A ruling in Vilas County court Friday (3-1) found Steven Burgess, 40, of Lac du Flambeau, no longer meets the criteria of a sexually violent person and will be released from supervision and not returned to the home in the Vilas County town of Cloverland where the state Dept. of Health Services placed him.
Burgess was judged to be a sexually violent person when he was 17 and placed at Sand Ridge Treatment Center in Mauston after his prison sentence. From there he was placed in a home the state rented and last October Burgess petitioned for release.
State attorney Kevin Green by phone told Vilas County Judge Neal Nielsen, III the state has examined the psychological report and they “agree he no longer meets the criteria of a sexually violent person and the state has no witness to contridict the report,” and they need to work out a discharge date.
Defnese attorney Robert Peterson said they will file an order for release indicating Burgess will remain at Sand Ridge for a while. Judge Nielsen said he will sign the release order.
Peterson said they would need three days for Burgess to remove his belongings in the home by March 31 and the Dept. of Health Services Michael Chase said they would need five days after that to clean the home, whose state lease expires May 1.
