The 74-year-old father of Louis Hamlin III, who was convicted in 1982 of brutally raping a teenage girl and murdering another in Essex, was indicted this month for possession of child pornography.
Louis Hamlin II, of Huntington, was one of eight men charged in a recent sweep by local, state and federal officials.
His son, Hamlin III, became notorious decades ago when he was just 16. He and a 15-year-old youth, Jamie Savage, were arrested in 1981 for torturing two girls, ages 12 and 13, as they walked through the woods. The cases shocked Vermonters and led to changes in the state’s juvenile crime laws.
Shortly after his son’s arrest in 1981, Hamlin II was charged with a felony sex crime. Authorities said he photographed his sex acts with a girl. Hamlin II was sentenced to six to 15 years.
He was required to undergo an experimental treatment program at Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury that included viewing nude images and compulsory masturbation. Hamlin II sued in protest, claiming he’d found God in jail and that the sexual aspects of the treatment program violated his constitutional right to free exercise of religion.
The Vermont Supreme Court in 1987 rejected Hamlin’s claim on technical grounds.
Earlier this month, police searched Hamlin II’s Huntington home while acting on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They found two printed images of nude children during their search, according to a federal indictment. Hamlin II acknowledged viewing photos of nude children online but said he didn’t do it for pleasure, the indictment states.
A federal judge ordered Hamlin II detained pending trial.
His son, Hamlin III, remains incarcerated out of state for his 1981 crimes. He was last reviewed for parole eligibility in August 2018, according to the Vermont Parole Board.
Hamlin II wasn’t the only high-profile defendant charged in the recent sweep.
Another convicted child abuser, Mark Hulett, drew attention in 2006 for an unusually light two-month jail sentence issued by state judge Ed Cashman. Hulett, 48, also faces federal charges for possessing child pornography.
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Why does the State of Vermont still believe they can rehabilitate and treat these sexual predators and then re-release them among us when they have been proven wrong time and time again?
Agree
“He was required to undergo an experimental treatment program at Waterbury State Hospital that included viewing nude images and compulsory masturbation.”
This sounds like an eminently worthy candidate for a future WTF? column. What was going on there? Who sold them on this program? Have they been caught up on charges since then?
This horrible old man shouldn’t even be walking free, to start.
Shame on this paper for unbelievably shoddy reportage on one of Vermont’s most horrific and deeply internalized crimes. Do better work in future.
His son must have learned from him but I thought the boys were in juvenile jail and got out when they turned 18. In either case hopefully he’ll be off the streets for good.
Very sick stuff. Hamlin III is one of those few that really deserve capital punishment in my opinion, despite my deeply held misgivings with it. And it appears the sickness runs in the family. The whole sordid business is appalling and downright nauseating.
The son’s crime in the summer of 1981 changed the law in VT, allowing teenagers as young as 15 to be charged with murder. Famous case. Good book on it: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Innocence-Cas…
Read the book Death of Innocence This man should be locked up for life along with his son. What happened to Savage
Mandatory death penalty for molesters and rapists.
The son (III) was repeatedly raped by his father (II) and uncle when he was a child, but they were not prosecuted.