IN- Some Question Why Sex Offender Still Can't Read

9-8-2009 Indiana:

Man Spent 6 Years In Juvenile Sex Offender Program

INDIANAPOLIS -- Some are questioning why a 20-year-old sex offender who served six years in state correction facilities when he was an early teen is still unable to read.

David Likens is currently awaiting trial on charges he broke the leg of his 8-month-old daughter at the home he shares with the child's mother, Gina Williams, 19, at Heart's Landing apartments on the city's east side.

When he appeared in court last week, Likens .asked the charges against him be read aloud, because, he told the judge, he couldn't read.

"I can read some, but I'm not that good. Basically, my reading stinks," he told 6News' Derrik Thomas.

Likens and his two brothers were convicted in 2001 in the molestation of a 3-year-old girl, when Likens was 12 years old. He served six years in a secure residential sex offender program, where he also attended classes, and was released when he was 18.

Representatives with the Indiana Public Defenders Council said they are concerned that it wasn't mandatory that Likens learn how to read while in state custody.

"Education is important for the person and is important for law abiding citizens. It's in our interest that people learn develop and grow so they see other options than crime," said spokesman Larry Landis.

Likens said that when he was released from the sex offender program, .he had trouble holding jobs at several fast food restaurants because he couldn't read the work schedule.

He said he does not blame the system for his failure to read.

"Everybody tried to help me, but it's too hard for me to do," he said. "I'm capable, but it's going to be hard for me to do because of how I was raised and all that."

Likens is being held on $50,000. He has entered a not guilty plea ahead of his trial set for November. ..Source.. by The Indy Channel.com