Castrated Sex Offender Should Be Freed, Southern California Jury Says

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A Southern California jury on Friday found that a castrated sex offender should no longer be considered a sexually violent predator and is eligible for release.

Jurors in Orange County determined that Kevin Reilly, 53, does not need to remain locked up at a state mental hospital. He could be released as early as Friday, his lawyer said, but online jail records show he remained in custody as of mid-afternoon.

"There was simply no evidence he was likely to reoffend," said Holly Galloway, deputy public defender. "What the jury did was amazing because they followed the law and that's a hard thing to do with someone with his history, but it's the right thing to do."

Reilly served time in prison for sex offenses committed in the 1980s and 1990s and has been locked up in a state mental hospital since 2000 under a California law that enables authorities to forcibly commit sex offenders they believe will reoffend.

He paid to be surgically castrated in 2003 to help control his pedophilia and completed a treatment program for sex offenders in 2010.

Prosecutors argued during court proceedings that Reilly is still sexually violent and the effects of his castration can be reversed with testosterone injections. Susan Kang Schroeder, chief of staff for the Orange County District Attorney's office, said the jury's decision was somewhat expected in light of the surgery and Reilly's completion of his therapy program.

"There was too much for us to overcome on this case," she said.

The Orange County Register reports that Reilly molested a total of six girls between the ages of 4 and 8. One of his convictions was for molesting his 4-year-old daughter, according to the newspaper.

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Associated Press writer Gillian Flaccus contributed to this report.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.