Thomas R. Duvall, a serial rapist who was at the center of a political firestorm three years ago over the future of the state sex offender program, insists that he is no longer a threat to society after nearly three decades in confinement and deserves to be released.
Duvall, 61, is expected to take the stand this week at the start of a four-day trial, which began Tuesday, before a state Supreme Court appeals panel considering his petition for conditional release. The Duvall case is widely seen as a key test of Minnesota's law that provides for the indefinite commitment of violent sex offenders, and the courts' willingness to override state officials who oppose an offender's release.
Duvall, wearing a dark suit and glasses, looked on as the trial opened. More than two dozen witnesses are expected to be called, and likely will recount the horrific details of Duvall's sexual crimes, which occurred in the 1970s and 1980s. In one particularly brutal assault in 1987, Duvall bound a teenage girl from Brooklyn Park with an electrical cord and raped her repeatedly over several hours while hitting her with the handle of a hammer. Duvall was convicted on three separate occasions of sexually assaulting teenage girls — each time shortly after he was released from prison.
While Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper and the Hennepin County attorney's office oppose Duvall's petition for conditional release from the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP), the outcome of the case is far from certain. State judicial panels, like the one hearing Duvall's case, have shown greater willingness over the past two years to go against the recommendations of state administrators and approve offenders for conditional release to heavily monitored halfway houses in the community.
Three years ago, Duvall became a political flash point in the debate over the future of the MSOP. His petition for conditional discharge set off a political furor, ensnaring two prominent public prosecutors in a feud, and prompting Gov. Mark Dayton to temporarily suspend all releases from the facility. Duvall abruptly withdrew his petition just before the start of a public trial.
Among those closely following the case is the woman who survived Duvall's brutal 1987 rape. The woman, who declined to reveal her name out of fear, said she continues to suffer "significant physical reactions" from the lasting trauma of the assault. "It's like I'm living a nightmare," she said in an interview. "There are times when I don't know how I'm going to function from hour to hour."
The woman, who was 17 years old at the time of the rape, said she has been unable to sleep, and has been hit with periods of nausea and vomiting since learning five weeks ago that Duvall had petitioned again for release. "I believe that people deserve a second chance, but I also don't believe there is a treatment out there that can cure someone who has done what he has done to so many," she said. "I just don't want this to happen to anyone else."
Dr. James Alsdurf, an independent forensic psychologist appointed by the court, concluded in a report recently filed under seal that Duvall should not be provisionally discharged into the community. He had done an extensive review of Duvall's treatment history.