Child rapist granted early prison release 34 years prior to end of sentence
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said today he was aghast over a judicial decision granting freedom to a convicted child rapist stricken with cancer but with more than three decades left to serve in his state prison term.
"While early release has become increasingly common, it is appalling that this release was even being considered given the offender's violent crime against a child,'' Hestrin said in a statement.
Frank Duane Brown, 72, of Perris pleaded guilty in April 2013 to six counts of forcible lewd acts on a child under 14 years old as part of a pretrial agreement with the District Attorney's Office. In exchange for Brown's admissions, prosecutors dropped 10 related charges against him.
The defendant received a 45-year prison sentence.
A petition based on California's "Compassionate Release" law was filed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation due to Brown's diagnosis of terminal liver cancer.
That led to a hearing last month before Superior Court Judge Scott Williams to determine whether the defendant qualified for early release to spend his closing months at home in the company of relatives.
On Thursday, Williams granted the petition, ordering that the defendant be freed within 30 days, effectively voiding his remaining sentence of almost 34 years. Prosecutors argued that he should remain incarcerated in the interest of justice.
"Once again, the state places the victim in a traumatic situation, forcing her to fight to keep her perpetrator in prison for the sentence handed down by a court of law,'' Hestrin said. "By doing so, victims must relive their devastating experiences. How is this justice?"
There were some doubts as to the legitimacy of the defendant's diagnosis, prosecutors said.
"It is outrageous that we must constantly advocate to keep a clearly dangerous sexual predator behind bars for their full sentence,'' Hestrin said. "This is a battle we are committed to fighting every single day until this practice is put to an end."
The D.A.'s office released a video message from the victim, whose identity was not disclosed, speaking about the repeated sexual abuse she endured, the lasting trauma it inflicted and the consequences of the judge's decision.
"He raped me almost every single day,'' the woman said. "Throughout this process, I just had to remember to use all the tools I learned in therapy and counseling, take a deep breath and know that's what a narcissist does. That's what a rapist does. That's what an abuser does."
The victim's specific relationship to the defendant was not divulged, nor were the circumstances behind the abuse she suffered.
For a prisoner to qualify under the state's compassionate release law, available to terminally ill inmates with less than 18 months to live, he or she must "demonstrate that they are not a risk to society,'' among other preconditions."
It was unknown whether Brown intended to return to his original city of residence, or go elsewhere for end-of-life care.
His 2013 conviction for the sexual abuse constitutes his only felony record in California.
