Utah Judge Orders Sex Offender be Freed

According to CNN: A Utah judge has ordered that a man being held for sexually abusing children be freed due to mental incompetence. Lonnie Johnson, a 38-year old man charged with twenty-one charges of sexually abusing children, was examined by doctors for mental competence. The doctors diagnosed him with a cognitive disorder and deemed him to be mentally incompetent and not a danger to society. Utah's Fourth District Judge James Taylor deemed that he was not competent to be charged on sex crimes. Since those were the only kinds of charges against him, Taylor ordered him be let free because now there were no legal grounds for holding him. The reaction to this decision has been very angry. Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert was "outraged that a convicted child sex offender... could be released without being tried for current charges." A status hearing will be held on the judge in November and prosecutors have filed a motion to re-examine Johnson's competency.