MA- Sex offender measure falls short

1-11-2009 Massachusetts:

BOSTON — A last-minute push to make sure that sex offenders are classified for dangerousness before they are released from prison fell short in the waning hours of the 2007-08 state legislative session last week.

New Bedford officials have been calling for the change since Corey Deen Saunders was accused last January of raping a 6-year-old boy in a downtown library. Saunders had been deemed a Level 3 sex offender, the highest risk to reoffend, after completing his sentence in 2006 for molesting a 7-year-old Attleboro boy.

It was later revealed that Saunders had not been classified for 10 months after his release from prison because his Level 3 classification was under appeal. The classification, addresses and photographs of Level 3 offenders are posted on the Web.

Saunders was sentenced to five years in prison in April for violating probation. He is awaiting trial for rape and other charges in connection with the library incident.

Under current law, the classification process for inmates begins 60 days before their release. Many are released before appeals are completed, so their classification is in limbo when they are freed.

"It's not a safe situation for kids," said Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral, D-New Bedford. "It's not a safe situation for any neighbors. We know clearly the timeline that exists now doesn't work."

The Standard-Times reported in June that 33 sex offenders in New Bedford did not have to report their whereabouts to police because their classification was under appeal.

SouthCoast legislators rushed to file legislation in response to the Saunders case. Cabral filed a bill that would have begun classification 180 days before release. He said it would ensure that inmates are assigned a level of risk before they leave prison.

He filed it as a separate bill, but it failed to move on its own.

Then Cabral tried to include it as an amendment last summer in the state's version of Jessica's Law, which created mandatory sentences for repeat sex offenders who harm children. Jessica's Law also expanded the definition of aggravated rape to include providing drugs or alcohol to the victim and misusing a position of trust, such as a teacher, coach or clergy member.

Cabral said House leaders told him that if he dropped his amendment, he would be able to bring up his proposal in a supplemental budget later in the year, but the spending plan never materialized.

Cabral tried another tactic.

He included it in the fall as an amendment to a bill that made technical corrections in Jessica's Law. The House passed his amendment on New Year's Eve. The Senate rejected Cabral's amendment on Tuesday, the last day of the session.

With Cabral and the Senate deadlocked, the technical corrections bill died for the session. It would have corrected an oversight; the Legislature failed to make the new offenses under Jessica's Law reportable to the Sex Offender Registry Board.

Last week's drama played out during the Legislature's "informal" session, when only a handful of legislators are present, and a single vote of opposition can stop a bill in its tracks.

Cabral's tactic was not without some controversy.

Laurie Myers, a victims' right advocate with Community VOICES, fought to see Jessica's Law enacted. She accused Cabral of "grandstanding."

"He was well aware if it came back from the Senate, if he didn't concur with the Senate that the bill would die," Myers said. —¦ It's unfortunate. If he filed it separately and pushed for it that way, maybe it could have moved things along. I just feel like he knew it was going to kill the corrections and it really didn't matter. I think it's a shame."

Myers said the new, aggravated offenses should be listed with the registry. "We're talking about some of the most heinous crimes."

She also doubted that Cabral's classification proposal would significantly change the system.

Cabral met with House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and other House leaders last summer. Cabral said he was all but promised that he would get a chance to attach his bill to something later on. He also met with registry officials to address their concerns in drafting the bill.

Cabral said he supported the technical corrections bill, but it was the "appropriate" way to get his classification change passed.

"For someone to disregard classification as not an important issue in protecting children, I would disagree with that, obviously," Cabral said. "I think New Bedford would disagree. My constituents would disagree."

With the new Legislature being sworn in this past Wednesday, the corrections bill will have new life during formal session, when bills pass by a majority vote. Cabral said he will push hard for his bill in the 2009-10 session.

Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe, who advocated for Jessica's Law as the most recent past president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, was not familiar with the details of Cabral's amendment.

However, O'Keefe said a pilot program that classifies Barnstable County sex offenders before they leave prison and verifies their whereabouts afterward could provide the answer.

The pilot program was launched after the 2003 murder of Jonathan Wessner, 20, of Falmouth by convicted child rapist Paul Nolin revealed numerous flaws in the sex offender registry.

The sex offender management program lost half its funding in Gov. Deval Patrick's emergency budget cuts last fall, but it is championed by O'Keefe, Barnstable County Sheriff James Cummings and Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth.

"I think there will be a move to make that statewide," O'Keefe said. ..News Source.. by David Kibbe, Standard-Times staff writer