Court voids conviction of sex offender Rytky

The Montana Supreme Court last week overturned the conviction and sentence of sex offender Wilbur Rytky.

Rytky had pleaded guilty to deviant sexual conduct. In a plea agreement, Rytky admitted fondling a 16-year-old boy on a rural road northwest of Whitefish in early 2004.

He previously had been designated a sexual predator after he was convicted of violent sexual offenses against a 12-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl in Maine.

When Rytky arrived in Whitefish in February 2004, Whitefish police took the unusual step of warning residents, schools, day cares and other law-enforcement agencies about Rytky, then 30.

Soon after that, he was arrested.

Rytky originally pleaded innocent and asked for dismissal of the charge, asserting it violated his constitutional right to equal protection under the law. Because he is male and his victim was a 16-year-old boy, the charge was a felony. If it had been a 16-year-old girl Rytky molested, the charge would only be a misdemeanor.

Before Lympus ruled on Rytky's motion to dismiss, however, Rytky and prosecutors reached a plea agreement.

He pleaded guilty.

In exchange, County Attorney Ed Corrigan agreed not to ask that Rytky be designated a persistent felony offender. Corrigan also recommended a sentence of five years.

He and Rytky agreed that if Lympus did not follow the plea agreement and sentenced Rytky to more than five years, Rytky reserved his right to appeal the constitutional equal protection issue.

In May 2005, Lympus sentenced Rytky to the maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison and ordered that he be ineligible for parole until he completed a sex-offender treatment plan.

Rytky's attorney, Mark Sullivan of Whitefish, appealed the conviction and sentence.

The Supreme Court found that Rytky's conditional guilty plea is invalid because Lympus hadn't ruled on Rytky's motion to dismiss the charge before Rytky pleaded guilty.

Now, Rytky probably will come back for a trial, Corrigan said. He said Monday he's not sure where the victim in the case is.

With the plea agreement dissolved, Corrigan can again ask that Rytky be designated a persistent felony offender, which could add up to 100 years to his sentence.

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com