7-2-15 Illinois:BLOOMINGTON — After 20 years in a state program for sex offenders, a Twin City man will be released soon to restart a life halted as a teenager when he admitted he had molested a child.
Judge Rebecca Foley ruled Thursday that John Guthrie can be released without conditions from Big Muddy Correctional Center where he has been housed in the state's treatment facility for sex offenders.
Guthrie, now 35, shook hands with defense lawyer Carey Luckman, but had no other reaction after the brief hearing in which Foley rejected the state's request for extensive conditions for his release.
Following a short meeting with Guthrie, Luckman described his client's feelings.
"He smiled when I walked in. He said he understands Mr. Ghrist was just doing his job, speaking for the people. He wanted Mr. Ghrist and others to know that he has a plan and he's going to make it," said Luckman.
Luckman declined to say where Guthrie will reside, but said he has support from loved ones.
Guthrie's return to society is the result of an unusual circumstance: a change in the guide used to define mental health disorders makes him ineligible to be held by the state.
A state psychiatrist testified in May that the new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders makes a distinction between having an interest and having a disorder related to a sexual interest in children.
Guthrie was sent to the state sex offender unit when he was 17 after he admitted to molesting a girl for whom he was baby-sitting. He later said there were other victims.
A psychiatrist deemed him a pedophile, a diagnosis that led a judge to place Guthrie in a Department of Corrections facility until doctors found him to be cured.
The sex offender treatment order halted Guthrie's prosecution on aggravated criminal sexual assault charges. The minimum term on that charge would have been six years in prison, but the term for someone deemed a sexually dangerous person is indefinite.
Guthrie was allowed to leave custody for a short time when he was 19, but returned when authorities said he violated terms of his release by being in a store that sold pornography. He has filed numerous petitions over the years seeking release, but failed to convince two different juries that he was rehabilitated.
Medical opinions have varied as to Guthrie's mental health diagnosis.
Springfield psychiatrist Dr. Terry Killian opined in 2011 that doctors got it wrong when they labeled Guthrie a pedophile as a teenager. Foley barred the jury from hearing Killian's opinion, a ruling that was later reversed by the 4th District Appellate Court.
Court proceedings were moving forward toward a new trial when the state doctor submitted her opinion that Guthrie could be released. ..Source.. by Edith Brady-Lunny
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