When Florida's two top legislators asked Wednesday what they could to do make it more difficult for violent sexual offenders to prey upon victims, they got an earful from Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford.
Making several passionate references to 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle's slaying in June, Rutherford pitched the Florida Sheriffs Association's legislative plan to reduce the number of crimes committed by sexual predators.
Rutherford said Cherish's accused killer, Donald James Smith, likely would not have been allowed to plead guilty to misdemeanor crimes in 2009 if laws the association is proposing were in effect.
Smith, of Jacksonville, had been released from custody in May, about three weeks before Cherish was abducted from a Walmart and killed.
Much of the association's plan addresses what Rutherford and legislators term "loopholes" that enable convicted sexual predators to be charged with misdemeanors rather than felonies, along with being prematurely released from incarceration or probation.
"What we are trying to get people to understand is that when these predators are convicted of crimes, it is often not for what they actually did, but something less severe," Rutherford said after the meeting hosted by Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, and House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel.
"We have got to work together to so that sexual violent predators don't slip through the cracks," Rutherford said.
In addition to strengthening sentences, key components of the association's recommendations – all of which require legislation – are:
• Law enforcement would have input in the civil commitment review process that attempts to determine a sexually violent predators' risk of re-offending.
• Certain sexual crimes would be reclassified from misdemeanors to felonies, including those that involve lascivious acts or exposing sexual organs. Also, simulated child pornography would be criminalized.
• Offenders on probation would be required to report all vehicles they drive to law enforcement — not just vehicles they own.
Smith, 56, is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery charges; he has pleaded not guilty.
In addition to career criminal behavior, Smith was a parole violator, he pleaded guilty to reduced crimes and he had some cases dismissed.
"It's not just happening in Jacksonville. If you wake up in the morning and read newspapers throughout the state, you are reading about the same deviant behavior," Weatherford said.
Gaetz and Weatherford said strengthening laws addressing violent sexual predators will be a key focus of the legislative session, which begins in March.
"The Florida Senate will stand next to the (House) speaker … to make sure Florida is the least-friendly place in America for those who want to prey on children," Gaetz said.
Rep. Janet Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach, asked Rutherford to provide a clearer picture of the characteristics of violent sexual predators.
The sheriff said although he's not a criminal profiler, "I can tell you this: What I believe is that if you show me a bank robber, it's what they do. Show me a sexual predator, it's what they are."
Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, said she is co-drafting legislation, separate from the association's agenda, that adds more levels of protection from violent sexual predators.
Rutherford says he likes what he heard Wednesday and is convinced that the upcoming legislative session will help law enforcement agencies and the judicial system do a better job of protecting the public from violent sexual predators.
"These are things that can be put into law that have not been proposed before, and I feel very positive that the Legislature will come through," Rutherford said.