Lawyer: Jimmy Ryce Act a 'sham' - Fla
Lawyer: Jimmy Ryce Act a 'sham' By DAN GARCIA dan.garcia@scripps.com August 7, 2006 VERO BEACH — The mother of Jimmy Ryce, the 9-year-old boy who was sexually assaulted and slain in 1995 in Dade County, said she is glad three Indian River County sex offenders could be forced to remain in custody under the Jimmy Ryce Act of 1998. "It doesn't work to put these guys in halfway houses, they'll just go out and hurt other victims," Claudine Ryce said. Circuit Judge Robert A. Hawley set hearing dates for convicted sex offenders Matthew W. Baker, 35, Derek Chapman, 45, and Jack Kephart, 81. Six-person juries will rule on whether they should remain in custody even after their criminal sentences are completed. Doctors hired by the Florida Department of Corrections have deemed Baker and Chapman, of Vero Beach, and Kephart, of Wabasso, likely to commit new sex crimes if released when their sentences expire, Assistant State Attorney Linda Craft said. The Jimmy Ryce Act of 1999 allows for continued incarceration of inmates convicted of violent sexual offenses even if they are scheduled for release. Hawley scheduled Baker for a Jimmy Ryce Act hearing Sept. 26, Chapman on Nov. 28, and Kephart in January. Claudine Ryce and her husband, attorney Donald Ryce, live in Vero Beach, where they founded the Jimmy Ryce Center for Victims of Predatory Abduction. The foundation supports parents of children abducted by sexual predators and donates bloodhounds to law enforcement agencies. "I miss my son every day, and I will never stop missing him," Claudine Ryce said. "We thought the Jimmy Ryce Act would be one of the most powerful tools for keeping the worst of the worst from harming others in society." Craft said state doctors evaluate all inmates who have committed sexually violent crimes before recommending Jimmy Ryce Act hearings. "Doctors may find they have a mental abnormality or personality disorder that in all likelihood will cause them to re-offend without long-term care and treatment," Craft said. Fort Pierce attorney Rusty Akins, who represented Kephart before the Florida Supreme Court, called the Jimmy Ryce Act hearings "a sham" and said he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to supersede it. "It's a legal fiction created to extend sentences which could otherwise not constitutionally be extended," Akins said. Of the state's mental evaluations of inmates, Akins said: "You would have better luck if you let a voodoo witch doctor decide. That's the nature of the science. The state has no clue who is going to re-offend and who isn't." On June 8, the Florida Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Kephart and 11 other inmates, who argued they were confined under the Jimmy Ryce Act based on flimsy notarized documents from state prosecutors. Previously, two other sex offenders faced Jimmy Ryce Act hearings in Indian River County. One was found likely to recommit crimes, and the other released on probation. Craft said if juries rule against the defendants, they will be held in the Florida Civil Commitment Center in Arcadia until health professionals deem them safe for release. "It's not an indefinite period," Craft said. "It depends on how well they do in therapy." Akins said few of the more than 450 inmates committed under the Jimmy Ryce Act are released from the Commitment Center, except under stringent probationary terms. "It's a black hole," Akins said. Chief Assistant Public Defender Mark Harlee, who will represent Baker, Chapman and Kephart, filed a motion asking the court to allow him to question prospective jurors individually in order to disqualify anyone who is familiar with the Jimmy Ryce case. "It's a way to make the jury more neutral," Harlee said. Kephart, of the 800 block of U.S. 1, has convictions for child molestation dating to 1985, including an assault of a Vero Beach boy at a movie theater in 2000. Baker, of the 4700 block of 83rd Place, was charged with molesting children in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 2002. Chapman, of the 2400 block of Seventh Court Southwest, was charged with sexually assaulting victims during burglaries in 1985 and 1999. Claudine Ryce said she and her husband were at the White House last week when President Bush signed into law the Adam Walsh Protection and Safety Act. A section of the law titled "Jimmy Ryce State Civil Commitment Programs" requires all states to create a form of the Jimmy Ryce Act of 1998. Defendants: Matthew W. Baker, 35, Derek Chapman, 45, Jack Kephart, 81 Status: Face Jimmy Ryce Act hearings Dates: September, November, January http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_16736_4898596,00.html