NY ex-governor testifies at sex-offender trial

July 23, 2013 at 4:42p.m.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York Gov. George Pataki has been testifying about how more than 100 sex offenders came to be institutionalized after they finished their prison sentences.

Pataki testified today in Manhattan federal court. Six convicted sex offenders have sued him and the state.

Pataki announced in October 2005 that every sexually violent predator in state custody would be evaluated for involuntary civil commitment once their prison sentences were finished.

A year later, the program was discontinued. A state court ruled the state was wrongly confining convicted sex offenders in psychiatric facilities.

Pataki says he approved the program after an assemblyman and a prosecutor suggested it could be done under existing law.