Judge irked by offender asking public to foot bill for evaluation

Flathead District Judge Robert Allison was not happy that a convicted sex offender hired a private attorney to represent him during a sex assault case but now wants taxpayers to pick up the bill for a sex offender evaluation required for sentencing.

Allison was set to sentence Benjamin Alesehir Lacayo on Thursday for felony sexual assault of a child.

But Lacayo, whose attorney did not show up in court, said he was not working and had filed paperwork to possibly be classified as indigent so the state would pick up the tab for the evaluation.

The evaluation has been done but will not be released until payment is made.

“I’ve done everything I’ve been asked to do,” Lacayo said. “It’s just a financial situation.”

Lacayo said that his family had scraped together around $6,000 to pay a lawyer to represent him, but that financial circumstances had changed.

“I find it a difficult and rather uncomfortable pill to swallow,” Allison said of the situation. He recalled another recent case with a similar set of circumstances.

Allison denied Lacayo’s request to have a hearing on his ability to pay, based on the fact that Lacayo’s attorney did not bother to show up.

Allison reset sentencing for March 31 and said that if the report had not been released by then, he would send Lacayo to Flathead County Detention Center until the situation could be resolved.

On Friday, Lacayo’s attorney filed an appeal to have a hearing about Lacayo’s financial situation and blamed his absence on a miscommunication with the court.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.