Jury finds ex-New York governor didn’t violate offenders’ rights through psych ward transfers
NEW YORK, N.Y. – A jury has found that the former governor of New York did not violate sex offenders’ rights by involuntarily committing them to mental institutions after they completed their prison terms.
The jurors reached the verdict Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan.
The sex offenders had sued ex-Gov. George Pataki and other officials in 2008 for tens of millions of dollars. They claimed their rights were violated in the mid-2000s when the state transferred them to a psychiatric facility rather than let them go free at the end of their prison terms.
The jury heard testimony from a convicted rapist and child molester who described being held in psych wards without treatment.
Pataki took the stand as well. He said he was only trying to protect the public.
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