A Montgomery County jury returned a verdict that said Mr. Johnson, who was convicted of sexual assault in Harrison County in 1985, and again in the prison system two years later, was not a sexual predator. He will be released in November with no supervision. Critics of the civil commitment law say the case shows the law is a waste of time and money. They lost the case. The jurors showed they're a little more sophisticated.
Prosecutors remain undaunted.
The jury may have disagreed with them in the first trial, said John Gaines, chief attorney for the civil division of the state's Special Prosecution Unit, which handles civil commitment cases, but four other cases have settled without going to trial. To be eligible for civil commitment as a sexual predator, an offender must have been convicted of two sexual offenses, be under the supervision of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and be within 14 months of release, said Melinda Bozarth, assistant director of the department's programs and services division. The offender's case is reviewed by mental health, corrections and public safety professionals. Prosecutors do not pursue every case. We don't have enough funding to try every single case.