment proceedings.

He said judges dismiss about one out of 10 cases. Baker’s case was his third victory this year.

While Baker has lapsed in recent years when it comes to chemical dependency issues, Magnus said there have been no allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior.

State officials designated Baker a Level 2 sex offender, meaning he is thought to be at medium risk of re-offending, as opposed to a Level 3 offender, someone considered at high risk of reoffending.

Melton and the Attorney General’s Office plan to appeal Cahill’s ruling and have secured a temporary stay of his order releasing Baker.

The stay expires Thursday.

If the appeals court does not renew the stay pending further proceedings, Baker will be freed with no further supervision, Magnus said. Magnus said he does not know where his client plans to live.

Until now, Clay County was 100 percent successful in the half-dozen or so civil commitment cases it has filed since 2000 involving sex offenders leaving prison.

Of the hundreds of Minnesota inmates civilly committed since the option was established about 10 years ago, none of have been released. ..News Source.. by Dave Olson, The Forum