Ore. AG wants eye kept on ex-prisoner
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 10:17 AM PDT
ALBANY (AP) — The state wants to keep Richard Lee listed as a registered sex offender even though a federal judge late last month overturned his 1995 conviction on charges that he sexually abused a 4-year-old boy.
Attorney General John Kroger plans to ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week to keep Lee on strict supervision while the state appeals U.S. District Judge Owen Panner’s decision to overturn the conviction, Kroger spokesman Tony Green told The Oregonian newspaper.
Lee, 49, spent 14 years in prison following his conviction. He moved into an Albany motel following his March 18 release, but didn’t enjoy complete freedom. The state required him to check in every week with authorities, have no contact with children, wear a GPS monitor and register as a sex offender.
In vacating Lee’s 1995 conviction, Panner ruled that Lee’s trial in Linn County was plagued by errors and there was insufficient evidence for a conviction.
The attorney general filed court papers asking Panner to stay that judgment. The judge denied his motion and reminded the state that it must retry Lee within 120 days or free him of all parole conditions.
Green said the attorney general thinks Panner was wrong to overturn Lee’s conviction and will appeal.
‘‘While we are litigating that question, should he remain supervised in that community? We think he should be supervised,’’ Green said.
Steven Wax, Oregon’s federal public defender, said Lee should no longer be treated as a guilty man.
‘‘What Judge Panner said is, this man has already fully served the sentence for an offense of which it appears he is innocent,’’ Wax said. ‘‘What the state is asking for now are conditions that are only imposed and only imposable on men who have been found guilty.’’
