Attorney Works To Overturn Predator Law

A Kansas lawyer challenging the state’s Sexual Predator Act says a lot has changed in the law since the Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that it was constitutional.

Attorney Michael Whalen lost a bid Friday to keep the state from using his client’s medical and prison records against him. Whalen argued that forcing his client, 63-year-old Robert Ontibersos, to disclose medical and prison records violates federal medical privacy laws.

An attorney for Larned State Hospital said the Sexual Predator Act requires those records to be released in predator cases.

Ontibersos was convicted of attempted rape in 1983 and aggravated sexual battery in 2001. He was about to be paroled in 2008 when a jury found that he was a sexual predator.

Associated Press information from: The Wichita Eagle