Kenneth Stone

WBZ







Corey Saunders

WBZ





David Flavell was arrested at a nearby donut shop and charged with annoying and accosting a person sexually and disorderly conduct. WBZ


NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WBZ) ― A judge who released two dangerous sex offenders is being strongly criticized for releasing a third.

Superior Court Judge Richard Moses has released another convicted sex offender, who is believed to have since committed more crimes.

Kenneth Stone was released from prison in June after Moses determined he wasn't sexually dangerous. Stone, a level 3 sex offender, was arrested last weekend for allegedly raping a man in Taunton.

"This particular judge was asked to make a judgment call, and he's been wrong three times," said Taunton police Chief Raymond O'Berg.

Stone is the third sex offender released by Moses who allegedly went on to re-offend.

Corey Saunders is accused of raping a young boy in a library earlier this month after he was released by Moses. Moses is also responsible for releasing David Flavell who was arrested last week for peeping at a woman in a bathroom stall at a book store.

In 1989, Stone was convicted of assault and battery after groping a woman. In 1991, he was convicted of assault with intent to rape. He has since re-offended and attacked multiple women in 1991 and 1995.

"Our experience is these level 3 sex offenders don't get there because they didn't do something," O'Berg said.

The Bristol County District Attorney tried to have all three sex offenders civilly committed. In this most recent case, a court spokeswoman said Judge Moses applied the law and determined the state had not proved that Kenneth Stone was sexually dangerous.

Both police and prosecutors are very concerned about Moses' decisions in these cases.

Stone is currently being held without bail.

Legislation has been filed on Beacon Hill to change the process for releasing sex offenders.


http://wbztv.com/local/david.flavell....2.666315.html

Judge Continues To Release Dangerous Sex Offenders

Reporting
Kathy Curran

BOSTON (WBZ) ― The I-Team has discovered a disturbing pattern when it comes to some of the most dangerous sex offenders in the state. Three repeat offenders released by a local judge are accused of striking again, and every time prosecutors tried to keep sex offenders behind bars and civilly commit them Judge Richard Moses set them free.

"Corey Saunders was a level 3 (sex offender) because there are only 3 levels. If there were 100, he'd be a 100," said Lt. Jeffrey Silva with the New Bedford Police Department.

He's one of the most dangerous sex offenders in the state and when prosecutors tried to have Corey Saunders committed as a sexually dangerous person after he did his time Moses set him free.

Police say in January, Saunders walked into the New Bedford Library and raped a 6-year-old boy.

The I-Team went through every sexually dangerous person or SDP case that has gone before Moses since he took the bench in Bristol County, and we discovered in those 7 cases, he let every sex offender back out on the street. Three of those men -- Saunders, David Flavell and Kenneth Stone -- are now accused of striking again.

"I think it's outrageous," Silva said.

Silva believes based on the evidence in the Saunders case, Moses made the wrong call.

"We know Corey Saunders re-offended," he said. "So did two more, so he's 0 for seven holding somebody and he's rapidly approaching the 50 percent mark for recidivism."

"Those people who we choose to undergo the sexually dangerous person process are the absolute worst of convicted sex offenders," said Middlesex County District Attorney Gerry Leone.

Even though these men are the worst of the worst Superior Court Judge Margaret Hinkle, who had nothing to do with these decisions, says proving beyond a reasonable doubt that someone like Corey Saunders will commit another sex crime is a high hurdle to overcome.
"On these cases we're attempting to evaluate future behavior, and an evaluation of future behavior is an enormously difficult task," Hinkle said.

But some believe in most of the cases before Moses the evidence was clear.

According to court documents, Saunders has a history of molesting little boys. Three out of four doctors believed he would re-offend. Moses said it was significant that Saunders is a man with a borderline IQ who had an extremely difficult childhood and committed his crimes when he was emotionally immature.

Stone was convicted of indecent assault and attempted rape on multiple women aged 18 to 68. Again three of four doctors said Stone was sexually dangerous and would likely re-offend.

Flavell was convicted of assault with intent to rape and several minor sex crimes. Two doctors said he would likely strike again, and two others disagreed.

"I think what is necessary is that we all understand the enormous difficulty involved in the task," Hinkle said.

"I think everybody can agree that the past is a sufficient indicator of future behavior," Silva said. "When you combine that with testimony from disinterested people it seems like a ground ball."

Right now the sex offender decides if his case is heard by a single judge or a jury. Some prosecutors believe juries should hear these cases so citizens have a voice in protecting their communities.

Leone is pushing for change.

"The community needs to have a voice and their voice needs to be empowered as to which sex offenders go back into the community," he said.

By law a commission was supposed to be established a year ago to review the effectiveness of the process used to determine if someone is sexually dangerous, but to this day that commission doesn't exist. We did try to speak to Moses about his decisions but the court declined.

We found this process, that many believe is broken, comes with an expensive price tag. It cost taxpayers almost $23,000 just for the psychologists in the Saunders case alone. In 2007, 60 people went before judges and juries to determine if they were sexually dangerous. In those cases, 23 were kept behind bars.


http://wbztv.com/iteam/david.flavell....2.691695.html