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An ex-convict is suing the state Department of Correctional Services for delaying his parole based on information that should not have been considered.
Raymond Stalley was convicted of DWI and imprisoned. He behaved well in jail and was supposed to be eligible for parole as early as January 2004. But he was denied his parole because he would not admit to being a sex offender. Raymond Stalley isn’t one, he says.
The Suit
According to the lawsuit, defending his reputation cost Stalley 27 months in prison. He was not released until 2006 after serving the maximum four years in prison.
Robert Isseks, Stalley’s attorney, said that he will let the jury decide how much compensation the state owes Stalley for the allegedly extra time he was forced to stay in jail.
The lawsuit names several defendants, including former Corrections Commissioner Glenn Goord.
In the suit, Stalley claims that he was denied his parole because he refused to participate in a rehabilitation program for convicted sex offenders. He was charged with sexual abuse, endangering the welfare of a child, and sexual misconduct in 2002, but those charges against him were dropped at the time of his trial for the DWI. When charges are dismissed, they are supposed to be shut and treated as though they never happened.
The Parole Rejection
Stalley was shocked when he was in jail and he was told that if he refused to register in the sex offender program, it “may have a negative impact on the decisions made by the Parole Board,” wrote deputy commissioner of program services John H. Nuttall in a letter to Stalley.
Stalley wrote a letter back to him, stating, “In order to take the S.O. (sex offender) program, I have to sign a statement of guilt for doing the crime. I am not guilty and have never been guilty of any sex offense. I am not going to sign a statement for a crime that I did not commit.”
Stalley has already won a case in which the judge found that Stalley was not legally considered a sex offender.
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