Court ruling awaited on sex-offender law
Springfield Union News
Friday, March 17, 2000
By BETSY CALVERT

GREENFIELD — A judge agreed yesterday to postpone a sexual-dangerousness hearing for Robin Rancourt of Athol after lawyers on both sides said the case may be resolved soon by the state Supreme Judicial Court.

Rancourt is the second sex offender that the state has brought before Franklin Superior Court since December.

A new sexual-offender law was enacted last September. The law allows the state to use a civil commitment process to keep certain sex offenders in confinement indefinitely after they have completed their prison sentences.

Rancourt's lawyer, Samuel S.R. Gordon, was scheduled yesterday to argue that the court should dismiss its case against Rancourt. Rancourt recently completed a five-year sentence for six counts of child rape.

At the same hearing, the state was scheduled to argue about mental abnormalities that would make Rancourt likely to commit sex crimes again.

Gordon and Assistant District Attorney Steven Greenbaum, however, told Judge Tina Page that the similar cases elsewhere in the state are going before the top court in April. The high court is expected to determine if the current law applies to people who committed crimes before it was enacted.

They also told Page that they are waiting for records from the state Department of Correction about Rancourt's behavior during incarceration. Gordon said he believes that the records will show that Rancourt was a model prisoner and not a candidate for the sexual-dangerousness law.

Page set a court date of April 14 for the next update.