Sex offender denied release by Clark County jury

A convicted sex offender from Clark County was denied release Monday after a prosecutor with the state Attorney General’s Office convinced a local jury that he remains mentally ill and dangerous.

Raymond Marshall, 45, was convicted in 1990 of first-degree child molestation in Clark County. He was found to be a sexually violent predator in February 2003 and was committed to the state’s Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island, where he has remained since that time, according to a news release from the Attorney General’s Office.

Under Washington’s Sexually Violent Predator law, the Attorney General’s Office can petition for and defend the involuntary commitment of violent sex offenders who, because of mental illness or a personality disorder, are proven to likely reoffend if they are released.

Marshall was awarded an unconditional release trial last December, based on a defense expert’s opinion that his condition had changed and he was no longer a sexually violent predator, the news release said.

During his trial, which started Dec. 5, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Howe argued that Marshall still suffers from a mental condition that makes him likely to commit predatory sexual crimes.

The jury found that the Attorney General’s Office had met its burden of proof, according to the news release.

In 1990, Washington became the first state in the nation to pass a law allowing the civil commitment of sex offenders after they serve their prison sentences. The Attorney General’s Office created its Sexually Violent Predator Unit shortly after the law passed.

The unit prosecutes cases for all Washington counties, except King County. As of Thursday, 281 violent sex offenders are in custody under the state’s special commitment law, according to the news release.