A lawyering skills class at The John Marshall Law School is working on a project dealing with sex offenders that could put students in the thick of the action at the Illinois Capitol in Springfield.
The students, studying the craft of legislative analysis and drafting with Adjunct Professor Kevin Hull, are involved with a project stemming from the high-profile murder of a California teenager, Chelsea King, whose family has since moved back to Naperville, Ill., from San Diego.
Chelsea, a high school senior and cross-country runner, was 17 when she disappeared in February 2010, after setting out for a midday run in a San Diego community park. Four days later, following the arrest of John Albert Gardner, a registered sex offender, her body was found in a shallow grave near the trails where she had been running. At the time of Chelsea’s disappearance, Gardner had been released from prison after serving five years for the 2000 sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge on advice of his counsel.
Gardner has since been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the rape and murder of Chelsea and another girl, Amber Dubois, 14. After being arrested in Chelsea King’s slaying, Gardner confessed to killing Dubois a year earlier in the same area, and told police the location of her remains. He didn’t tell police he had violated the terms of his parole more than 150 times with no penalty. Had the California parole system kept tabs on Gardner, he would have been back in jail, never having the chance to rape and kill those two girls.
After Chelsea’s death, her family crusaded for the passage in California of what became known as Chelsea’s Law, aimed at increasing penalties for the worst of the worst sex offenders. The law has a provision that makes life sentences mandatory for certain heinous sex offenses involving children. Had the law been in place in 2000, when Gardner was first convicted, the likelihood is he would have been in prison for life.
“He should never have been released in the first place to harm Amber or Chelsea,” said Brent King, Chelsea’s father. “With the law we passed in California, we have insured that it won’t happen again. We need this law in every state.”
Now, Chelsea’s family has connected with John Marshall’s Hull and others, and is pushing for a version of Chelsea’s Law in Illinois. Brent King recently visited Hull’s class and spoke with students about how the California law was passed and what he, his wife, and their son hope to accomplish in Illinois.
During one class session, King, Hull and John Marshall students were joined via video teleconference by lawyers in California who had worked on the law there. Also attending was Sen. Mike Hastings (D-Orland Hills), a fellow John Marshall student, who is considering introducing this draft legislation.
Hull realized that engaging students on this project would present a unique teaching opportunity. He has the students working on a briefing memo that outlines the issues and includes the students’ draft of statutory language for the Illinois Legislature to implement the protections the California law provides.
In the Legislative Drafting class “I try to surround the students in context and perspective as we apply the rules of law to proposed policy solutions,” Hull says., noting tragic cases like Chelsea’s help awaken students to the gravity of the issues that policymakers must address when crafting new laws.
“My hope is that the students finish the class with the confidence of knowing they can now lend their skills and passions to issues meaningful to them,” he said, “encouraging their spirit of pro bono work and committing their lives to serving others.”
King said he is grateful for the efforts of students and staff at John Marshall.
“The John Marshall Law School has added its voice to protecting children from violent sex predators,” King said. “In assisting us to do research concerning Illinois’ current laws, John Marshall students are providing an invaluable component in our quest to pass Chelsea’s law across the country.”