BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) - A 35-year-old Bloomington man who has been in a state treatment program for sexually dangerous people since he was 15 is eligible to be released, according to a psychiatrist’s testimony.
Dr. Melissa Weldon-Padera said Tuesday that John Guthrie lacks any mental health diagnosis to keep him in custody under a revised version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders released in 2013. She said the new manual “makes a distinction between having an interest and having a disorder related to sexual interest in children.”
The issue of whether treatment worked for Guthrie is moot “because there’s no diagnosis for him to recover from,” Weldon-Padera said, adding that he “has done everything he can in the institutional program.”
Although other state doctors determined that Guthrie was a sexually dangerous person, an evaluation in 2012 by a defense expert concluded that the initial diagnosis of pedophilia was incorrect. The state agrees that Guthrie doesn’t qualify as a sexually dangerous person, and it supports the Weldon-Padera’s recommendation that Guthrie is required to follow a lengthy list of conditions upon his release, according to First Assistant State’s Attorney Adam Ghrist.
Guthrie was accused of molesting a girl who he was babysitting in May 1993, The (Bloomington) Pantagraph (https://bit.ly/1AycTXi ) reported. The state didn’t move forward with charges against Guthrie and instead requested that he be placed in a Department of Corrections facility for sexually dangerous persons.
He’s expected to be released from the program after a July 2 hearing on the proposed conditions of his release, including reregistering as a sex offender.
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Information from: The Pantagraph, https://www.pantagraph.com
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