Merle Wakefield was convicted of lewd acts upon a minor in 1981 and rape in 1990.
He also faced a series of additional sexual assault charges going back decades, though the charges were either dropped or not pursued.
In 1998, the San Diego County Superior Court designated him as a sexually violent predator. The term applies to an offender who has been convicted of at least one violent sex crime, has been diagnosed with a mental disorder and is considered more likely to reoffend.
Wakefield completed his prison sentence and was approved for conditional release about four years ago. But the state has struggled to place him in the community as residents protested his release.
Last week, San Diego County Superior Court Judge Yvonne Campos ordered Wakefield’s release by Tuesday. Campos tried to assuage public concerns by mandating GPS monitoring and 24/7 supervision by a security guard. The case highlights the difficult balance of ensuring public safety while upholding the rights of a convict who has served their time.
"My resolve is to keep everybody safe, but also give this man what he has been entitled to since December 2020,” Campos said in court.
The location of Wakefield’s temporary placement in the community was not disclosed in court last week; once a permanent housing placement is found, it must be disclosed to the public.
Wakefield’s return to the community has been described as a "transient" release by critics and some media outlets. In court, Campos labeled this term a "misnomer," since Wakefield will be under constant supervision and won’t be "bounced around."
Wakefield’s attorney declined to comment following the hearing.
Under state law, sexually violent predators typically must be placed in eligible housing 30 days after the court orders their conditional release. However, a recent statewide audit found it takes 17 months on average to place them in the community.
Alexandra Knudson, civil commitment unit supervisor for San Diego County’s Office of the Primary Public Defender, said finding housing for sexually violent predators under conditional release is a constant struggle.
"We've had clients (who) had their release delayed for years," Knudson said. "And when you reach that amount of time, it does become a constitutional violation of our clients’ rights."
Treatment before release
Sexually violent predators must complete a four-phase treatment in a state hospital after their prison sentence in order to be released.
Making it to the fourth phase of treatment indicates the offender may be ready to return to society. At that point, the state hospital can recommend the patient for release.
"Then, ultimately, the case comes back to San Diego in front of a judge, and a judge determines if they are going to release the client," Knudson said.
If an offender is approved to return to society, they are usually granted conditional release, which comes with strict requirements like GPS monitoring and ongoing treatment. Rarely is a sexually violent predator granted unconditional release, Knudson said, which comes with no additional requirements.
An audit of the state’s conditional release program reviewed 56 program participants placed into the community in the past 21 years. Only two were convicted of criminal acts following their release, and 18 had their conditional release revoked for not following program rules, returning them to a state hospital.
But granting conditional release is often the first step in a long, contentious process. Finding housing for a sexually violent predator in the program can take years and spark outcry from the public.
Public protests
The state contracts with Liberty Healthcare to find housing placements for sexually violent predators under conditional release.
Wakefield fulfilled his treatment requirements in late 2020 and a judge granted him conditional release status. But Liberty Healthcare struggled to find him a place to live. In the meantime, Wakefield has been locked up in Coalinga State Hospital in Fresno County.
In 2021, Liberty Healthcare intended to place Wakefield and another sexually violent predator in Mount Helix.
Resident Sarah Thompson heard about the proposed placement through the news and decided to protest their placement in her neighborhood.
"I think as a parent, you kind of go into this panic mode and you’ll do whatever it takes," Thompson said.
She contacted Liberty Healthcare and the landlord who signed the rental agreement to house Wakefield.
"You try to do it as kindly as you can and then go into a peaceful protest sort of thing, where you start posting their information or you start putting signs around the house," Thompson said.
A county judge later rejected the placement in Mount Helix.
Liberty Healthcare then tried to place Wakefield in Poway three years later, which drew similar pushback.
Rancho Bernardo resident Jeff Grace participated in the Poway protests.
"We don't cross the line," Grace said. "Nothing's physical, nothing's unprofessional. It's just information to the community about, 'Do you know how your lives could be changed as you go about your day and your week?'"
Grace saw the protests as a kind of obligation to the community.
"We, in fact, think we're doing the right thing to protect a community, ethically speaking," he said.
The landlord in Poway agreed not to rent their property for Wakefield’s conditional release.
'Deficient and broken' laws
Liberty Healthcare conducted 6,907 property searches since 2020 to find Wakefield a suitable place to live, according to court records.
In this year alone, from September to mid-October, the company did 224 property searches. Of the 224, only 22 places met the state’s requirements.
Campos, the San Diego County judge who ordered Wakefield’s release, said these numbers aren’t surprising. She suggested the laws governing the release of sexually violent predators are "deficient and broken" and the Legislature has failed to fix the problem.
State Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones agrees the current system is not working and lawmakers need to step in. He wants to take a harder line on sexually violent predators.
Since 2022, Jones has introduced three bills in an attempt to curtail these placements across the state. None of them passed.
He also expressed concern about the program’s cost.
The state’s spending on the conditional release program has increased from $6.6 million in fiscal year 2018–19 to $11.5 million in fiscal year 2022–23, according to the recent state audit.
Jones disagreed with Campos’s decision to grant Wakefield conditional release.
"I think it just goes to show how broken the California judicial system is in this particular case of dealing with sexually violent predators that, in my argument, should never be released from prison, ever," Jones said.
Instead, he believes sexually violent predators should be kept in state-run facilities after their prison sentence.
