Castration Won’t Cure Sex Predator, Court Told

Surgical castration would not make a convicted sexual predator fit for release, a psychologist testified.

Locked in a state mental facility, Gregory Donald Grant, 56, hopes castration will lead to his release.

Grant’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Lisa McCamey, said Monday that Grant is asking the county to pay to have his testicles removed because the anti-androgen drugs, which he had been taking to “chemically castrate” himself, have been affecting his health.

Gabrielle Paladino, who has been treating Grant at Atascadero State Hospital, testified that surgical castration would not make Grant safe for release. In 1983, Grant was sentenced to 29 years in prison for kidnapping, forcibly molesting and sexually assaulting an 8-year-old boy in a motel.

The testimony follows a decision by a Ventura County jury Monday not to release another sexual predator, Stephen Norten, who had already had himself castrated.