Convicted Sex Offender Charged with Chelsea King's Murder

According to Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat, convicted sex offender, John Albert Gardner III was charged Wednesday with the murder and rape or attempted rape of 17 year old teenager Chelsea King. He was also charged with assault with intent to commit rape over the December 2009 attack on another female.

John Albert Gardner III was convicted in 2000 of molesting a 13 year old neighbor. He was deemed by a court appointed psychiatrist to be an extremely poor candidate for rehabilitation and a continued danger to underage girls in the community. Did the judge in this case miss that? The psychiatrist had urged the maximum sentence allowed by law, which was eleven years. John Albert Gardner III served five years of a six year prison sentence and was on parole until 2008.

All three attacks occurred in the same area, near the home of his mother in the Rancho Bernardo community of San Diego. Why someone didn't pick up on the fact that a convicted sex offender used to live in that community, when the December 27 attack on a 22 year old Colorado woman occurred in that area, is beyond me. Chelsea King might still be alive today if investigators had made the connection then.

They might have gotten John Albert Gardner III off the streets and back into prison where he belongs before he was able to kill her.

This case is further proof that we need tougher laws to protect our communities from sex offenders. We need to have much better systems in place for making sure sex offenders are registered. We need much better ways and stronger implementation of tracking and monitoring them.

The question that comes to me is: What kind of follow-up as far as counseling and treatment, and monitoring was in place here? Obviously, whatever was in place, if anything, wasn't enough. Less than two years after his parole ended, he has attacked two more women, and tragically, one of them is now dead.

How did he slip through the cracks? This man was deemed a poor candidate for treatment and a continued threat. John Albert Gardner III makes a good case for lifelong probation and very stringent tracking and monitoring. If we can't keep convicted sex offenders who are deemed poor candidates for treatment and continued threats in prison for life, the very least we can do is to put stringent lifelong monitoring into effect. This should include weekly check ins and treatment and counseling. Yes, there is the problem of the financial burden this will create. But, what price do you put on the life of a 17 year old girl? What would Chelsea King's parents tell us if we asked what her life was worth? I think they would say the same thing any parent would say. Her life was priceless. We need to honor Chelsea King and other victims by getting the message to legislators. We want, we need, and we deserve tougher laws and better systems in place to protect our communities.