United States v. Graham

683 F. Supp. 2d 129, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12198, 2010 WL 457445
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedFebruary 8, 2010
DocketCivil Action 07-12065-JLT
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 683 F. Supp. 2d 129 (United States v. Graham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Graham, 683 F. Supp. 2d 129, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12198, 2010 WL 457445 (D. Mass. 2010).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

TAURO, District Judge.

I. Introduction

Petitioner the United States of America (“the Government”) instituted this civil action on March 19, 2007, seeking to commit Wesley Graham (“Respondent”) as a “sexually dangerous person,” pursuant to the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (“the Adam Walsh Act”). The Government’s petition states that mental health personnel for the Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) have examined Respondent and issued a preliminary determination that he is sexually dangerous. Upon receipt of the petition, the Adam Walsh Act required this court to stay Respondent’s release from federal custody, pending a hearing to determine whether Respondent qualifies for commitment as a sexually dangerous person.

To commit Respondent, the Government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that Respondent is a sexually dangerous person, which the Adam Walsh Act defines as “a person who has engaged or attempted to engage in sexually violent conduct or child molestation and who is sexually dangerous to others.” 1 An individual is “sexually dangerous to others” under the Act if he “suffers from a serious mental illness, abnormality, or disorder as a result of which he would have serious difficulty in refraining from sexually violent conduct or child molestation if released.” 2

This court held a four-day bench trial on this matter beginning on September 9, 2009. The only Government witness at trial was Dr. Anna Salter, Ph.D. Dr. Salter opined that Respondent met the criteria for commitment under the Adam Walsh Act.

Respondent called two experts. Respondent’s first expert, Dr. Joseph J. Plaud, Ph.D, testified that Respondent was not sexually dangerous under the Adam Walsh Act. Respondent’s second expert, Dr. Barry Joseph Mills, appointed by the court pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 4247, also testified that Respondent was not sexually dangerous under the Adam Walsh Act. In addition, Respondent’s nephews, Ivan Young and Floyd Young, testified regarding their intention to provide assistance to Respondent upon his release.

At the conclusion of trial, Parties proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. After considering the testimony at trial, the evidentiary record, and Parties’ submissions, this court concludes that the Government has failed to establish by *131 clear and convincing evidence that Respondent suffers from a serious mental illness, abnormality, or disorder as required by the Adam Walsh Act. In support of this decision, this court issues the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

II. Findings of Fact

A. Personal History

Respondent was born in March 1950 in South Carolina. 3 At age seven, Respondent moved with his family to the District of Columbia. 4 Respondent’s father was a roofer and his mother worked at a dry cleaning store. 5 Respondent described his father to Dr. Mills as a fair disciplinarian and his mother as “loving and ‘church going.’ ” 6 He denies any form of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse, but indicated that he received “whippings” and spankings as discipline. 7

Respondent left school after the seventh grade. 8 He participated in classes towards his General Equivalency Diploma (“GED”) while incarcerated, his only formal education since leaving school. 9 Respondent has not succeeded in passing the GED exam, despite several attempts, due to very poor scores in math. 10

Respondent reported using marijuana on a monthly basis from age fourteen until the mid-1980s. 11 He has given inconsistent accounts of his heroin use, admitting only to snorting the drug in one account, but admitting to daily injections from the ages of fifteen to twenty-one in another account. 12 He was on a Methadone maintenance program for a short time in the 1970s. 13 Respondent has also tested positive for THC and PCP. 14

Though Respondent never married, he had one long-term girlfriend, Mary Phargood, that he cohabitated with for approximately 7 years. 15 Ms. Phargood is still in contact with Respondent and presently lives in Maryland. 16 Respondent also had one son out of a prior relationship, who died by violence in 1996. 17

B. Criminal and Sexual Offense History

Respondent was first convicted of petit larceny at age thirteen for shoplifting. 18 He was placed on probation for a short period of time for that offense. 19 Two years later, at age fifteen, Respondent was sentenced to one year in a juvenile detention facility on a conviction for simple assault. 20 Respondent was also arrested twice for disorderly conduct, in October 1971 and December 1972, receiving a $10 fine for each offense. 21

*132 Respondent’s first sexual offense occurred in January 1974 (the “1974 Rape”), when he was arrested for rape. 22 A police report on the subject of that incident states the following:

Black female reports that at about 0215 hours, 1/24/74, she accepted a ride home from the Chun-King restaurant at 709 H. Street, N.E. A man known to her as ‘Wesley’ drove her to the 5100 block of C Street, S.E. and parked in a parking lot. He told her that he wasn’t a teenager and he was going to show her that he wasn’t. He told her to remove her clothes, and she told him no. He grabbed her pants and the seam tore in the crotch. He removed her pants and her panties and had sexual intercourse with her, reaching a climax and ejaculating on her and in her. He let her out of the car and told her that he would give her a ride to her boyfriend’s. She told him to ‘Go to Hell.’ She went to her boyfriend’s home and called her cousin — and then called the police. The complainant was later examined at D.C. General Hospital and released. The defendant denies having intercourse with the complainant. 23

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Bluebook (online)
683 F. Supp. 2d 129, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12198, 2010 WL 457445, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-graham-mad-2010.