STODDARD JUDGE ISSUES ORDER IN FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND CASE

BLOOMFIELD -- A Poplar Bluff man who has completed a prison term for sexually abusing a youngster several years ago has been ordered to undergo psychiatric testing in an effort by the state to keep him behind bars.

The Missouri Attorney General's office claims Charles Anthony O'Hara, 24, who in 1995 pleaded guilty to one count of sodomy involving a boy under 10 years of age, remains a sexually violent predator and a threat to the community.

O'Hara entered his plea in Stoddard County on a change of venue from Butler County. He had been facing three counts; the other two were dropped in exchange for the guilty plea.

Stoddard County Circuit Court Associate Judge Steve Mitchell Thursday afternoon upheld the state's claim during a probable-cause hearing and ordered O'Hara returned to a mental health facility in Farmington for a psychiatric evaluation within the next 60 days. After that, a trial likely will be held to determine if the man should be confined until he is deemed no longer to be a sexual predator.

There have only been a handful of cases resulting from the 1998 law aimed at keeping sexual predators locked up after their prison terms have been served, none apparently in Southeast Missouri.

The hearing Thursday is only one step in a multi-phase process -- which takes place as a civil procedure rather than a criminal procedure -- that could result in a person being confined indefinitely.

A panel of several prosecuting attorneys reviews the case of a sexual offender nearing the end of his prison term. If that panel feels the offender has not been rehabilitated, it refers the matter to the attorney general's office. That office in turn files a petition in the Probate Court of the county in which the offender was convicted.