Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley traveled to Sacramento the week of Jan. 21 to testify in a California Court of Appeals case against Tiber Karsai, a sexually violent predator who could be released in Santa Maria as a transient.
Karsai was found guilty of rape in Santa Barbara County in 1974, and of kidnapping and raping a 16-year-old girl in Placer County in 1980.
In March 2012, a Placer County Superior Court judge ordered Karsai released into Santa Barbara County, which was thought to be his last known county of residence. Dudley immediately challenged that order, arguing that Karsai’s last known residence was actually in Morro Bay, in coastal San Luis Obispo County.
The appellate court initially denied Dudley’s request to keep Karsai from being released into Santa Maria. But the California Supreme Court, at Dudley’s behest, ordered the lower court to reconsider the case, which is scheduled for argument on Jan. 23.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Carrozza said he and the DA will argue before a panel of appellate court judges that the state’s Forensic Conditional Release Program be ordered to look for permanent housing in all California counties—not just Santa Barbara.
This article appears in Jan 24-31, 2013.