Court orders the release of ‘repulsive’ quadriplegic rapist from prison because it costs too much to take care of him
DailyMail: California prison officials are releasing a quadriplegic rapist whose care costs the state $625,000 per year, despite concerns that even paralyzed he remains a threat to those around him. The San Diego appeals court has ordered the release of Steven Martinez under a medical parole law designed to reduce prison costs.
He applied for the release in 2011, but was initially turned down as a public safety risk. In the rejection, the Board of Parole Hearings agreed that Martinez required round-the-clock nursing care but also had a history of verbally assaulting and threatening his prison caretakers, who characterized him as an ‘angry, repulsive person,’ to the L.A. Times. A state appeals court also worried that given his history and behavior, Martinez would seek the help of others to harm people if he was released.
In October an appeals court in San Diego rejected that decision as unreasonable and ordered his release. Martinez will be sent to an undisclosed facility pending a 10-day review before being fully released from the state’s custody, said corrections spokesman Luis Patino.
Martinez was sentenced to 157 years-to-life in 1998 for a vicious assault in San Diego in which he rammed a woman’s car, kidnapped her, and raped her repeatedly.He was paralyzed a decade ago in prison when another inmate stabbed him in the neck and sliced into his spinal cord.
Martinez’s mother, Norma Martinez, has vowed to take care of him at her home in Clairemont – a prospect that’s been met with mixed reaction from her neighbors. ‘It’s a definite issue and I will have to keep a real eye on things that [are] going on around here,’ neighbor Gregory Smith told 10News when Martinez first petitioned for release. ‘It’s a concern.’
Still others said Martinez’s condition made him safe enough. ‘[It] doesn’t really bother me because he’s in that state,’ neighbor Irene Walden said. ‘He can’t go out and rape anybody.’
During his 1998 court hearing one victim said she never wanted him to be released. ’I don’t ever want him to get out of jail because I don’t think I would feel safe. I don’t feel safe still,’ said the anonymous woman.
And just who is going to pay for his care when he is released? His mom? Or the taxpayers?
I find it unreasonable that a criminal is released and his full sentence is not served.
DCG