State Justices Bar Release of Rapist

The state Supreme Court on Friday halted today’s scheduled release of a serial sexual offender, overruling a judge who earlier in the day had refused to order that the eight-time rapist be kept behind bars.

The justices gave Patrick Henry Ghilotti’s lawyers until Friday to file a response.

Superior Court Judge John S. Graham, saying he is not a vigilante who makes up the law, had declined to block Ghilotti’s release, setting off a series of eleventh-hour attempts by state legislators to keep the inmate locked in a state mental hospital.

Shortly after Graham’s ruling, the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco denied a petition by the state attorney general’s office to keep Ghilotti incarcerated.

Lawyers filed a second emergency petition, with the state Supreme Court, said Hallye Jordan, a spokeswoman for state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer.

For months, Ghilotti, the first man to complete the state’s sexually violent predator treatment program, has been at the center of a tug of war between defense attorneys and state officials.

At the behest of the state Department of Mental Health, Marin County prosecutors had asked the judge Thursday to recommit the offender known as the Lincoln Avenue rapist to Atascadero State Hospital for at least two more years.

Although he had reservations about releasing a rapist who has spent half his life behind bars, Graham said he had no choice but to let the inmate go.

“I’m uncomfortable that he’s about to be released without any form of supervision into the community, but that’s what the law provides and that apparently is what is going to happen,” the judge said. “Because it is beyond my power to do anything about it even if I wanted to.”

Under a controversial new state law passed in 1996, officials can hold a sexual predator until he is no longer deemed a threat--even after he has served his prison sentence. After three years at Atascadero, Ghilotti last year petitioned the court for his release.

Last summer, Graham ruled that the 45-year-old Ghilotti could be released under strict conditions, including that he be fitted with an electronic device to track his movements. But last month Ghilotti refused to accept several state demands, including limitations on visits with his wife and use of the Internet.

In recent weeks, Graham has ignored letters from Department of Mental Health Director Stephen Mayberg and Atascadero’s medical director saying that Ghilotti still poses a threat. Three independent state evaluators have said Ghilotti should be set free.

Graham briefly lost patience Friday when prosecutors once again tried to invoke a statute that says an inmate held under the sexually violent predator law can be kept in custody if the state Department of Mental Health believes he is still a danger--no matter what psychiatrists testify.

“There’s nothing for me to do,” Graham said. The law says his commitment is up. I am not a vigilante. I can’t make up this process as I go along.”

Nora Romero, a state Department of Mental Health spokeswoman, said she was disappointed by Graham’s decision. “He’s ignoring a law that gives the director of the Department of Mental Health the authority to make his own determination in this case,” she said.

Public Defender Frank Cox, Ghilotti’s attorney, said his client has reformed.

“Patrick is afraid people will not understand what he has gone through and what he has learned,” he said. “He is not an ogre. He is not a frightening person. He never wants to commit another crime of any shape, type or form.”

But a woman at the hearing who described herself as one of Ghilotti’s victims said she believes he will commit new crimes. “Patrick Ghilotti is a people manipulator,” she said. “There is not a police officer in this country who believes he’s a changed man. Not even the judge believes it.”

Marin County Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Charmatz said Ghilotti is different from any typical parolee and should spend at least two more years at Atascadero.

“You’re talking about a diagnosed mental disorder,” he said. “All the doctors have testified that Mr. Ghilotti has a lifelong problem that interferes with the way he deals with society.”

Several people at Friday’s hearing said they were frustrated with state mental health officials for “creating such a bureaucratic mess.”

And the woman who identified herself as one of Ghilotti’s victims said she expects community protests after his release. “Wherever he goes, when people who live nearby learn where he is, they’re not going to like it,” she said.