Associated Press
A Florida state representative is criticizing a judge’s decision to let a former professor remain free while he appeals his conviction on child sex crimes.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports Republican State Rep. Tom Leek says he’ll work to file legislation preventing someone convicted of child sex crimes being released pending an appeal.
Jurors convicted 61-year-old Mark Fugler in June. Judge R. Michael Hutcheson sentenced the former Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University professor to 15 years in prison but freed him on a $200,000 bond as he appeals the case. He was ordered to register as a sex offender and wear a GPS monitor.
Hutcheson scheduled an Oct. 3 hearing to consider revoking Fugler’s bond.
Leek says someone convicted of “showing your genitals to a child” shouldn’t be released while appealing the conviction.
___
Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
