OR- Judge rebuffs state in Lee case

4-12-2009 Oregon:

In a strongly worded order, U.S. District Judge Owen Panner Friday refused to keep Richard Robert Lee, whose conviction he had overturned last month, on parole while the case winds its way through further appeals.

If the judge’s order stands, Lee should be off supervision about the middle of July.

“Richard Lee served 14 years in prison, while his appeals languished in file rooms and were shuffled between courts,” the judge wrote in an order issued from Portland.

Designated a predatory sex offender by the state parole board, Lee was released from prison Mach 18 and has been living in Albany since.

The office had issued a public notification ahead of Lee’s release. But just six days after Lee completed his years in prison, Panner, a senior federal judge, set aside his conviction and ordered the state to retry him or release him completely — meaning no more parole supervision — within 120 days.

(eAdvocate Post)

This week the state Justice Department appealed the judge’s order to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and asked the judge to stay his 120-day order. That’s the request Panner rejected Friday, implying there is no need to keep Lee under supervision.

“Lee knows he is a marked man,” Panner wrote. “The police and others in the community are carefully watching his behavior, regardless of whether Lee is on formal supervised status or is officially registered as a sex offender. Any misstep and Lee risks returning to prison.”

The judge concluded: “The offenses at issue allegedly occurred in 1993. Lee was indicted in 1994 and convicted in 1995. It is now 2009. At this rate, it would be 2019 before the appeal is finally resolved. I will not require Lee to remain in custody, indefinitely, while that process unfolds.”

Lee, now 49, was convicted of sexually abusing a 4-year-old boy. In his initial decision on the case, Panner ruled that based on evidence the jury never heard, and on the record as a whole, it was likely that no reasonable juror would would vote to convict him.

Lee was branded a predatory sex offender based on an evaluation known as the “Static-99” test, said Nancy Sellers, executive director of the state Board of Parole. He appealed the designation, and the parole board upheld it after a hearing March 3.

The test is based on a person’s conviction and other factors including the opinions of a sex-offender-control psychologist. It is believed to predict how likely somebody is to victimize others, according to the parole board official.

The state Justice Department said that on Monday it would appeal the judge’s refusal to lift his order. ..News Source.. by Democrat Herald.com