Justices: Predator wrongly confined
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – The Florida Supreme Court has ordered a sexual predator released because he was improperly held in the state’s civil commitment program after his prison term.
The ruling Thursday resolved differing interpretations by appellate courts of the Jimmy Ryce Act. The law named for a 9-year-old Miami-Dade County boy who was raped and murdered allows for post-sentence confinement.
The majority, though, ruled a convict must be in lawful custody when commitment proceedings begin.
The decision will free William Todd Larimore, who was released from prison in 1998 after serving time for lewd and lascivious conduct in Jacksonville. The state tried to commit him in 2004 when he was back in prison for a probation violation then reversed.