When Annie Hickerson looks at her daughter Mary, she sees a strong, confident 18-year-old high school senior with limitless potential.

When Annie Hickerson thinks about Rae Ann Leach, she thinks of the woman who almost snuffed out Mary’s life. She sees a woman so severely mentally ill that she slashed Hickerson’s then-20-month-old daughter’s throat with the intent to kill.

Annie Hickerson doesn’t think society will ever be safe from Leach, and she plans to tell the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole as much on Jan. 26.

“I have no doubt she will have thoughts about killing again. ... She will always have those thoughts,” Hickerson said. “I believe (Leach’s family) is going to say she is an elderly, frail woman, but that is very deceptive. She will always be dangerous.”

Hickerson’s argument later this month will be the same one she made at Leach’s previous parole hearings: There is no guarantee Leach will take her medicine every day or that Leach’s family can be trusted to provide the 24-hour-a-day scrutiny they failed to provide when she was free on probation in the late ’90s.

“I think what happened to Mary could have been prevented if her family was being forthright about (Leach’s) condition (in 1995),” Hickerson said.

“Mental illness is not a ticket to be above the justice system. (Leach), without a doubt, thought she killed Mary. She is absolutely dangerous and always will be.”

SHOCKING ATTACK

It was during a psychotic episode at her North End home that Leach committed the act that changed the lives of two families.

The Hickersons and Leaches were neighbors. Leach invited Annie Hickerson and her three kids over to feed squirrels in July 1995. She took Mary inside the house for a treat.

Inside, Leach slashed the toddler’s throat, then went back outside and told Annie Hickerson that she’d just killed her daughter.

But little Mary wasn’t dead. She lost almost half her blood and almost died — but quick medical response saved her life.

Leach, who has been diagnosed with both mood and thought disorders, including schizophrenia and manic depression, eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated battery in 1996.

Fourth District Judge Daniel Eismann gave Leach a 15-year prison sentence but suspended that prison time and placed Leach on probation with strict conditions that she not be in public by herself and that she be supervised 24 hours a day.

But he ended up revoking revoked her probation.

Leach repeatedly violated the terms — she was seen three separate times at a water aerobics class at the YMCA without supervision as well as walking alone down a neighborhood street.

Leach has been in prison since 1999.

SECOND TRY AT RELEASE

When Leach asked for early release from prison in 2006, she told the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole she was sorry for hurting Mary.

She blamed the attack on her mental condition.

“Mental health is a strange thing ... there is no reason (for the attack),” Leach said in 2006. “I had a psychotic episode. I’m so sorry for it. It was a terrible thing I did.”

Leach told the Parole Board she “trusted herself” and, if released, she planned to be an “instrument of love and peace.”

Leach’s husband and two psychiatrists argued at that hearing that Leach wouldn’t be a risk to society and that she would benefit from getting better medical treatment than she could get in prison.

Dave Leach, head men’s basketball coach at Boise State from 1980 to 1983, told the parole board his wife would be confined to the family’s 3-acre North Boise property, be monitored with a GPS bracelet, have constant supervision to make sure she took her medication, and have regular visits from mental health professionals.

‘SOME MISTAKES’

Dave Leach said in 2006 family members “did make some mistakes” the first time his wife was on probation but have since learned how important it would be for her to follow all restrictions.

Hickerson, however, told the board that Leach’s family couldn’t be trusted to provide the oversight she required, pointing out what happened in 1999.

Case officers told the board in 2006 that there was evidence Leach heard voices and had violent thoughts about wanting to harm one of her cellmates as recently as two years before.

The Parole Board ultimately rejected Leach’s request in 2006, determining she was too dangerous to release from prison.

Dave Leach’s attorney did not return Statesman phone calls seeking family comment, so it is unclear whether the family will make the same arguments later this month.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Whether she’s paroled or serves her full prison sentence, Leach’s sentence is complete on June 27, 2014. She will be 75 and on no kind of parole, with no restrictions on where she can live and no parole officer around to ensure she takes appropriate medication or gets treatment.

That job will be up to Leach’s family, which has Hickerson concerned.

A NEW LAW?

Hickerson would like the Legislature to create a new law to require anyone convicted of a violent crime against a child to register publicly for the rest of his or her life.

“We have ‘Megan’s Law’ for sex offenders, so why not a similar law for those who’ve hurt children?” Hickerson said. “Don’t people deserve to know if they are living next-door to someone who would commit a violent crime against a child?”

Hickerson admits that the prospect of approaching the Legislature is daunting but says that she plans to do it anyway.

Hickerson says she feels “incredibly thankful” that her daughter has recovered fully and is now a thriving teenager.

“I am just so blessed. ... Mary is kind and loving and beautiful,” Hickerson said. “I just don’t think the next person might be so lucky. ... I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

Patrick Orr: 377-6219