Household and advocates need resolution to authorized loophole after the loss of life of Audrii Cunningham

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — As mourners put together for the funeral of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham, who was killed close to Houston, the group needs solutions about how the suspect in her loss of life was allowed to stay free regardless of a protracted legal historical past of violence.

Almost twenty years years earlier than Don McDougal was charged with capital homicide in Audrii’s slaying, he was accused of indecency with a toddler by climbing into one other Texas lady’s mattress and trying to undress her. That earlier case was pleaded all the way down to a lesser cost of attractive a minor, permitting him to stay off the state intercourse offender registry, in response to Brazoria County paperwork.

Final 12 months within the county the place Audrii’s household lives, McDougal was accused of a stabbing a person, however authorities mentioned they did not have sufficient proof on the time to arrest him on a cost of aggravated assault.

Now, her household and sufferer advocates are calling on lawmakers to shut the authorized loophole that allowed McDougal to remain off the intercourse offender registry and query what they see because the failure of the legal justice system to maintain Audrii secure.

Wayne Davis, the daddy of the kid McDougal pleaded responsible to attractive in 2008, mentioned the authorized system “failed my daughter 100% and failed Audrii and who is aware of what number of different kids.”

“The system is just not made to guard our youngsters,” Davis mentioned.

McDougal, 42, a household good friend, was speculated to be taking Audrii to the varsity bus cease when she disappeared on Feb. 15. Her body was found in a river this week and her funeral is ready for Saturday.

In an announcement despatched earlier this week to KPRC-TV in Houston, Audrii’s father and grandmother mentioned “the system failed us” as a result of, regardless of McDougal’s historical past of focusing on feminine kids, he was not listed within the intercourse offender registry once they checked earlier than permitting him to remain in a camper on their property in Livingston.

“Had we been conscious of what we all know now, this man would by no means have set foot on our property, a lot much less been part of our little lady’s life,” the assertion mentioned.

Chad Etheridge, who has been appointed to characterize McDougal, didn’t reply to messages left by telephone and e mail.

Since discovering out in regards to the authorized loophole, Andy Kahan, director of sufferer companies and advocacy at Crime Stoppers of Houston, has begun a marketing campaign to alter state regulation.

Kahan, whose nonprofit goals to unravel and forestall crime within the space, mentioned he’s in talks with legislators so as to add attractive a toddler, when the crime entails a sexual aspect, to the checklist of offenses required to register on the state’s intercourse offender registry. The measure, which might be named after Audrii, has obtained early assist from lawmakers, he mentioned.

“We’re naming one other regulation after one other useless child,” Kahan mentioned. “That’s actuality.”

State Rep. Trent Ashby, a Republican who represents Livingston, mentioned in an announcement that he’s dedicated to creating the change through the state’s subsequent legislative session in 2025.

“I’m deeply troubled by the notion {that a} authorized loophole might have allowed a monster to hold out such a mindless and depraved act of violence,” mentioned Ashby, who’s in search of reelection this 12 months.

Mary Sue Molnar, government director of Texas Voices for Causes and Justice, a nonprofit that helps folks required to register as intercourse offenders and their households, mentioned she hopes the extent of any proposed regulation stays restricted and does not group all people into the identical class.

Molnar mentioned she views McDougal as an remoted case that she has “no concept how he slipped by means of the method” and wonders how efficient a brand new regulation will probably be if prosecutors proceed to permit plea offers for lesser crimes.

The bigger query Molnar has on this case is why McDougal was not arrested when first recognized by the sufferer in a stabbing final 12 months.

The lawyer who represents David Stanley, the particular person stabbed outdoors his Polk County residence final fall, mentioned he’s uncertain what modified after his consumer known as police to determine McDougal as a suspect in September.

David Feldman mentioned his consumer was stabbed after going to assist a lady who claimed she and a person she was touring with— later recognized as McDougal— had been having automotive bother.

In a November audio recording obtained by The Related Press, Stanley’s girlfriend confronts Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons about why McDougal has not been detained regardless of being recognized by the sufferer and matching the outline.

“We tousled and we are attempting to get the solutions for what occurred,” Lyons responds to the girl within the recording.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Workplace declined to remark to the AP on the recording, including that it could not touch upon any of McDougal’s expenses till the circumstances had been tried.

Although Stanley initially misidentified the suspect in his stabbing, he later corrected his assertion. Feldman mentioned police didn’t arrest McDougal then however did so earlier this month after Stanley known as police when he recognized McDougal’s picture from seeing protection of Audrii’s disappearance.

“That’s the massive query — why is he allegedly believed for the primary time on Feb. 16 and never earlier than?” Feldman mentioned.