Let sex offenders go free, court
rules
By TOM McAVOY
Chieftain Denver Bureau
DENVER - The Colorado Supreme
Court on
Monday rejected Attorney General Ken Salazar's
request to reconsider its refusal to keep sex offenders
in prison beyond their maximum sentences.
The court denied Salazar's
request for rehearing the
case by the identical 4-3 vote on which it ruled
against him and in favor of sex offenders, who argued
successfully that they cannot serve a combination of
imprisonment and parole longer than the maximum
sentences for their crimes.
It means almost immediate release
for 128 violators
now in prison and 249 on parole and the release in
the coming months or years of 1,145 other sex
offender whose time on parole was shortened
significantly by the court decision. "The Department
of Corrections will now proceed with implementing
the Supreme Court's ruling with respect to those sex
offenders affected (and) currently incarcerated or on
parole," the attorney general said.
"I believe it is my duty
to do everything I can to
protect the public safety of the citizens of Colorado
within the powers of my office to do so," Salazar
said.
The court twice ruled that
conflicts between 1993
and 1998 crime legislation must be interpreted to free
sex offenders no later than the maximum term of their
sentences.
The final decision was written
by Justice Alex
Martinez, a former Pueblo judge, who was joined in
the 4-3 majority by Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey
and Justices Michael Bender and Greg Hobbs.
All four rejected Salazar's
second request to rehear
the case.
The three dissenting justices,
who would have
granted the attorney general another crack at the
case, were Rebecca Kourlis, Nancy Rice and Ben
Coats.
"Parole supervision of
sex offenders is a matter of
profound public safety," Salazar replied.
"I am proud that my office
took every legal step
available to us in challenging the court's rulings to try
to ensure that persons convicted of sexual offices,
many of who preyed on our children and women, be
placed on mandatory parole once they served to term
of incarceration," Salazar said.
For sex crimes committed on
or after Nov. 1, 1998,
a new law not yet challenged by the convicts is much
clearer in permitting discretionary parole, if the state
deems it necessary, under the Lifetime Supervision
Act of 1998.
