In a case that defies understanding, 28-year-old Melissa Huckaby was charged yesterday with the kidnapping, rape and murder of her daughter's 8-year-old playmate. Sandra Cantu's body was found stuffed in a suitcase and dumped in a pond not far from her Stockton, California home. The suitcase has been identified as belonging to Huckaby. Huckaby, a Sunday school teacher and granddaughter of a local Baptist minister, cried as the judge read the charges. If convicted of all counts, Huckaby could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Members of this small northern California community are shocked. While Huckaby has not yet entered a plea, she told a reporter the suitcase in which Cantu was found is hers, although she said the suitcase had been stolen the day before Cantu disappeared. Huckaby was arrested hours after that interview. Cantu was last seen on a surveillance camera video playing outside the mobile home park where her family lived just five doors from the mobile home Huckaby and her daughter share with her grandparents. A 10-day search for the girl ended on April 6 when farm workers found the suitcase containing Cantu's body in an irrigation pond.
Huckaby's family described her to the press as a loving mother with a strong religious background and seemed particularly distressed by reports that Cantu was raped with a foreign object. Tragically, it is doubtful that Megan's Law could have helped prevent the rape and murder of little Sandra Cantu. Megan's Law "requires convicted sex offenders to register with their local law enforcement agency," explained expert Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Stephen Rodriguez. Huckaby has no known prior record of sexual predation and was not required to register as a sexual offender.
The Cantu case points out one of the major problems with Megan's Law. The law helps parents keep their children safe only from known and registered sex offenders. There is no protection against first-time or undiscovered sexual predators until after they have harmed a child and been convicted of the crime. In California, convicted sex offenders must register with law enforcement agencies within 5 days of being released from prison and any time they change their address or name. They are also required to update registration information every year, defense attorney Rodriguez noted, adding that the most violent predators may be required to update their information more frequently.
As a service to the public, the law offices of experienced Los Angeles criminal defense lawyers Rodriguez, Lewis & Kahn maintain a helpful Megan's Law webpage with useful information about Megan's Law and helpful links to registered sex offender databases in California and throughout the U.S.
