Out of Sight , Out of Mind
In this column from the archives , Ellen Liberman weighs the long-term fates of violent offenders .
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It was Dale Sherman ’ s narrow escape that led to the arrest and conviction of Michael Woodmansee for the murder of five-year-old Jason Foreman in 1975 . But Sherman never really got away . He was only fourteen when Woodmansee tried to strangle him on an April afternoon in 1982 . And all the years his assailant was away in a Massachusetts prison , serving a forty-year sentence for Foreman ’ s murder , Michael Woodmansee stayed with Dale Sherman .
“ It ’ s something I never stop thinking about ,” Sherman says , now fifty-three and the owner of an auto body repair shop in Charlestown . “ I ’ ve had nightmares for years . My dad ’ s always wondering where I am . Worried . I say , ‘ Dad , don ’ t you know how old I am ?’ You meet a bunch of new friends , and someone will say , ‘ Aren ’ t you the one who almost got killed ?’ It ’ s definitely had an effect on my life .”
Part of Sherman thought there was a good chance Woodmansee might die in prison . But he also entertained the possibility that Woodmansee might survive the limits of his sentence . Still , he didn ’ t think the past would catch up with him so soon . In March of 2011 , the news broke that Woodmansee would be returning to Rhode Island in preparation for his release , after earning twelve years off his sentence for good behavior .
“ When that happened I was in shock . I thought , that ’ s impossible . You can ’ t let someone like this out ,” says Sherman .
That was a universal reaction , expressed on talk radio , at a rally in a South Kingstown park several blocks away from where Woodmansee ’ s crimes occurred , in the General Assembly and behind the scenes at the Department of Corrections . Ten weeks after the panic erupted , the drama was over . Michael Woodmansee agreed to voluntarily commit himself to the Eleanor Slater Hospital in the face of two independent psychiatric evaluations determining that he remained a threat to society .
Rhode Island ’ s civil commitment law protects the patient ’ s privacy , so Woodmansee ’ s
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