Posted on 11/27/2006 6:13:20 AM PST by laotzu
HOUSTON -- The state's first convicted murderer to be tried under an obscure law designed to identify dangerous sexual predators will face strict treatment guidelines after his release from prison next year.
Wesley Wayne Miller, 44, is nearing the end of a 25-year prison sentence for the 1982 murder of 18-year-old Retha Stratton, who was stabbed 38 times after refusing his sexual advances.
In a recent civil trial under the Sexually Violent Predator Act, a Montgomery County jury decided that Miller fit the profile of someone who probably would commit the same crime again.
When released from prison Sept. 30, he will be committed to involuntary outpatient treatment while he lives in a halfway house. If he fails to comply with treatment or violates any condition of his release, he could go back to prison on a third-degree felony, punishable by 25 years to life.
Miller has been released on mandatory parole four times but returned to prison each time _ three times because he refused sex-offender treatment and once for committing another crime. After his upcoming release, Miller's discharge from treatment will depend on whether a judge decides he is no longer a threat based on examinations and reviews every two years.
"Wesley Miller was going to walk out of prison without any supervision and no desire to get treatment," said Gina DeBottis, head of the Huntsville-based Texas Department of Criminal Justice special prosecution unit, which handles civil commitment trials like the one Miller faced. "This is good for Wesley Miller, and it is good for Texas."
While the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that such sexual predator laws are constitutional, critics argue that the statute is another layer of bureaucracy that punishes offenders twice for the same crime.
"This is a sham program, in my opinion," said David O'Neil, a Huntsville attorney who defends sex offenders in the commitment trials. "If Texas thinks that they're that dangerous, why are they putting them back on the streets?"
DeBottis said Miller was among many sex offenders convicted before state lawmakers toughened sentences in 1993.
The predator law went into effect in 2000, and 442 sex offenders have been referred for treatment but only 69 have been committed.
Previously, sex offenders were eligible for prosecution under the statute only if they were convicted of crimes against strangers. Miller became eligible when lawmakers last year expanded the law to include sexually motivated murder and burglary with sexual intent.
Stratton's sister, Rona Stratton Smith, and Lisa Gabbert, one of Miller's victims, helped draft the amendment and lobbied for it in Austin.
"I would feel responsible for not doing anything if he had done something like that again," Smith said.
Sixteen states have similar laws but use secured mental treatment facilities. Texas is the only state to provide outpatient treatment and does so to save money.
The state spends around $30,000 a year for each sex offender, compared to about $125,000 in California, said Allison Taylor, director of the Council on Sex Offender Treatment, which administers the inpatient program.
Offenders in the outpatient program in Texas are strictly supervised by a case manager, and they must wear a monitoring device and observe a 1,000-foot child safety zone. They also undergo polygraphs and drug testing.
This is BS. Just hang them. Have we completelty lost our minds?
And it's very traditional, connects us with our past, while disconnecting the criminal from our future!
Would sex offender treatment involve lopping off certain body parts ?
If they think he's "going to offend again", and can fiddle with the laws for his case, then they should fiddle with the laws so they don't let him out. Either you've done your time or you haven't.
I don't like that now even jail time is, as everything seems to be these days, subject to after-the-fact blurring of definition, re-evaluation, etc.
Twenty-five years for murder? That's less than 8 months per stab wound. Why is this guy still breathing?
"Wesley Wayne Miller"
"Wayne" --- the middle name of killers.
If the state isn't going to take care of business, then the moral right devolves to the victim's family.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.