Franklin County courts hold first jury trial in 15 months

GREENFIELD – A jury deliberated for two hours Thursday before finding an Athol man to be a sexually dangerous person, a determination that means he will remain committed to a treatment center until deemed no longer a danger to society.

William Hoyt, 47, formerly of Greenfield, was ordered committed to the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater after the four-day trial before Franklin Superior Court Judge Michael Callan. Hoyt had been convicted of multiple sexual offenses, including indecent assault and battery on a child in 1994, indecent assault and battery upon an adult in 2005, and rape of a child in 2010.  The trial was the first jury trial held in the Franklin Superior Court since February of 2020.  Courts closed across the state the following month as pandemic restrictions were imposed.

“Our office pursues these petitions in only the most egregious cases,” said Northwestern First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne. “We use the sexually dangerous person statute to protect the community from inmates who are likely to sexually reoffend if released.” The Northwestern District Attorney’s Office files about one or two sexually dangerous person petitions each year.

Hoyt has been in prison serving a 10-12 years sentence related to his 2010 conviction on multiple counts of rape of a child in the Franklin Superior Court.  As he neared the end of that sentence in mid-2020, the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office filed a petition to commit Hoyt as a sexually dangerous person based on his pattern of committing sexual assaults throughout the years.

The sexually dangerous person determination is a civil, rather than criminal, procedure permitted under Massachusetts General Laws chapter 123A.  Under the statute, the Commonwealth must prove that a person who has previously been convicted of a sexual offense suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder which makes the person likely to commit sexual offenses if released.  Because the person’s liberty is at stake, Courts impose the heightened “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard of proof used in criminal trials, even though the proceeding is civil in nature.

Hoyt will continue with sex offender treatment at the Massachusetts Treatment Center, which is a medium-security separate facility that treats male inmates who are convicted sex offenders and those who have been civilly committed as sexually dangerous persons. Hoyt’s progress will be reviewed annually by licensed clinicians and he will remain committed until they determine he is no longer at high risk to reoffend.

 “We thank the jury for serving on this very difficult case, and for reaching what we believe was the right verdict,” said Gagne, who prosecuted the case together with Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Lori Oderna. 

Defense Attorney William A. Korman of the Boston law firm Ruldolph Friedmann argued at trial that Hoyt had made sufficient progress over the course of his treatment while in prison, and that the Commonwealth had not proved he was at risk for reoffending.

Four witnesses, including the Athol detective who investigated the 2010 case, and three expert psychologists, testified during the trial.