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Friday, November 28, 1997

Appeals court approves early-release program for sex offenders

AUSTIN (AP) -- Dozens of convicted child molesters could walk free under a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruling.

The court decided Wednesday the felons are eligible for an early-release program, drawing criticism from law enforcement, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

"It's obviously a very serious ruling and will have definite implications," parole board Chairman Victor Rodriguez said. "The end result of this could have an impact on public safety."

Rodriguez estimated several hundred convicted sex offenders could go free under the ruling. Once prisons release the convicts on mandatory supervision, parole officers supervise them, similar to convicts who are paroled.

The Legislature had tried to exclude child molesters from the program, but the court ruled lawmakers could not apply a new law retroactively.

The decision overturned rulings by prison officials and Attorney General Dan Morales that barred child molesters from participating in Texas' controversial mandatory supervision law.

According to the court, the problem is this: When the Legislature revised the mandatory supervision law in 1993, the crime of indecency with a child was not on the list of crimes for which offenders were ineligible for mandatory supervision.

When the omission was discovered a year ago, after a convicted molester challenged his having been barred from the program, legislative leaders admitted they had made a mistake.

The ruling came in an appeal filed by Randy Sullivan Schroeter, who received a three-year sentence in Brazoria County for indecency with a child.

The crime occurred in 1994, Schroeter was convicted in 1995 and he entered prison Dec. 19, 1995.

According to the ruling, Schroeter has accrued almost five years of time credits -- enough for him to have been released on mandatory supervision long ago, his attorney argued.

The court agreed, ordering prison officials to release him immediately on mandatory supervision -- unless he had lost accumulated time credits because of misbehavior in prison since the appeal was filed.

Rodriguez and Glen Castlebury, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said prison officials plan to examine the ruling more closely after Thanksgiving before deciding whether to release Schroeter or anyone else.

Neither Schroeter's attorney, Louis Gimbert, nor Brazoria County District Attorney Jerome Aldrich could be reached for comment Wednesday.