Missouri high court upholds higher burden on sexual predators

By DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press Writer

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The state Supreme Court has upheld a 2004 law imposing a heavier burden on sexual predators seeking their release from civil confinement.

While unanimously upholding the law Tuesday, a divided court also ruled that the sexual offender who challenged the law was at least due a hearing by the judge who dismissed his release request.

Missouri is one of 20 states that allow certain sexual offenders who have completed their criminal sentences to be civilly committed as a “sexually violent predator” to a mental health facility.

Missouri currently has 81 people committed as sexual predators and an additional 53 sex offenders who have completed their prison sentences but are being detained while the state pursues a civil commitment, according to the Department of Mental Health.

Offenders can ask for their release from the civil commitment at any time. State law directs those requests to a judge, who determines whether there are sufficient grounds to hold a jury trial on the request.

In 2004, lawmakers made it harder for committed sexual offenders to get a jury trial by requiring a judge to first find by a “preponderance of the evidence” — instead of probable cause — that the person no longer suffers from a mental abnormality that would make him or her likely to commit sexual violence.

Larry Coffman, 62, who is committed as a sexual predator, argued that the higher standard imposed an undue burden on him and violated constitutional equal protections.

The Supreme Court rejected the burden argument. It also said there is no constitutional requirement that sexual predators be given exactly the same rights as others who are civilly committed to mental health institutions, because the basis for sexual offender commitments is different.

In 1985, Coffman was sentenced by a St. Louis court to 15 years in prison after being convicted of three counts of sodomy, according to Department of Corrections records.

After his criminal sentence, a separate St. Louis jury determined in 2004 that Coffman suffered from pedophilia and a personality disorder and was a sexually violent offender, the Supreme Court said.

Coffman asked to be released from his civil commitment in March 2006, citing a doctor’s opinion that he suffered from lung disease and was so physically disabled that “any victim out of his immediate reach is safe.”

St. Louis Circuit Judge David Dowd rejected Coffman’s claim as frivolous, because he did not argue his mental condition had changed.

Writing for a 5-2 majority, Chief Justice Michael Wolff said Coffman was due a hearing by the judge based on his claim that he would no longer be dangerous, regardless of whether his mental condition had changed.

In dissent, Judge Mary Russell said Coffman failed to show he no longer posed a danger to society. Among other things, she said, the assertion that he could harm people only in immediate reach failed to consider that he had been convicted of molesting a 10-month-old and a 2-year-old child.

Also Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that a St. Louis County teenager should not have to register as a sex offender for a crime added to the list of registry offenses several months after he pleaded guilty. To require him to register would violate a state constitutional prohibition against retroactive laws, the court said.

Cases are:

In the matter of the care and treatment of Larry Coffman, SC87803.

John Doe v. Matt Blunt, SC87786.

On the Net:

Supreme Court: http://www.courts.mo.gov/page.asp?id27

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