Loophole keeps sex offender in custody

Prosecutors for the past year feared a new state law was going to put a potentially dangerous child-sex offender back on the streets.

They knew Robert William Hoffman's public defender had a good case - a law passed in 2006 says that the state should dismiss charges against any defendant still found incompetent to stand trial after five years, and Mr. Hoffman was first found incompetent in 1991.

But a county judge recently used a safety valve built into the law to make sure the convicted sex offender, who continues to profess his love of children, remains in state custody for the foreseeable future.

"Mr. Hoffman just continues to be a danger to himself and others," Circuit Court Judge William C. Mulford II said Dec. 22 inside the county's courthouse in Annapolis. He found there was "extraordinary cause to extend time" in the 21-year-old case and ordered Mr. Hoffman - who is charged with molesting a 9-year-old girl in 1987 in Brooklyn Park - to be held at the Rosewood Center in Owings Mill until he is competent to stand trial. According to state officials, the 257-bed facility is designed to help people with developmental disabilities integrate themselves into less-restrictive settings in the community.

Deputy State's Attorney Laura Kiessling, who believes the law in question is flawed and needs to be changed, praised the judge's decision.

"I think it was the correct ruling," Mrs. Kiessling said last week, arguing Mr. Hoffman still is dangerous.

"The consequences of the possible release of the defendants are mind-boggling," she said in court after recounting decades worth of sexual allegations against Mr. Hoffman involving children, animals and fellow patients at Rosewood. "These are extreme circumstances ... beyond extraordinary."

District Public Defender William Davis noted how Mr. Hoffman already had spent 21 years in state custody, which he argued was more time than he would have received if convicted in 1987. He added that Mr. Hoffman now is being held at Rosewood on both the 1987 sex charges and a new civil commitment.

"Mr. Hoffman is not going to just walk out of this court room if you dismiss these charges," Mr. Davis told Judge Mulford. "That is not going to happen."

The crime

The girl was snatched off her bike shortly after noon June 15, 1987, near the intersection of Ritchie Highway and Townsend Avenue in Brooklyn Park.

Police said a man molested her behind an old Mister Donut and then let her go. The child quickly ran to her mother and told her what happened.

An anonymous tip led a detective to Mr. Hoffman, who subsequently confessed and walked police through what he did at the scene.

Police said he was a convicted child molester and was on the drug Depo-Provera at the time of the assault to diminish his sex drive.

Mr. Hoffman was charged in 1987 with a second-degree sex act and several lesser charges. If convicted of the top charge, he faced a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Mr. Hoffman repeatedly apologized for the molestation while in jail and asked for lenience.

"I've learned my lesson now," he wrote the court July 12, 1990. "I want to be set free. I'm a better man, ready to be a productive citizen."

State doctors didn't agree. They said he needed 24-hour supervision with highly structured residential and vocational programs. They also said he was not competent to stand trial because he was "mildly retarded" and unable to assist in his defense. He was eventually committed to Rosewood in April 1991.

The doctors found Mr. Hoffman competent in 2002, but quickly changed their minds later that year and again committed him to Rosewood. Doctors again found him not competent to stand trial Dec. 3, according to court testimony.

Concern

Several child-safety and sexual-assault prevention groups said earlier this year they were worried by the potential release of Mr. Hoffman.

"It's deeply concerning that the court would consider to release someone who has committed this type of act," Lisae Jordan, legislative counsel for The Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said in September.

She noted the state's Division of Parole and Probation would not monitor Mr. Hoffman after his release and that his name would not appear to the state's sex offender registry.

After hearing the outcome of the case, however, Ms. Jordan voiced her support for the law.

"The law worked in this case and a dangerous sex offender remains in the state's custody," she said.

The law

Delegate Kathleen Dumais and Senators Brian Frosh, John Giannetti, Leo Green and Nancy Jacobs sponsored the bill that almost led to the charges being dropped against Mr. Hoffman.

The law now states the court should dismiss the criminal charges against a defendant found incompetent to stand trial after he has served five years "unless the state petitions the court for extraordinary cause to extend the time."

The bill passed the House on April 6, 2006, with a vote of 138-2; and passed the Senate on April 7, 2006, with a vote of 35-0. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. signed the bill into law May 2, 2006.

Mrs. Keissling said last week she and her staff are looking at how to change the law. She said there was no guarantee the judge would have found "extraordinary cause."

"The burden placed on the state is extremely high," she said.

Mrs. Keissling, who said the law is still new and not widely used in Anne Arundel County, said the law should be changed back to how it was in 2005 or at least tweaked to ensure potentially dangerous people can't skirt justice by spending five years in a state hospital.

Mr. Frosh and Mrs. Dumais said the 2006 law addressed a critical shortcoming of the law.

"Maryland was violating the constitutional rights of developmentally disabled individuals and others ... by holding them indefinitely," Mr. Frosh said, recalling one case where a man with brain damage was held at a state hospital for years on a simple shoplifting charge that would have carried a maximum sentence of 6 months in jail.

Mrs. Dumais added that representatives from several legal and medical groups in the state - including the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, the Office of the Public Defender and the State's Attorneys' Association - helped draft the final bill. She stressed they made sure to include a mechanism to allow judges to use their discretion and keep someone in state custody.

"The case cited by the prosecutor does not show the law needs to be changed. In fact, it shows the law works. The judge agreed to continue to hold an incompetent individual who appears to be dangerous," Mr. Frosh said.