Serial rapist withdraws petition for release

A patient at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program withdrew his petition to be discharged on Monday. He would have been only the third patient to be released in the program's history.

Convicted rapist Thomas Ray Duvall, 59, was appealing his civil commitment to the program before a judicial panel in Hennepin County. Duvall's release was initially supported by state and county officials, although they withdrew support late last week.

Duvall was convicted of sexual assaults in 1982 and 1988. He was committed to the sex offender program in 1991. His case was scheduled to be heard starting on Tuesday.

A state Department of Human Services review board recommended Duvall for release in August 2013. Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson said soon after that she supported that finding. The agency oversees the state's sex offender program.

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson and others strongly opposed Duvall's release. Gov. Mark Dayton said in a letter to Jesson in November that he opposes any future petitions for provisional release from the program until the Legislature weighed in.

"Unfortunately, I do not believe that your attempts to establish a program of provisional release, as required by current law, can succeed, when surrounded by this political gamesmanship," Dayton wrote.

In a court filing late last week, Jesson reversed her earlier position favoring Duvall's release. Jesson said in the filing that her decision to oppose his release was "based upon the totality of information currently available." A spokesperson for the agency declined further comment. Hennepin County Assistant County Attorney Theresa Couri echoed Jesson's comments in another filing.

Swanson saw Duvall's withdrawal of his petition for release as a victory.

"Eleven months ago, the officials with statutory authority supported the release of Mr. Duvall. Only by a twist of fate was this Office able to intervene," Swanson said in a statement Monday. "It is unfortunate that Mr. Duvall put his victims through eleven months of hell before withdrawing his petition the day before the hearing."

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman says neither his office nor DHS caved to political pressure.

"New factual developments made it necessary for us to change our position and actively seek to keep him committed to the Minnesota Sex Offenders Program," Freeman said. "While we would like to discuss the details, all this information is private under the laws of Minnesota, and in fact the judge in this case specifically admonished all the parties not to talk about the details."

Critics have argued that the program violates the constitutional rights of the 697 patients indefinitely held at facilities in Moose Lake and St. Peter. Most have served their prison sentences. An attorney representing Duvall in the case didn't respond to a request for comment.

Attorney Dan Gustafson is representing patients in a class action lawsuit against the program that includes Duvall. He said Duvall's case shows that decisions about patients in the program are being made by politicians rather than medical professionals.

"It's more evidence of the constitutional flaws in the Minnesota sex offenders program," Gustafson said. "Mr. Duvall's petition had been supported by the state, then it appears in the face of political opposition, they withdrew that support."

Last month a federal judge declined to order the release of two other patients in the program, saying he didn't want to interfere with the class action lawsuit in progress. Gustafson said the class action suit will be heard in federal court in St. Paul this February.