Court considers fate of alleged sex offender

The fate of a 17-year-old boy accused of abducting and sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl could be largely influenced by the condition of the state’s economy.

Clayton Byrum of Bangor appeared Tuesday in 3rd District Court in Bangor for a bindover hearing to determine whether he will be charged as a juvenile or as an adult.

He is charged with the two Class A felonies of kidnapping and gross sexual assault. The charges stem from an incident in November 1991 when an 8-year-old girl on her way to school allegedly was dragged off the street and into Byrum’s Hersey Avenue home. Once inside the house, Byrum allegedly sexually assaulted her and let her go.

Byrum is being held at the Maine Youth Center. If tried as an adult, Byrum could face up to 40 years in prison for each charge. As a juvenile he most likely would be sentenced to the Maine Youth Center where he would be held until age 21.

Professional testimony Tuesday from a psychiatrist and a psychologist at the Maine Youth Center indicated that Byrum was in need of a residential sexual offenders treatment program. Those treatment programs have been eliminated as part of cost-cutting measures in every correctional facility in the state except the Maine Youth Center.

The hearing lasted all day and had to be continued because of time constraints. In the interim, the Penobscot County District Attorney’s Office asked the court to order Byrum to undergo a standard sexual offenders evaluation. Judge Andrew Mead said Tuesday he would take the request under advisement.

Barbara Boisot, a psychiatrist at the youth center, performed the psychological evaluation on Byrum and said she determined that Byrum might not successfully be able complete the sexual offenders program.

She said he had a history of resisting treatment and was resentful of rules and regulations. She said the sexual offenders treatment program at the youth center was very regulated. She also testified that Byrum’s parents might have a difficult time helping him complete the program, even though they had been supportive of him and interested in his well-being.

“The program would mean they would have to take a realistic look at the kind of person their son is and that’s going to be difficult,” she said.

Richard Kaufmann, a psychologist at the youth center who specializes in evaluation and treatment of sexual offenders, said he had not evaluated Byrum. He said treatment was important for sexual offenders. Under questioning by Roberts, however, he acknowledged that long-term supervision was as important as treatment.

Roberts said he did not think the three years that Byrum would have to serve at the youth center, if convicted, was enough. He said that because of the seriousness of the crime he felt that the state had to push for a sentence that would include long-term supervision.

Byrum’s attorney, Marvin Glazier, said the issue was very serious and that his client was in need of treatment that could be provided only at the youth center.

Under questioning by Glazier, Kaufmann said that any young man convicted and imprisoned in an adult facility for sex crimes would be “treated very harshly” by older sex offenders.

Even if there were a treatment program in place at adult facilities, a younger sex offender would be so preoccupied avoiding the predation of older sexual offenders that he would have no time for treatment, Kaufmann said.

Testimony at Tuesday’s hearing indicated that Byrum had problems in school that started when he was a sixth-grader at Fifth Street Middle School.

School employees testified that Byrum wrote threatening notes in school, including one in which he allegedly described how he would like to kill his sister. He also threatened to kill a teacher, kicked a girl in the head and broke another girl’s nose, according to testimony from school employees.