2/24/2010
By TIM UNRUH Salina Journal

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Paul Henry Parker Jr. was jailed for DUI on Feb. 7, violating his prison parole, but those in charge didn't contest his release the next day.

On Saturday, nearly two weeks since his release on an own-recognizance bond from the Saline County Jail, Parker, 46, was arrested for allegedly raping an elderly woman in a Salina Regional Health Center patient room.

He was charged Tuesday morning in Saline County District Court with two counts of rape, one count of rape when consent was obtained by misrepresenting that sexual intercourse was medically or therapeutically necessary, two counts of attempted rape, two counts of aggravated sexual battery and two counts of battery.

Parker's bond was set at $500,000. He will be appointed a public defender during a hearing at 8:30 this morning, said Todd Heitschmidt, court administrator.

Parker's DUI arrest was just over three weeks after he was paroled from the Hutchinson Work Release Facility, where he was serving time for convictions for burglary, aggravated burglary, theft, forgery and indecent liberties with a child, according to the Department of Corrections.

Parker's DUI arrest included transportation of open container and failure to submit to a breath test, said Cpl. Carrie Becker at the Saline County Jail. The Kansas Department of Corrections attached a hold order to Parker's case, she said, "which is a parole violation."

After 18 hours in jail, the state withdrew the hold order and Parker was released on the own-recognizance bond, Becker said. A court hearing on that matter is 3 p.m. March 3.

A proper response

The response to this parole violation was proper, said Bill Miskell, corrections department spokesman.

"The standard procedure for responding to an offender who was driving under the influence is not to revoke them and return them to prison," Miskell said.

The decision was made by Parker's parole officer, Matthew Ade of Salina, and his supervisor, Miskell said.

The "response" for such a parole violation might be more harsh for an offender with different convictions than Parker's, he said.

He said Ade has access to all the information connected to Parker's case, including court documents, complaints, interviews and treatment records.

"They know a great deal more than what is contained, what we post, on our Web site, or what they can glean from other public records," Miskell said.

Decisions are made based on the "best information" available at the time of the arrest, he said.

"You can't make decisions based upon what someone may do," Miskell said. "The crime that's occurred is horrific. There's no question about that. But to say there was an ability on anyone's part to predict or anticipate that this crime would occur, is not realistic."

Wearing the GPS bracelet

Salina law enforcement notified parole officer Ade of Parker's arrest and wpending charges at about 9 p.m. Saturday, Miskell said.

As part of his postrelease supervision, Parker was wearing a global positioning system bracelet that was set to alert his parole officer if he violated his curfew. Parker was required to be at his residence between 10 p.m. and 5:30 a.m., according to his Kansas Parole Board certificate of release.

Miskell said the state has noted one curfew violation of three minutes since Parker's Jan. 15 release. Miskell said he was unsure if there were any consequences.

"Noting the presumption of innocence," Miskell said, "I would make the observation that the person responsible for this crime is the person who committed this crime."

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n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.

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