Actin killing triggers calls for protection for victims of sexual violence

Opponents claim that such detention procedures are already used far too frequently and that innocent suspects are deprived of their freedom. Supporters, on the other hand, say that the violence of child rape and other sexual crimes and the potential for intimidation for victims practically cry out for them to be included in the dangerousness law.

“The sad reality is that there are cases where truly dangerous individuals are still on our streets,” said Senator John Velis, who has already proposed a bill that would include sex crimes such as child rape under the dangerousness law. He called Wilson’s killing a “shocking example” of the need for change.

“The Commonwealth has its hands tied behind its back,” he said.

His bill remains in committee, where it has been granted an extension until the end of June.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr of Gloucester said he would also introduce a bill to expand the list of dangerous crimes to include child rape.

“Anyone would say this type of crime is dangerous,” Tarr said, adding that crime victims have told him about “the frightening feeling … that they could be attacked again.”

In Santana’s case, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan’s office pushed to hold him on $100,000 cash bail, but a judge set bail at $30,000. Within weeks, Santana paid the reduced amount and was released on the condition that he wear a GPS bracelet and stay away from the child. The trial was postponed several times, including when Santana’s defense attorney pointed to a pandemic-related backlog of cases and when the district attorney became a judge.

Debate about the three-decade-old The dangerousness law has been raging for years, often after a headline-grabbing horror. After Jared Remy, the son of Red Sox player and longtime broadcaster Jerry Remy, killed his girlfriend in 2013 In light of charges of past abuse, lawmakers expanded and strengthened the dangerousness statute to include some violations of protection from abuse orders.

In 2018, after Yarmouth police Officer Sean Gannon and Weymouth police Sergeant Michael Chesna were killed in separate incidents within weeks of each other, then-Governor Charlie Baker proposed a sweeping bill that would have expanded the charges eligible for a dangerousness hearing to include sex crimes and assault on a police officer. The bill never became law, although Baker reintroduced a similar version in 2022.

Retired Yarmouth Police Chief Frank Frederickson, who led the department when Gannon was killed in 2018, said in an interview that lawmakers need to “take some of these things into their hands.”

“The public needs to be protected from the few people who are really bad – that’s what it comes down to,” Frederickson said, arguing that judges are generally unwilling to set high bail, which requires a dangerousness hearing.

“These are people who harm others and are more likely to do harm again,” he said.

But civil rights activists and criminal defense attorneys argue that prosecutors may be exceeding their authority and violating civil liberties by seeking baseless dangerousness hearings.

Some defense attorneys say the dangerousness law is already being used too often. Anthony Benedetti, chief counsel for the Committee for Public Counsel Services, said the state’s public defender organization is “vehemently opposed to any effort” to expand the use of dangerousness hearings because such decisions are based “on speculative and often biased assessments of future risk.”

“People are losing their jobs, their homes, and their families are suffering irreparable harm while being held without bail, all before they have even been brought to trial.”

State court system data show that the number of initial dangerousness hearings in district courts increased from 3,051 cases in the fiscal year ending June 2018 to 4,148 in the fiscal year ending June 2023. During the same period, the number of hearings in juvenile courts increased from 224 to 339. No data were available on the outcomes of the hearings.

Shira Diner, a clinical lecturer at Boston University and president of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said hearings usually end with the person being detained without a solid trial.

“It’s not often that (prosecutors) file a dangerousness motion and it’s a judge who doesn’t allow it,” she said.

Diner added that expanding the dangerousness law would affect hundreds more people who should not be considered dangerous.

“Every few years something terrible happens, it’s on the news and we end up with a longer and longer list,” she said.

Rep. Simon Cataldo, who represents the Acton neighborhood where the teenager was killed, said it was important that proposed legislation “balance safety and civil rights.” He said the tragedy was also a “painful reminder of our need to modernize gun laws in Massachusetts,” citing the fact that Santana was carrying a gun during his release.

Jane Doe Inc., a coalition of survivor advocacy groups, opposed Baker’s proposed expansion of the law in 2022 because it was “too broad” and would add too many crimes, said deputy director Hema Sarang Sieminski. But she doubted Jane Doe member organizations would have much opposition to including child rape.

“Let’s go step by step and look at each crime individually to see what could be really strategic solutions here,” she said, adding that the voice of survivors must be included in the debate.

“There are many more similarities than is sometimes admitted in discussions on this topic,” said Sieminski. “That is where we need to focus.”

Sean Cotter can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @cotterreporter.