'Megan's Law' Killer Jesse Timmendequas Spared Death Penalty

Most everyone is familiar with Megan's Law, signed into law on May 17, 1996 by President Clinton. It requires convicted sex offenders to register with a national registry. Despite arguments over whether this violates constitutional rights of the offenders, it gives most people, especially parents, the peace of mind that they can log onto the internet or call the local police department and find out if there is sex offender in the neighborhood. What most people are not familiar with are the events that spawned Megan's Law. s

In 1994, a man named Jesse K. Timmedequas raped, strangled and killed a 7-year-old girl named Megan Kanka. Prior to this in 1979 and 1981 Jesse pleaded guilty to and was convicted of attempted sexual assault. Both cases were resolved in plea bargain because young children were involved and prosecutors are often reluctant to take molestation cases to trial. In the first case he was given a suspended sentence because he agreed to go to counseling and in the second case he was sentenced to 10 years, the maximum penalty for sexual assault, but only served six. The most disturbing thing is that Jesse admitted to being aroused while strangling the first girl and admitted a year later that he was sexually attracted to young girls.

Both the authorities and the counselors involved knew of this and it was even determined that he was a threat to society, yet after failed rehabilitation and the failure of counseling he was left to wander the streets again. When he was released from prison, he moved in with two other sex offenders that he met while in prison across the street from the Kanka family. The details of what happened to Megan at the hands of Jesse Timmedequas are heinous. While describing the details of Megans demise to police officers, Detective Schwarz said he showed no sense of sorrow for what he did. During trial he was found guilty of kidnapping, four counts of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of felony murder and was sentenced to death.