BishopAccountability.org
	Loophole Means Utah Sex Offender May Go Free San Francisco Chronicle March 31, 2011 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/03/31/state/n115726D07.DTL Prosecutors in Utah are fighting to have a convicted sex offender committed indefinitely after doctors deemed him no danger to society but mentally incompetent for trial, meaning he could see the case against him dropped and be set free. Lonnie Hyrum Johnson faces nearly two dozen charges of child sex abuse. He's been held at Utah State Hospital in Provo, about 45 miles north of Salt Lake City, since 2008 after being deemed incompetent to stand trial. Doctors several weeks ago determined the 38-year-old Johnson wasn't a danger to society. That prompted prosecutors to seek to have him institutionalized at the hospital indefinitely since he won't stand trial. Late Wednesday, prosecutors won at least a temporary reprieve when a judge ordered a civil commitment hearing for Friday. Johnson will remain held pending the hearing.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.