A Douglas County judge has ordered a 54-year-old man who has served his time for molesting a Lawrence girl in the 1990s to be released instead of kept in state custody for sex-offender treatment.
District Judge Michael Malone made the ruling Wednesday morning in a bench trial of Christopher J. Saemisch. Prosecutors were asking the judge to find Saemisch as a “sexually violent predator” because he was likely to commit another offense if released.
But Malone ruled that prosecutors did not meet the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Saemisch was likely to re-offend. Malone cited testimony from a psychologist who said that under a test given to Saemisch that there was a 20 percent to 30 percent likelihood that he would re-offend.
“I don’t think that he met the criteria,” defense attorney Elbridge Griffy said after the ruling. “I don’t think the evidence proved what the state had to prove. It takes a great deal of courage for a district court judge to find that. These are not popular cases.”
District Attorney Charles Branson argued that psychologists diagnosed Saemisch with pedophilia and exhibitionism, and a doctor testified that Saemisch passed a sex-offender treatment class without understanding the material, making him likely to re-offend.
“I believe it is important anytime we have a case where we have an offender that is deemed by doctors to be likely to re-offend that a judge or a jury makes a determination whether this person should be allowed on our streets or in our neighborhood,” Branson said. “In this case, the judge determined that there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Saemisch would re-offend. We have to accept his decision.”
Saemisch was convicted in 1999 on one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, a 5-year-old girl, who was also a subject in dozens of pornographic videotapes he possessed. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and also spent time in federal prison.
Griffy, who hugged Saemisch in court after the ruling, said his client had worked to overcome his issues while in custody and had made progress at controlling himself.
Griffy said after Malone’s ruling that Saemisch had served his time for the crimes and also sought treatment while in custody.
“I hope that Christopher’s behavior substantiates the court’s decision,” Griffy said.
Malone heard evidence over two days in the trial earlier this month.
Comments
LJWorld.com doesn’t necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.
elysheba (anonymous) says…
why is there an advertisement right over this article, that makes it so I can't read the article?
kernal (anonymous) replies…
I noticed that on another story fifteen minutest ago for KU tickets. If you leave the story and come back to it, that ad should be gone.
0day (anonymous) replies…
Adblock is your best friend. Makes pages load a million times faster, and takes away all the ads.
0day (anonymous) says…
Only the offender knows if he or she is going to commit future sex crimes. Not some D.A. or therapist. Good call judge.
cheeseburger (anonymous) replies…
Until he reoffends with your child, and then you'd be calling for the judge's head!
ModerateOne (anonymous) replies…
Wrong. The judge did not put on any evidence in this case.
somebodynew (anonymous) says…
".....and had made progress at controlling himself."
Guess that is not too hard to do when there are no 5 year old in prison with you.
somedude20 (anonymous) says…
"But Malone found prosecutors did not meet the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Saemisch was likely to reoffend or engage in repeat acts"
It is not Judge Malone (Sam, maybe?) who scribbled the pooch, it is the DA who did not prove this case. If you are going to lock a person up after they were punished (and did their time) by a jury of their peers, then you are darn tootin right it had better be a hard sell (cell) to keep a person incarcerated on a hunch.
Now having said that, I hope Mr. Saemisch does not prove Mr. Branson to be an incompetent DA/attorney
0day (anonymous) says…
I worked at Larned for almost 4 years. They pretty much just warehouse these sex offenders who have finished their prison sentences. Larned gets a lot of money to keep them there. Such a messed up system.
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.