Judge may release sexual predator as a transient in Fairfield if placement location not found soon

FAIRFIELD (BCN) — State officials renewed a motion in Solano County Superior Court Friday to release a sexually violent predator from a state mental institution without a fixed address where he would stay, the Solano County District Attorney’s Office said.

Fraisure Smith would be released on transient status and stay in different motels and hotels every several days, according to Deputy District Attorney Mary Nguyen. The Solano County District Attorney’s Office has objected to Smith’s release without a fixed address because it would be difficult to investigate and review each motel location, Nguyen said.

A representative for the state Department of State Hospitals’ Conditional Release Program, CONREP, said the department has reviewed 4,108 possible placement opportunities in Solano, Napa, Contra Costa and Yolo counties but has not found one that will accept Smith, Nguyen said. Judge Arvid Johnson, who has presided at the Smith placement hearings, said he is inclined to release Smith on transient status unless a suitable placement is found by the next court hearing on Oct. 13, the Solano County District Attorney’s Office said.

Smith, 52, was sentenced to prison in 2006 after he pleaded no contest to assault with intent to commit rape. A jury agreed in 2010 with the Solano County District Attorney’s Office that Smith was a sexually violent predator and he was committed to Coalinga State Hospital on July 24, 2010.

Smith filed a petition for conditional release in April 2012 and he was ordered released in November 2013 to CONREP. His placement must not be within a quarter-mile of a public or private school with students in kindergarten through grade 12.

On Feb. 23, CONREP recommended Smith be placed on Willotta Drive in Fairfield, and Judge Arvid agreed with the prosecution’s objection that the location was too close to Solano Community College. A second proposed placement at a residence on Olive Avenue in Fairfield and a third proposed location in Concord fell through this past summer when the property owners withheld the properties from consideration.

Smith then requested release on transient status and the judge denied the request on April 7, 2015. The court in April also agreed with the District Attorney’s Office’s contention that extraordinary circumstances required Smith to be placed outside Solano County.

Another hearing regarding placing Smith in another county was scheduled in June but it was continued until Friday.