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	Sex Offender Bill Takes Shape By Terri Hallenbeck Burlington Free Press December 18, 2008 http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20081218/NEWS02/81217055 As the Senate Judiciary Committee fine-tuned legislation to toughen sex offender laws Wednesday, members had poignant personal reminders of the case that prompted the call for changes. Cassandra Gagnon, the mother of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett, whose death this summer spurred demand for tougher laws, was there. So was Denise Jacques, the wife of convicted sex offender Michael Jacques, who is accused of killing her. The women are sisters. Gagnon said that other than speaking at a public hearing in Rutland this fall, she has stayed out of the public discourse about her daughter’s case. Until now. The more she has learned about Michael Jacques and the number of times he slipped through the criminal justice system, the more desire she has to speak up, she said. “I just don’t want to be quiet anymore,” she said. She went to the Statehouse on Wednesday to represent her daughter, she said. “With me being here, they’ll keep in mind why they’re making the decisions they’re making,” Gagnon said. Gagnon said she wants to stay involved in the process as the legislation moves forward, though she has not decided exactly how. Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he expected the bill to pass by March. She supports the legislation the committee has produced, she said, including a 25-year minimum sentence for sex offenses against children. As the committee went over the bill Wednesday, Gagnon said, she was frustrated at times. When there was talk about whether convicted sex offenders should be allowed contact with children, there was no question to her, she said. “I don’t think those people have a right to anything,” she said. Michael Jacques, who is Brooke’s uncle, is accused of drugging, raping and killing her in late June. He was a twice-convicted sex offender who was released early from probation after a state probation officer tagged him as a success story. Police investigating Brooke’s death say that during that time period, Michael Jacques coerced a 14-year-old female relative to engage in repeated sex acts with him. Brooke’s mother said she wants to remind lawmakers how deceptive a sex offender can be. “He’s been so deceitful for all these years,” Gagnon said. Michael Jacques,’ wife, Denise, had the same message Wednesday. She did not testify before the committee at the request of federal prosecutors but wrote a letter urging them to remember that sex offenders are uniquely deceptive and manipulative. She suggested, without offering details, that he continues that deception and manipulation from prison. “Michael Jacques continues from behind bars in a jail cell to use deception and manipulation, it hasn’t stopped, it continues! He pulls strings and has control over what happens in our lives from behind bars!” the letter reads.
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