Testimony ends on sex offender’s move home

ELLSWORTH – After an exhausting day of testimony Tuesday, a judge delayed ruling on whether a convicted sex offender from Bucksport should be allowed to move back in with his parents.

Late in the afternoon, after hearing arguments both in favor of and against Travis White’s request, Hancock County Superior Court Justice Thomas Delahanty said instead that he would issue a written decision “as quickly as I can.”

Delahanty concluded that while there are no conditions in state law that allow White, 37, to be banished from a community, a judge is permitted to impose restrictions that consider the public safety and security of that community.

“The punitive part is over,” Delahanty said, referring to the nearly six years White spent in prison for molesting young boys dating back to 1991. “Whether he returns [to prison] depends on him.”

White, a former coach in Bucksport, was tried and convicted in 2002 on several counts of gross sexual assault, a case that shook the Hancock County community of about 5,000 residents. He was released from prison last summer but still has several years of probation left.

White was in court Tuesday to settle a recent motion submitted by his attorney, Stephen Smith of Bangor, that would amend the man’s probation conditions and allow him to move home to Bucksport.

His current conditions require that his probation officer, Donald Muth, approve living arrangements. Muth already had indicated, and testified in court to the same effect, that he didn’t think his client’s request was a good idea based on his interactions with White to date.

“He doesn’t have a realistic view of his role in his crimes,” Muth told the court. “He has a distortion about how people see him in the community. He sees himself as the victim.”

Smith, however, said his client wasn’t asking for much and would be willing to abide by any restrictions the court imposes.

“It’s simply unreasonable for a probation officer or anyone else to impose residency restrictions like this,” the defense attorney said.

Justice Delahanty, who imposed White’s initial sentence in June 2002, will make the final decision, although that could take days or even weeks.

White never took the stand in his own defense Tuesday, but several others were called, both by Smith and Assistant District Attorney Mary Kellett, to offer opinions about the man’s request to return to Bucksport.

Muth’s testimony included assertions that White’s parents, Brian and Janeen White, have been in denial about their son’s crimes. He also talked openly about a meeting he had before White’s release with members of the Bucksport community, including some of the victims and their families.

“It was very clear that there was a lot of negative emotion in that room,” Muth said of the meeting in March 2007. “[White] had a very profound effect on a lot of people in a negative way.”

Kellett also called to the stand White’s therapist, Dwayne Hogan, who admitted that he initially supported White’s request to move back to Bucksport. After having a conversation with Muth about the situation, however, Hogan changed his mind.

“I think it’s time for Travis to make a life for Travis, separate from his parents,” he said. “It’s hard to fathom why there is such a strong desire for him to move back.”

One of White’s victims, now a 28-year-old man, also spoke. The man testified that he bumped into White last year shortly after his release from prison.

“All those feelings from childhood came flooding back,” the man said, his voice shaking with emotion. “I wake up every day trying to move on. If [White] really wanted to move on, he wouldn’t be here today.”

Smith, meanwhile, attempted to portray his client as someone who has expressed remorse – and continues to do so – for his crimes and empathy for his victims.

In response to Muth’s suggestion that White’s parents have not come to terms with their son’s crimes, Smith called to the stand Robin Greene, a counselor with Northeast Occupational Exchange in Bangor. Greene has been counseling White’s parents and testified that Brian and Janeen White have been active in seeking education.

Additionally, both parents took the stand and told Justice Delahanty they would be willing to contact police if their son was ever in violation of his probation.

Kellett, in her closing statement, was not so sure.

“From all the testimony heard today, at this point it seems that if there’s a good time for [White] to move home, this is not it,” she said. “His parents are still not there as far as being appropriate supervisors.”

Justice Delahanty indicated there was a lot of information to consider in reviewing White’s request but offered no time frame for when he would issue his decision.

erussell@bangordailynews.net

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