Sid Nathaniel Landau, a 74-year-old who has been locked up for years as a sexually violent predator (SVP), has lost another round in his long bid for release.
An Orange County Superior Court judge last week rejected a motion for a new trial for Landau, whose previous bid for freedom was torpedoed Dec. 18 by a jury that found the old man continues to pose a threat to the community.
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Sid Landau, 74 y.o. Sexually Violent Predator, Loses Yet Another Bid for Release
Landau sexually molested at least 10 boys, many in the Anaheim area, over two decades, going in and out of custody. But since pleading guilty in 1988 to molesting an 8-year-old boy, he has spent only 15 months free due to a string of parole violations.
He has also been deemed a SVP and remains housed at the state hospital in Coalinga, where he uses a wheelchair and suffers from a condition that narrows his spinal cord and pinches a nerve.
What concerns Orange County prosecutors is Landau has refused sex-offender therapy, arguing it is ineffectual and violates his civil rights, and eschews other medications to treat a precursor to osteoporosis he suffers from in favor of testosterone.
Those, and Landau's supposed refusal to admit wrongdoing, continue to make him a threat, according to Assistant District Attorney Dan Wagner, who notes while the defendant uses a wheelchair he can walk freely.
“He has aged some, but he could still offend,” Wagner told City News Service. “His health is still pretty good for a 74-year-old.”
Landau's attorney Sara Ross argues just the opposite, saying her client's age makes him a risk no longer, as does the opinion of a doctor who diagnosed Landau as a SVP but now believes he is suitable for release.
Wagner offers that if Landau wants to convince a jury he no longer poses a threat, he should consider self-castration.
Short (sorry) of that, Landau can again petition for release in a year.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.