With a convicted child rapist about to walk free, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker says he'll be filing a bill to stop future instances of that.
According to the Eagle-Tribune, Wayne Chapman was sentenced in 1977 and served 30 years in state prison for the rapes of two boys in Lawrence. He was held - civilly committed - because he was considered a sexually dangerous person.
But Chapman, now 70 years old, is about to get released from the civil commitment after an analysis from two medical examiners about his dangerousness.
"I think people with track records like his, who are convicted of the crimes like his, should never get out," a frustrated Baker said while appearing on WGBH's "Boston Public Radio" show. "I mean, that's kind of my view. I don't understand why his sentence was limited to 30 years, plus or minus, and then he moved to this civil commitment status."
Baker said state officials don't have a lot of options to stop him from walking out a free man.
"But I certainly think this case raises a number of issues about the current process and the state of the law, and we will file legislation shortly that significantly enhances the penalties for somebody like him, who's a serial sex offender," the governor said.
The bill will also seek to re-work the process to prevent a similar situation from happening again, according to Baker.
"Because there does need to be some mechanism to put a guy like that either in front of a jury or a single justice, to take a look at him, even if he does have a couple of psychiatrists or psychologists who think he's no longer a danger," Baker said.
"In his particular case, as I understand it, neither of the people who examined him thinks his behavior or his attitude about any of this has changed at all," he added. "They're basically making a judgment call based on his physical condition, that he is no longer physically able to be a danger."
Baker called their assessment "a pretty weak read."
"And I think because of that we need to have a process, where you need to go back to court, and get in front of either a jury or a single justice of some kind before you're simply let go," he said.