Counselor Blasts County for Sex Crime Policy

HOUSTON (CN) - Brazos County released a sex offender who admitted committing "hundreds of sexual assaults" on 3- to 5-year-old children, because it fails to follow state mandates on risk assessments before sentencing, and slandered and retaliated against a licensed counselor who pointed that out, the counselor claims in Federal Court.

James Woods claims state officials slandered him to retaliate for his criticism of the county and refused to give him referrals though he is one of only two licensed sex offender therapists in the area.

In a case he calls "particularly illustrative," Woods says he treated a juvenile offender who was sentenced without the required comprehensive risk assessment.

"During treatment, the juvenile admitted to hundreds of incidents of sexual assaults over a nine year period, on male and female victims between the ages of three and five, and he further admitted he spends 50-60 percent of his waking hours fantasizing about raping children," according to the complaint. "None of this information was available to the court at sentencing because the Brazos County District Attorney's Office failed to order a pre-sentencing sex offender risk assessment that complied with state standards. Had the evaluation been done, the Court may have known the magnitude of the threat presented by this offender, and it could have sentenced him accordingly."

Woods says he has criticized the county and its officials for this since 2003, and they retaliated.

He sued Brazos County, its district attorney, two assistant district attorneys and two probation officers, alleging conspiracy, civil rights violations, tortious interference and slander. He also sued the director of the Brazos County Department of Juvenile Services and the director of the Brazos County Community Supervision and Corrections Department.

Woods demands punitive damages. He is represented by Ty Clevenger of Bryan, Texas.

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