Bureau County man to remain in state custody on criminal sexual assault conviction

A Bureau County man declared a sexually violent person will remain in state custody, an appeals court ruled.

Michael Hansen said he served more time than the law allotted and that he should spend his remaining years free. On Tuesday, the 3rd District Appellate Court ruled that Hansen’s judge correctly ruled that Hansen remains a threat to society.

Hansen was convicted in 1992 of aggravated criminal sexual assault and sentenced to 23 years in prison, served alongside a previous sentence for drugs. At a 2006 hearing in Princeton, the Bureau County State’s Attorney’s Office asked Hansen’s judge to declare him a sexually violent person. Hansen was so declared in 2009 and turned over to the Department of Human Services.

In 2021, Hansen asked to be released from state custody, citing his age (75 at the time) and poor health. Last spring, Hansen stood for a hearing before Bureau County Judge James Andreoni, who ruled that Hansen remains sexually dangerous and ordered that a “conditional release” program be crafted to give Hansen an eventual shot at release.

Hansen appealed that finding. He said Andreoni disregarded a defense witness who testified that Hansen (77 last year) was no longer a threat. The appeals court disagreed.

“The trial court’s finding that [the] respondent remained a sexually violent person, notwithstanding his age, was a reasonable conclusion,” Justice Linda Davenport wrote in a unanimous ruling. “In view of the record, it is not clearly apparent that [the] respondent is no longer a sexually violent person.”