Appeals Court Ruling Keeps Three Sex Offenders Locked Up
Originally published by The Associated Press, November 30, 2001
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — An appeals court says three sexual predators can be kept locked up while prosecutors get sworn statements in their efforts to bar their release.
The ruling Thursday by the 4th District Court of Appeal against defense attorneys who sought immediate releases should help the state keep scores of sex offenders held under the state's Jimmy Ryce Act from going free, Assistant State Attorney Richard Polin said.
Public defenders are pursuing the release of up to 70 offenders after a Nov. 16 ruling by the 2nd DCA in Lakeland. That court said offenders who had finished their prison terms were being held improperly if psychologists' statements showing they should remain in custody were not sworn.
The three-year-old law, named after a 9-year-old boy who was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 1995, did not require evidence at pretrial hearings to be given under oath.
The law allows the state to jail violent sex offenders indefinitely for treatment if they are deemed likely to commit other acts of sexual violence.
The appeals court Thursday denied a request by the Palm Beach County Public Defender's Office to immediately release three offenders. It agreed with Circuit Judge Jack Cook's decision last week to give prosecutors until Friday to amend their petitions by submitting sworn statements from mental health experts.
The state attorney's office said it would file the paperwork by the deadline to keep the three men—Ralph Hawker, Carlos Pumarejo and Hershel Meadows—behind bars.
Convicted child molester Thomas Hurte, 21, was released Monday after another judge ruled the state had run out of time to submit sworn evaluations.
Polin, meanwhile, is asking the Lakeland court to clarify its ruling to say it was not mandating releases.
"We don't construe the opinion as requiring immediate release," he said.
