Virginia Court Rules Galen Baughman a Sexually Violent Predator
A few weeks ago, our weekly update concerned Galen Baughman, a reform advocate who was facing trial to determine whether he would be labeled a sexually violent predator and civilly committed. The below is an excerpt from a message Galen’s mom sent to his supporters sharing the unfortunate news.
I wanted to share a message Phil Fornaci sent out recently regarding the outcome of Galen’s second prosecution under Virginia’s “Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predator’s Act”.
Yesterday, an Arlington County jury ruled that Galen Baughman is a sexually violent predator (SVP), despite the lack of any evidence to support such a claim. This is a horrible result not only for Galen but for all people accused of similar fake offenses. Notably:
- Despite the state’s own psychologist finding Galen was not a SVP, Attorney General Mark Herring hired his own hack psychologist, Michelle Sjolinder, to testify otherwise. She never met Galen, nor interviewed anyone involved. She read paper records and found “beyond a reasonable doubt” that he is an SVP, “diagnosing” him with a narcissistic personality disorder.
- The jury was not allowed to know that he had already been found NOT to be a SVP by another jury seven years ago.
- Galen has had not a single accusation or charge against him, or even a minor disciplinary infraction while jailed, in that time.
- He has never been charged with a crime of violence. His convictions occurred before his 20th birthday.
The Arlington County Detention Facility immediately placed Galen in protective custody after the jury’s verdict, against Galen’s wishes. Next up, Galen will have a conditional release hearing on December 4th where Judge Daniel Fiore, II will decide whether to release Galen or commit him to the gulag in down state Virginia. We don’t have much hope that Fiore will let Galen out given the totality of his judicial rulings in this matter
Discover more from Florida Action Committee (FAC)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
BUMP
(Let’s not forget that US Citizens are being held indefinitely without charges by those who would presume to judge their moral/ethical character, rather than their culpability of an actual crime committed.)
I know Galen. I attended the probation violation hearings and this is when it all went wrong. Galen used private high powered attorneys and instead of focusing on rehabilitation and therapy they angered the judge. They didn’t offer to have Galen in treatment or anything. They were smug. I do not feel the attorneys fully understood the criminal court system. And they were so arrogant. Many of us who support Galen believed he should have been involved in a program that consisted of therapy and group sessions. The probation department also failed Galen. They knowingly allowed him to attend a funeral with people under the age of 18. They did not require Galen to be in therapy which was a condition of his release. They set him up to fail. Look I think the text messages with the young man were problematic. It was a technical violation. However, if Galen had been represented at the violation hearing by attorneys who understand child sexual abuse and the development of the brain, he would have faired better. They did not offer any alternatives to incarceration. And I believe an alternative should have been offered. But nobody on Galen’s team listened to us. I believe Galen identifies with people under 18. I believe he experienced trauma when he was a child and his emotional intelligence (EI) is that of a teenager. It would serve Galen well if his legal team takes this approach at the sentencing. There is a great program/out patient in Baltimore for people who struggle as Galen does. I don’t think Galen is violent, but I do think he needs help. I wouldn’t leave him alone with young people under 18. I don’t think he should be thrown away either. He needs treatment not incarceration. Lastly, I want to say that if this was a heterosexual case involving this type of technical probation violation the case would have not ended up this way. Homophobia is real. Gay males who are convicted of child sexual abuse with males definitely receive harsher sentences.
I also know Galen. And I agree with this comment. As a result of that funeral, Galen had inappropriate texts with multiple underage boys–discussing love and relationships and encouraging them to only communicate with him over apps that afterwards delete content such as Snapchat–and was even alone in one underage boy’s house while the boy undressed, among other incriminating activities. The Washington Post article that placed scare quotes around “victim” and “offense” is cruel to those he victimized (among other victims, he had sex with a depressed 14 year old boy as a 19 year old). It seems that those authors did not read Galen’s misdeeds, or if they did, have no conscience about further victimizing people for their own ends. As far as I know Galen isn’t violent. But he seeks underage partners through manipulation and lies. Here’s that article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/23/arlington-judge-must-decide-if-nonviolent-sex-offender-should-stay-incarcerated-after-serving-his-sentence/
When it comes to Galen, I have found it such a challenge to get my arms around the facts. From what I’ve read so far, the amount of time he’s already spent locked up seems more than necessary to account for his choices. But I appreciate the input of those who are closer to the situation than I am.
Yes, I can’t imagine it’s easy to find those documents. His advocates offered me his parole violation report. And I began with the presumption that Galen was unfairly targeted because he described his parole violation as “technical.” But upon reading the document, it’s difficult to believe he is not a threat to minors. And by the way, Galen has admitted to behaving in other sexual misconduct with minors, though I haven’t seen those court documents either. And they weren’t pretty. I don’t know what to do about a man like Galen who continues to pose a threat to minors. Perhaps it doesn’t involve civil commitment but instead counseling and a thorough parole officer. But that is what Galen had when he engaged in this most recent violation: he had a parole officer and was required to see a therapist. (But there are problems there because what he says in therapy can be used against him in court. That undoubtedly affects his ability to be honest and receive helpful therapy.) The double jeopardy aspects are troubling. While he paid his debt to society, he continues to be a threat to minors by committing new crimes, making the double jeopardy aspects less troubling now than they were in 2010. Anyway I suppose we as a society don’t yet know how to handle such offenders who have served their sentence and haven’t committed new crimes. Can there be a middle ground between civil commitment and a parole officer with mandatory therapy? I hope we can find a way. Perhaps this program out of Baltimore that the OP mentioned could be that middle ground.
Thank you for shedding light on this difficult issue. It’s one we may be forced to address whenever we have the ear of elected officials who are open to reform.
I know almost nothing about this case. But I have read all of these comments. It seems as if this Galen guy was sexting minors. Is that actually a big deal? I suppose we shouldn’t allow that but is that really “dangerous” or much of an issue at all? Really?
I think back to when I raised all of my (many!) children. From the time they were maybe about 8 years old on, I had to keep a close eye on them and make sure they weren’t involved in any bad $EX stuff. When my children got phones, that had to be watched. They all tried acting like kids act. And they had plenty of schoolmates and friends that were just as dumb as they were. So they could have been sexting at any time. Or playing doctor with the neighbors. Or sneaking out of their bedroom windows.
The point is though that I had to watch out all the time for all of that. I didn’t want a 14 year old recklessly sexting my daughters. It didn’t help that the person was 14 and not 25. So that part just really doesn’t even seem relevant to me. Which would be more “dangerous” or “damaging”? 14 year olds are idiots so maybe that was more dangerous than a 25 year old? One of them certainly ought to be smarter and safer.
But the thing is that it didn’t matter. I was watching and had to be. So I’m not sure I’m on board with this super “dangerous” thing and we have to lock the person up. I certainly, certainly do not trust anyone involved with big government to make an intelligent decision. So meh, I guess. I’d never, ever report a “sexter” to big government. They lost their moral high ground decades ago.
You guys are tripping. This dude “hasn’t done anything since before he was 20.” Before he was 20, he raped a 9 year old. Add also, he raped at least two, potentially three of my friends (can’t remember, its been awhile) from middle and high school as an adult. Not to say he should be locked up forever without further conviction, but my experience with him personally suggests that he is a sexually violent predator with a thing for kids.
No idea who Anon is – but where are the convictions for 2-3 of your friends?
Not defending anyone, but we cannot make allegations.
@ Anon, welcome your comments we must. But state facts you have not!
I don’t see eye to eye with F.A,C most of the time but I am 100% behide them on this response they gave you
I’m not an expert by any means but it seems like people should try to avoid juries in all situations and request/pick/choose that a judge rule instead. Was that even an option in this case?
I say to avoid juries because Amerika is full, full, full of just truly stupid, lazy people who can’t tell the difference between their opinions/feelings and facts if their lives depended on it. I’m sure people have seen many jurors interviewed and seen that their stupidity was just stunning. What is truly outrageous is that we actually allow just ANYONE to be part of a jury. There should be a competency test and some training at least. Really, I feel as if we must have juries then it should be done as is in some other countries where they are paid professionals. They are trained to judge actual facts and reality.
Most people in Amerika are just too dumb to function. That’s why we have Registries after all. It’s not because we are a smart, exceptional, moral country. It’s a failure.
I agree that juries can be a problem. I served on a jury and felt that the jurors were more interested in getting home and having dinner than they were about getting the verdict right. When there was any doubt, they leaned toward the prosecutor’s side.
I expect you are right. People should know that unless there are FACTS that actually do prove that someone did something, we can’t be convicting a person. We have to prove that people did something illegal. It is unfortunate that we won’t be able to do that in some cases, but we simply have to hold ourselves to some moral standard. Can’t be convicting innocent people.
I wouldn’t ever trust a jury. Never.
You are so right about the jury system! My wife was on the Bill Cosby jury. When she told me the initial vote was almost all not guilty and then some truly outrageous comments I couldn’t believe the mentality of some of the people. Thankfully she held her ground in spite of harsh anger from her peers.