A Louisville judge sparked outrage after she dismissed the case of a mentally deranged man who raped an 8-year-old girl and crushed her skull with a shovel.
Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Annie O’Connell, who also presided over the Breonna Taylor case, ruled that Cane Madden was mentally incompetent to stand trial after he raped a child who was playing outside her home in a majority black community in 2019.
On March 11, O’Connell dismissed Madden’s rape case citing a Kentucky state law that says a defendant can only be held or hospitalized against their will if he can benefit from treatment, WDRB reports.
Madden was arrested and briefly hospitalized multiple times in the past. He walked free every time.
On Monday, March 22, members of the Kentucky House of Representatives voted unanimously to close the loophole in the law.
The obscure loophole had allowed the criminally insane to repeatedly walk free because they hadn’t met Kentucky’s criteria for involuntary hospitalization.
Madden has a history of mental illness, including a borderline personality, poor impulse control and conduct disorder.
In a previous rape case in 2017, Madden bit off parts of the victim’s face, but was released back into the community. Judge O’Connell also presided over that case.
