DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a state law that allows sex offenders to remain under supervised release even if they’ve been found unlikely to engage in acts of sexual violence.
The law was challenged by 57-year-old Calvin Matlock, of Waterloo, who has three sex abuse convictions. He was released from prison in 2000 but confined to a Cherokee sex offenders unit as a sexually violent predator.
In 2013 he was released under supervision of a probation officer after he was found to have a mental abnormality but prosecutors failed to prove he was likely to reoffend.
Matlock claims the conditions violate his constitutional due process rights.
The Supreme Court, ruling Friday, affirmed Matlock’s release but ordered hearings on whether supervised release properly balances Matlock’s constitutional rights with public safety.
