Alleged Rapist Should Have Been In Jail

The Star's Alex Campbell and Vic Ryckaert do an excellent job in a story today retracing the steps of a man accused of brutally raping a Greenwood woman and the actions of the Marion Co. Prosecutor's Office that resulted in Shawn Corbally's release from jail just five days earlier after his arrest for allegedly committing another rape in Marion County. They make a pretty compelling case that Terry Curry's office screwed up badly in the case by not arresting Corbally on charges that he failed to re-register as a sex offender after he moved from Clinton County to his mother's home in Indianapolis. Corbally had been convicted in 2000 of raping two women, but he served only 11 years of a 25-year sentence before being released in February of this year. Corbally had registered as a sex offender in Clinton County since his release from prison. Curry's office had decided not to file formal charges against Corbally for raping an Indianapolis woman on July 21 because the victim had given conflicting statements that Curry's office didn't think would hold up in court; however, Curry's office knew about Corbally's failure to re-register as a violent sex offender after moving to Indianapolis, but it dropped the ball and Corbally was released. He could have been charged with a felony and probation violation and sent back to prison. Instead, Corbally's release allowed him to brutally rape a Greenwood woman five days later.