Convicted Sex Offender Ruled Sexually Violent

9-30-16 Illinois:

Chicago —(ENEWSPF)–September 29, 2016. Attorney General Lisa Madigan today announced that a DuPage County jury has found that a registered sex offender is a Sexually Violent Person (SVP) following a one-day trial.

DuPage County Circuit Court Judge Paul M. Fullerton ruled that Lawrence Schauer, 63, of Hillside, Ill., must remain in the custody of the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) for treatment.

“This offender has an alarming record of assaulting women,” Madigan said. “I commend the jury on its verdict that will not allow this offender to return to a community where he could sexually assault another woman.”

Under the Sexually Violent Persons Act, Madigan’s office prosecutes cases seeking to commit offenders to the custody of IDHS as SVPs. To be committed under the act, a person must have been convicted of a sexually violent offense and suffer from a mental disorder. Additionally, prosecutors must prove that the offender is likely to commit future acts of sexual violence if released from custody. Once committed to IDHS, offenders are re-evaluated on a regular basis to determine if they continue to meet the criteria for commitment as a sexually violent person.

Convicted Hillside Sex Offender Deemed ‘Sexually Violent’ By Jury

1-27-16 Illinois:

CHICAGO (CBS) — A convicted sex offender from west suburban Hillside has been deemed a “sexually violent person” by a jury and will be committed to the Illinois Department of Human Services.

Lawrence Schauer, 63, has been ruled sexually violent and must remain in the custody of IDHS for treatment following a one-day DuPage County trial, according to a statement from the Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office.

“This offender has an alarming record of assaulting women,” Madigan said in the statement. “I commend the jury on its verdict that will not allow this offender to return to a community where he could sexually assault another woman.”

In 2000, Schauer was convicted of residential burglary and aggravated criminal sexual abuse after breaking into a woman’s apartment and assaulting her while she slept, prosecutors said. In 1993, he was convicted of unlawful restraint and aggravated battery for assaulting a woman who was jogging.

In re COMMITMENT OF RICKY A. WILCOXEN

1-27-16 Illinois:

In re COMMITMENT OF RICKY A. WILCOXEN

Respondent, Ricky A. Wilcoxen, appeals from the trial court's order that found probable cause did not exist to warrant an evidentiary hearing to determine if respondent was still a sexually violent person. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

In 1992, respondent was sentenced to serve 22 years in prison for attempted criminal sexual assault. Pursuant to sentencing guidelines in effect at the time, his scheduled release date was May 4, 2002. On April 30, 2002, five days before he was to be released, the State filed a petition to have respondent declared a sexually violent person. 725 ILCS 207/1 et seq. (West 2002). Seven years later, in June 2009,[1] the matter proceeded to a jury trial. At trial, two of the State's experts testified that they reviewed the information contained in respondent's Illinois Department of Corrections files. Both experts opined that if respondent was released into the community there was a substantial probability that he would reoffend. The defense expert, Dr. Luis Rosell, agreed that respondent continued to meet the diagnosis for pedophilia, but opined that respondent was not a sexually violent person.

... ... ...

CONCLUSION

The judgment of the circuit court of Fulton County is reversed and remanded with directions.

Reversed and remanded with directions.

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Priest who assaulted boys to be released on supervision

6-25-2013 Illinois:

A former Catholic priest who sexually assaulted two boys in the 1980s will be released from a state mental health hospital after a judge approved of a conditional release plan.

He was committed to a secure treatment facility in 2012 after he was classified as a sexually violent person. He was recently re-evaluated and Winnebago County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Bissett approved a conditional release plan on Tuesday that would allow him to be released from the secure facility.

Details of the supervised released plan were sealed by the court under an agreement by the attorneys to keep the plan confidential, but it calls for him to be released on or before Aug. 2.

The former associate pastor at Our Lady of the Ridge parish in Chicago Ridge, Ill., was convicted of sexually assaulting two altar boys while on a church outing to Father Carr’s Place 2B in Oshkosh in 1986. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison on two second-degree sexual assault convictions in 1994.

Prosecutors filed the petition to classify him as a sexually violent person in October 2007, less than one month before his scheduled release from Stanley Correctional Institution. ..Source.. by Local News

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'Sexually dangerous' man sent to mental facility

11-2-2013 Illinois:

A Jacksonville man has been found to be a sexually dangerous person and is being committed indefinitely for mental treatment.

Circuit Judge John Schmidt on Friday ordered James G. Howe, 34, be taken to an Illinois Department of Corrections facility for civil commitment under the Sexually Dangerous Persons Act, Scott County State’s Attorney Michael Hill said in a press release.

Earlier, the judge had found probable cause to proceed with a trial to determine whether Howe was a sexually violent person who should be committed to a treatment center until he is no longer considered a danger to the general public.

Howe had been charged with an aggravated criminal sexual assault on June 12, 2012, stemming from an incident that occurred Dec. 11, 2011, in Manchester. Hill then filed a petition to proceed under the act on Oct. 2, 2012, to have Howe evaluated by psychiatrists to determine if he was a sexually dangerous person. Special Assistant State’s Attorney Lorinda Lamken of the Illinois State’s Attorney’s Appellate Prosecutor’s Office worked with Hill throughout the proceedings.

Judge orders commitment of Woodstock man as sexually violent person

4-24-15 Illinois:

A McHenry County judge on Friday ordered the civil commitment of a Woodstock convicted sex offender with an admitted sexual foot fetish.

Robert L. Bacci, 45, of Woodstock, was convicted on a 2013 charge of attempted criminal sexual abuse, and sentenced to three years in prison. He was set for release later this month, but because of the nature of his crimes, Bacci was eligible for commitment under the Sexually Violent Persons Act.

Bacci has an extensive criminal history, but in his most recent case, authorities said he approached a 5-year-old girl in a Woodstock laundromat. Bacci began talking to her about her shoes, and attempted to take off her shoes and socks, according to reports. Police said Bacci did this for purposes of sexual gratification.

In a hearing before McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather, a doctor hired by the Attorney General's Office who sought to have Bacci committed, said that Bacci suffers from a number of psychological disorders including fetishism, anti-social personality disorder, and drug and alcohol abuse.

Man held 20 years as sexually dangerous to be released

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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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