SAN JOSE - A judge gave California Department of Mental Health officials eight working days to find a home for convicted child molester Brian DeVries, whom officials had considered placing in a house on Morgan Hill's West Main Avenue.
At a hearing Friday, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Robert A. Baines gave the DMH and its contractor, Liberty Healthcare, until July 10 to find a suitable residence in a community somewhere in the state that will accept DeVries, because so far, the department has had no luck.
If nothing has been found by July 10, the judge said he would be forced to choose between two communities and then release DeVries.
The judge said he could order DeVries released from the Atascadero State Facility for the Criminally Insane, into a conditional release program where he would be monitored and supervised. DeVries, however, would be able to find his own housing, something he said might be easier than the state trying to negotiate.
Or, DeVries could move, temporarily, to Washington state to live on his father's property. Baines said the elder DeVries has a separate house in which his son could live and is willing to allow it. How the conditional release program would work out of state was not discussed. When housing is found within California, DeVries would return.
Baines said he was concerned about the constitutionality of continued incarceration of an inmate who had long since finished his treatment.
Baines also said he would consider one more extension of time only under "extraordinary" circumstances - if the DMH were to announce it was close to securing housing for the man.
"We've been working diligently to search outside the county for six working days," King said. "He is not a danger to the community if treated."
DeVries, now 43, has been labeled a "sexually violent predator" who was convicted of molesting an 8-year-old boy in 1994 and had been previously convicted in several other states, starting in 1978.
During his treatment he admitted to doctors molesting as many as 50 boys. In August 2002, DeVries was surgically castrated, at his own request, and has since fulfilled a program for sexually violent predators, the first to do so in the California program, created in 1995.
DMH spokeswoman Nora Romero had said that if no housing were found for DeVries, the judge would be forced to release him unconditionally from the hospital, without monitoring or supervision. He would have to register as a sex offender in whatever community he moved.
Until the June 18 hearing, the DMH had only been looking for suitable housing in Santa Clara County, which DMH Attorney Susan King said was department policy. Offenders who have completed their sentences and treatment have frequently been released back into the community where they last lived. Clarifying that it is only department policy, not state law, Baines ordered the department to expand its search statewide, increasing the chances of success.
King objected to the order but said she would have Liberty Healthcare comply. Last week, she confirmed that this has been done but with little success.
As he had done June 18, DeVries' attorney Brian Matthews urged the judge to release his client unconditionally.
Matthews said the staff at Atascadero hospital said last year that they could do no more for DeVries and a court order for his release was issued Nov. 20, 2002.
"The point now is constitutionality," Matthews said. "This has to stop at some point and that point is now. The DMH knew this day was coming for quite some time," Matthews told the judge. "The SVP (sexually violent predator) law can't be used for long-term incarceration and that's what it has become. He's not being provided treatment and every day he's there is a violation of his constitutional rights."
An appropriate residence, Romero said, is at least one-quarter mile from any elementary school, near a bus stop and further treatment must be available in the area. DeVries must also be able to reach work. Any residence must also be at least 35 miles from the home or workplace of any of DeVries' victims.
A home at 865 W. Main Ave. in Morgan Hill fits that description though it just squeaked by in distance from schools.
The small house in the last block before the road ends on El Toro mountain is about one-quarter mile from P.A. Walsh and St. Catherine schools according Lt. Terrie Booten of the Morgan Hill Police. The library is closer but not on the parole board's list of places to avoid.
When it was discovered two weeks ago that the DMH was negotiating with the landlord of the Main Avenue house, which is located in an area highly populated with young children, the public outcry was immediate and loud - and effective. Neighbors, the city attorney and a representative from the Morgan Hill Police Department - none of whom had been officially notified that the DMH had set its sights on Morgan Hill - packed the June 18 hearing, making their concern known.
Morgan Hill city and police officials did not attend last week's hearing.
"We were informed that the DMH was not yet prepared to make a recommendation," said City Manager Ed Tewes.
Carol Holzgrafe staff writer Carol Holzgrafe is a staff writer
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