Sex Offender, Lonnie Hyrum Johnson, could be set free due to loophole in Utah law
(CBS/AP) SALT LAKE CITY - Lonnie Hyrum Johnson, a convicted sex offender facing nearly two dozen additional charges of child sex abuse, may soon be set free because doctors say he is not a danger to society even though he's not mentally competent for trial.
Johnson was charged in 2007 in Utah with rape, sodomy and aggravated sexual abuse of a child for alleged acts with his niece and her step-cousin between 2001 and 2006.
Each charge is a first-degree felony. If convicted at a trial the 38-year-old Johnson would face life sentences for every count. Instead, it appears he will be freed sometime soon after a hearing Thursday afternoon.
Deemed incompetent for trial by a judge in 2008, Johnson has been institutionalized at Utah State Hospital where doctors have been working to restore his mental capacity.
But, several weeks ago, the judge found that he likely would not be made competent to face the charges, and doctors believe he wouldn't be a danger to society if freed.
"That magic language effectively kills our criminal case," Assistant District Attorney Craig Johnson said.
The district attorney's office sought to have the defendant civilly committed, but doctors say he doesn't meet the necessary legal standard.
Under Utah law, a defendant is incompetent to stand trial if he suffers from mental illness, cannot understand the charges against him or is unable to participate in his own defense. For a civil commitment, a doctor must find that a person's mental illness makes them a danger to himself or others. Johnson, who suffers from a cognitive disorder, falls into a gap somewhere in between.
Relatives of the victims are outraged.
"I am just floored," said Christy Danner, the mother of one of the victims. "I don't understand how he's competent enough to let go but not competent enough to stand trial. It's not fair to the girls. It's almost like they are victimized again."
Danner says her biggest fear is that another child could be harmed.