By now, many of you have heard about this, since it has been gaining national attention: 30-year-old Thomas Leggs, Jr., a registered sex offender, has been arrested is accused of killing an 11-year-old Salisbury, Md., girl named Sarah Haley Foxwell.
Leggs has a rap sheet so long that it would take forever to go through the littany of cases that pop up in a search of the Maryland Judiciary Case web site. But his most serious and well-documented offenses appear to be that of the rape of a minor in Delaware and a third-degree sex offense case in Maryland that is as old as Sarah Foxwell was. That's right -- Leggs was registered as a sex offender in two states when he allegedly abducted Sarah Foxwell on Dec. 22 and then murdered her.
In Maryland we have Jessica's Law, which mandates minimum 25-year sentences for first-degree sex offenses involving children. But there's a problem, as has been noted by state Sen. Nancy Jacobs: even these supposedly mandatory sentences can be reduced through -- you guessed it -- early release credits.
The leader of a group called Citizens For Jesscia's Law in Maryland put it best in this editorial in yesterday's Washington Post:
"What in the hell is [Leggs] doing back out on the street, and what is he doing having contact with this child?"
Some things never change. Nine years ago, the late Elmer Spencer -- another convicted sex offender with a lengthy rap sheet -- was released from prison after serving just three and half years of a 10-year sentence for an attempted rape (early release credits played a role in his release). Less than a week later, he killed 9-year-old Christopher Ausherman in a baseball field dugout in Frederick.
By the way, here's something else you all should know. In 2006, Sen. Brian Frosh -- yes, the same Brian Frosh who has claimed that he supports tough sentences for violent offenders but won't commit to putting tougher early release credit laws to a vote in the General Assembly -- was one of three lawmakers in the Maryland General Assembly who voted against Jessica's Law.
The Foxwell case continues to be investigated, so time will tell as to how and why Leggs was allowed to strike yet again despite being a registered sex offender. But how much more time will pass, and how many more innocent people will get hurt or killed, before our top lawmakers in Maryland decide that there's a problem with our criminal justice system?
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