"Vt. sex offender jailed 19 extra months; Struggled to find approved housing" by John Curran, Associated Press | July 23, 2010
MONTPELIER — A Vermont sex offender who spent an extra 1 1/2 years in prison because he could not find a state-approved place to live after his release is finally getting out....
“At significant expense, we’re keeping people beyond their minimum [sentences] because we don’t know how to transition them,’’ said Windsor County State’s Attorney Robert Sand....
Michael Potter was sentenced to 20 years after pleading guilty to attempted murder and lewd-and-lascivious conduct in a 1997 attack. Potter, who assaulted and slit the throat of a 66-year-old woman in Quechee, registered as a sex offender, and was to be released in December 2008....
And he is GETTING OUT, huh?
Must need the space for a nonviolent drug offender, huh?
The Department of Corrections cited him for a probation violation after rejecting his proposals for residency, one of which was moving in with his mother, who lives with two young grandchildren.
They really have by the balls there.
On Wednesday, a judge in White River Junction approved a compromise under which the 34-year-old Quechee man agreed to submit to electronic monitoring and polygraph tests and the state agreed to withdraw the probation violation complaint.
Under the compromise, the Department of Corrections agreed to find Potter a place to live and to release him by July 30.
So WHERE is the STATE for you when the SHERIFF SHOWS up, taxpayers?
His attorney, Kevin Griffin, said it was “insanity’’ for the state to house Potter for 19 months more than it had to and said that while no one was crying over the extended incarceration, taxpayers were paying for it.
“The public doesn’t care about Michael Potter,’’ Griffin said yesterday. “Even the feedback I get in the community is that everyone simply points to his crime and says, ‘Why should we care?’ I say that at a minimum, keeping him in for another 19 months cost them another $75,000. They could have built a trailer for the guy, and housing never would have been a problem.’’
Because you may be framed for such an offense, America?
Of course, Americans have OTHER PROBLEMS more important than picking up a torch for some sick bastard.
David Peebles, community justice executive for the department, said the cost of an inappropriate placement can be high in other ways, too.
“When we’re trying to balance public safety with individual rights, sometimes there’s a rub,’’ he said. “Our job is to make the best decision based on what we know about offenders who are similar and how they respond upon their release.’’
They are so sensitive to a pervert's rights but couldn't give a damn about yours.
Such placements have become thornier since Michael Jacques, a registered sex offender, was accused in the 2008 slaying of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett, his niece. He is awaiting trial.
The case prompted the Legislature to create a new crime of aggravated sexual assault against a child, expand special investigative units statewide to investigate sex crimes, and increase the collection of DNA samples from criminal suspects....
Sand said that while the department is not in the business of arranging community-based housing,’’ offenders “are often poorly equipped to make those community-based arrangements.’’
“It remains an ongoing problem in Vermont, that transition point between jail and the community,’’ he said.’’
When Potter is released from Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport, the state will place him in Hartford; officials are not saying where. “I’ll just go wherever I have to,’’ Potter said in court Wednesday.--more--"
And here is who started it all:
"Defense tries to block death penalty in Vt. case" by John Curran, Associated Press | July 20, 2010
MONTPELIER — Lawyers for a Vermont man accused of raping and killing a 12-year-old girl are renewing their bid to block the death penalty from being applied if he’s convicted.
In a new court filing, defense attorneys for Michael Jacques say America’s capital punishment system is broken, and rebut contentions by prosecutors that the death penalty is appropriate in the case against Jacques, who’s accused in the 2008 slaying of a niece, Brooke Bennett of Braintree, Vt....
Jacques, 44, is charged with kidnapping with death resulting and two counts of child pornography. A convicted sex offender, he is accused of drugging, raping, and killing the girl, who disappeared June 25, 2008, after leaving a convenience store. Prosecutors say Jacques used a 14-year-old girl he had been sexually abusing to lure Brooke to his home for a pool party. She was found dead a week later, her body buried in a shallow grave near the suspect’s home....
This PoS is lucky he wasn't lynched.
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"Vt. man accused of killing niece wants trial moved out of state" by John Curran, Associated Press | July 31, 2010
MONTPELIER — Citing public anger and death threats, lawyers for a man charged with killing his 12-year-old niece say in a new court filing that it’s impossible for him to get a fair trial in Vermont.
Defense attorneys say Michael Jacques has been the subject of so much press coverage and such vitriolic online posts that his trial should be moved to Albany, N.Y., to escape juror bias....
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How about we get rid of him permanently.
