West Dundee man deemed sexually violent, will be committed

A Kane County jury took less than two hours Wednesday to declare a 43-year-old West Dundee man, convicted of multiple attempted rapes as a teen, should be confined under a special state law for sexually violent offenders.

Jamal Sharifpour, who has been held by the state since his prison release in February 2013, will be held and treated by the Illinois Department of Human Services until he is deemed fit to re-enter society.

A 1998 law requires prosecutors to prove that the person has been convicted of a sexually violent crime, that the person has a mental disorder, and is "substantially probable," or much more likely that not, to re-offend.

The three-day trial in front of Judge Susan Clancy Boles centered on the second and third elements, as prosecutors called two psychologists and defense attorney Diana Lenik got testimony from two paid experts.

According to court records and an evaluation report, Sharifpour had six convictions of assaulting women, beginning when he was 14. He was charged with attacking two women in Elgin in fall 1989 on separate occasions.

He fled to Turkey and Iran to avoid prosecution but was caught in New York in 2000, convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Lenik argued that Sharifpour had not committed a crime in 26 years and that doctors disagreed on what type of mental disorder, if any, what he has.

"People commit assaults because they're just criminals," Lenik said. "There is no definite connection between committing an assault and a mental disorder. We're getting into future predictiveness here, something we don't know for sure."

Assistant Illinois Attorney General Jonathan McKay told jurors that Sharifpour has a pattern of attacking women in public.

McKay noted the defense's experts relied on Sharifpour's word and were essentially "hired guns" for Sexually Violent Persons cases.

McKay stressed that Sharifpour's sexual desires aren't a mere fetish, but ingrained in his being.

"What he did, in no way shape of form, doesn't apply to 'When I was young and foolish, I was young and foolish,' McKay said. "Repeatedly attacking women, repeatedly trying to rape them, that's not young and foolish. That's deviant."

Sharifpour is due back in court on May 8 for completion of an evaluation report.