FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The state says Gerald Turner’s constitutional rights are not being violated, as the state tries to keep the notorious “Halloween Killer” at a secure mental health facility, since his prison term has been completed.
Turner, 73, was convicted of sexually assaulting and killing 9-year-old Lisa Ann French while she was trick-or-treating in Fond du Lac in 1973. Her body was found a few days later in the town of Taycheedah. His prison term complete, the state filed suit in 2018, seeking to have Turner deemed a sexually violent offender, and ordered to remain at a secure mental health facility under the Chapter 980 sexual predator law. His attorneys have opposed the request and want him released. Five years later, that process is still going on.
Two weeks ago, Turner’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing the state has no evidence to keep him in custody as a sexual predator so he should be released.
In the seven-page reply filed Friday, Assistant Attorney General Devra Ayala cites testimony that Turner suffers from two qualifying mental disorders that make him predisposed to commit sexually violent acts.
Additionally, the state argues it “is not required to present expert testimony to prove the required dangerousness element in (state law),” Ayala wrote.
“The State’s attempts to commit the Respondent under Chapter 980 does not exceed any constitutionally prescribed boundaries and does not violate the Respondent’s constitutional rights,” Ayala argued. “His due process rights have not been violated. The State requests that this Court deny the Respondent’s Motion to Dismiss.”
A hearing is scheduled for next Friday before a Fond du Lac County judge.
Turner is currently held at the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Mauston.
After serving 17 years in prison for a 38-year sentence, Turner was released from prison in 1992 but returned to prison that same year following a court decision challenging calculation of time served. Turner was again released on parole in 1998 but returned to prison in 2003 for 15 years after pornographic images were found on his computer.
