A while back I explained my thoughts on a convicted child molester who had chosen to be surgically castrated with the hopes that it would allow him to be released from the mental hospital. He felt he was no longer a threat. His father was "bummed" that the family name would not carry on. His mother said "if it offends cut it off". I explained that it wasn't so much his penis that offended- it was the fact that his brain had allowed him to victimize children. It was his sick desire to gain pleasure from the suffering of others. And lastly on this- if a male member was indeed to blame- how do you then explain the female offenders running around out there?
But back to the story. Clotfelter had his day in court. His attorney pleaded his case that he is no longer a treat to society and that he should be let free.
Source
"...The attorney for Bruce Lee Clotfelter, 45, blasted as "intellectually dishonest" California's 1996 "sexually violent predator" law, which allows rapists and child molesters with two or more such convictions to be confined for treatment after serving their prison terms, if a local judge or jury finds there is a substantial likelihood of the criminals re-offending due to a diagnosed mental disorder..."
-Sometimes one has to wonder- does legal counsel defend these pervert because they believe them or because they are paid??
The good news of this case is that the Butte County jury ordered Clofelter to remain in custody. They found him to still be a public danger despite the castration.
Here's the rest of the story- from the same source as above:
"...Michael Aye, Clotfelter's Sacramento lawyer who argued the castration operation rendered the molester largely harmless, said he intends to appeal Friday's verdict based on what he felt were improper evidentiary rulings and legal instructions to the jury.
During the nearly four-week Butte County Superior Court civil trial, the prosecution contended the radical surgery Clotfelter volunteered for has done nothing to mitigate the underlying psychological problems that led the onetime Oroville youth counselor to molest at least five young boys in the 1980s.
In her final summation in court Friday, Maloy characterized Clotfelter as a "wolf in sheep's clothing," who used "cunning, manipulation and deception" to attract his victims more than two decades ago and to try to win his release now.
Asserting that "past conduct is the best indicator of future behavior," the prosecutor asked the jury to find that Clotfelter still represents "a serious danger" to children and should remain hospitalized.
Defense attorney Aye maintained that "objective tests" showed Clotfelter actually to be a "low to moderate" public risk at best and that in their zeal to keep him confined, the state ignored extensive studies that determined that castrated sex offenders rarely commit new crimes.
During the high-profile trial, psychiatric experts from both sides sharply disagreed on the radical surgery's effect on recidivism.
The defense pointed to one study, begun in 1937 and completed in 1951, that found that none of the 44 California sex offenders tracked committed new sex crimes after being ordered by the courts to be castrated.
Even doctors at Atascadero State Hospital, where Clotfelter is currently confined, disagreed on the issue.
One psychologist called the studies cited by the defense flawed and said his own personal research suggests that castration does not stop sexual functioning.
However, despite the hospital's official policy against castration, a staff doctor testified for the defense that she regarded it as the "best" form of treatment, combined with behavioral therapy, for predatory sex offenders like Clotfelter.
Taking a middle-ground position, a chief evaluator for the state hospital who became a pivotal witness for the prosecution, acknowledged that while the surgery probably lessened Clotfelter's sexual urges, it did nothing to alter a diagnosed "narcissistic and anti-social personality disorder."
The prosecutor reminded the jury that despite receiving two years of sex-offender treatment while in prison for the Oroville molestations, Clotfelter was re-arrested in 1995 after being caught on parole visiting 27 elementary schools near Sacramento, masquerading as a fictitious U.S. Navy fighter pilot.
Clotfelter volunteered for surgical castration shortly after a Butte County jury in March 2001 upheld a civil petition allowing him to be committed to the locked state hospital for additional treatment as a sexually violent predator.
On Friday, a separate jury of seven women and three men deliberated about four hours before sustaining a recommitment petition, which will confine the convicted molester to the locked state hospital for a minimum of two more years.
According to Clotfelter's lawyer, legislation is currently being considered that would make such civil commitment periods "indefinite."
Following the verdict, Judge William Lamb ordered Clotfelter returned to Atascadero, wishing the outwardly impassive molester "good luck."
Clotfelter's mother said she felt that pertinent information in her son's favor was withheld from both of his juries.
"From what I heard in that courtroom, I would not have been convinced (to order his release), even as his mother," she said.
During the trial, family members including Clotfelter's father, a retired law enforcement officer who helped get his son to plead guilty to the Oroville crimes claimed they witnessed a marked change in his behavior and attitude after the convicted molester underwent surgical castration.
Clotfelter told the jury that since the operation, he is able to "control deviant thoughts" before they blossom into fantasy.
Contending the conflicting medical evidence concerning Clotfelter's operation raised "at least a reasonable doubt," in the case, Aye asked the jury:
"How much more of a commitment could he make" to assure the public he was not a threat?
But Maloy charged that even if his sexual organs were no longer intact, Clotfelter still had his "hands and mouth," as well as "the memory" of his prior molests to feed on.
"After all, the brain is the biggest sex organ of all," the prosecutor said in appealing to the jury to uphold the molester's enforced hospitalization.
..."
One has to agree with the prosecutor- who I believe has done a great public service by presenting a case for this monster to remain locked up. The danger does not die with the castration of these predators- it continues every moment that they are free to find another victim.
But back to the story. Clotfelter had his day in court. His attorney pleaded his case that he is no longer a treat to society and that he should be let free.
Source
"...The attorney for Bruce Lee Clotfelter, 45, blasted as "intellectually dishonest" California's 1996 "sexually violent predator" law, which allows rapists and child molesters with two or more such convictions to be confined for treatment after serving their prison terms, if a local judge or jury finds there is a substantial likelihood of the criminals re-offending due to a diagnosed mental disorder..."
-Sometimes one has to wonder- does legal counsel defend these pervert because they believe them or because they are paid??
The good news of this case is that the Butte County jury ordered Clofelter to remain in custody. They found him to still be a public danger despite the castration.
Here's the rest of the story- from the same source as above:
"...Michael Aye, Clotfelter's Sacramento lawyer who argued the castration operation rendered the molester largely harmless, said he intends to appeal Friday's verdict based on what he felt were improper evidentiary rulings and legal instructions to the jury.
During the nearly four-week Butte County Superior Court civil trial, the prosecution contended the radical surgery Clotfelter volunteered for has done nothing to mitigate the underlying psychological problems that led the onetime Oroville youth counselor to molest at least five young boys in the 1980s.
In her final summation in court Friday, Maloy characterized Clotfelter as a "wolf in sheep's clothing," who used "cunning, manipulation and deception" to attract his victims more than two decades ago and to try to win his release now.
Asserting that "past conduct is the best indicator of future behavior," the prosecutor asked the jury to find that Clotfelter still represents "a serious danger" to children and should remain hospitalized.
Defense attorney Aye maintained that "objective tests" showed Clotfelter actually to be a "low to moderate" public risk at best and that in their zeal to keep him confined, the state ignored extensive studies that determined that castrated sex offenders rarely commit new crimes.
During the high-profile trial, psychiatric experts from both sides sharply disagreed on the radical surgery's effect on recidivism.
The defense pointed to one study, begun in 1937 and completed in 1951, that found that none of the 44 California sex offenders tracked committed new sex crimes after being ordered by the courts to be castrated.
Even doctors at Atascadero State Hospital, where Clotfelter is currently confined, disagreed on the issue.
One psychologist called the studies cited by the defense flawed and said his own personal research suggests that castration does not stop sexual functioning.
However, despite the hospital's official policy against castration, a staff doctor testified for the defense that she regarded it as the "best" form of treatment, combined with behavioral therapy, for predatory sex offenders like Clotfelter.
Taking a middle-ground position, a chief evaluator for the state hospital who became a pivotal witness for the prosecution, acknowledged that while the surgery probably lessened Clotfelter's sexual urges, it did nothing to alter a diagnosed "narcissistic and anti-social personality disorder."
The prosecutor reminded the jury that despite receiving two years of sex-offender treatment while in prison for the Oroville molestations, Clotfelter was re-arrested in 1995 after being caught on parole visiting 27 elementary schools near Sacramento, masquerading as a fictitious U.S. Navy fighter pilot.
Clotfelter volunteered for surgical castration shortly after a Butte County jury in March 2001 upheld a civil petition allowing him to be committed to the locked state hospital for additional treatment as a sexually violent predator.
On Friday, a separate jury of seven women and three men deliberated about four hours before sustaining a recommitment petition, which will confine the convicted molester to the locked state hospital for a minimum of two more years.
According to Clotfelter's lawyer, legislation is currently being considered that would make such civil commitment periods "indefinite."
Following the verdict, Judge William Lamb ordered Clotfelter returned to Atascadero, wishing the outwardly impassive molester "good luck."
Clotfelter's mother said she felt that pertinent information in her son's favor was withheld from both of his juries.
"From what I heard in that courtroom, I would not have been convinced (to order his release), even as his mother," she said.
During the trial, family members including Clotfelter's father, a retired law enforcement officer who helped get his son to plead guilty to the Oroville crimes claimed they witnessed a marked change in his behavior and attitude after the convicted molester underwent surgical castration.
Clotfelter told the jury that since the operation, he is able to "control deviant thoughts" before they blossom into fantasy.
Contending the conflicting medical evidence concerning Clotfelter's operation raised "at least a reasonable doubt," in the case, Aye asked the jury:
"How much more of a commitment could he make" to assure the public he was not a threat?
But Maloy charged that even if his sexual organs were no longer intact, Clotfelter still had his "hands and mouth," as well as "the memory" of his prior molests to feed on.
"After all, the brain is the biggest sex organ of all," the prosecutor said in appealing to the jury to uphold the molester's enforced hospitalization.
..."
One has to agree with the prosecutor- who I believe has done a great public service by presenting a case for this monster to remain locked up. The danger does not die with the castration of these predators- it continues every moment that they are free to find another victim.
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