Sex Offender Can Leave Mental Hospital, Judge Says

A man who says he has been cured of the deviant sexual fantasies that drove him to assault hundreds of male hitchhikers in the 1960s and ’70s can be released from a mental hospital, a judge ruled Monday.

Douglas Badger, 63, testified during his three-week trial that he can now suppress his fantasies. He told Superior Court Judge David Gill that he transformed himself through a treatment program at Atascadero State Hospital, where he has been confined for eight years.

He was sent to the hospital after serving two prison terms for assaults on male hitchhikers, some of whom he threatened at gunpoint.

Gill scheduled a Jan. 27 hearing for Badger and ruled he could be released in San Diego County at an undetermined date.

The San Diego district attorney’s office opposed Badger’s release, and Assemblyman Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) called the judge’s decision outrageous.

Dr. David Fennell, a psychiatrist and medical director at Atascadero, testified that Badger was psychologically stable and would not pose a danger if released under supervision.

Badger testified last week that he picked up about 500 hitchhikers between 1964 and 1974.

Initially, he made deals with them to exchange money for sex. But in later years, he testified, he handcuffed and blindfolded them and forced them to commit sex acts, threatening to kill them if they refused.