IN- Sex offender challenges second move

7-19-2008 Indiana:

Civil suit filed against prosecutor's office, sheriff's department

When John C. Doe got a letter in June 2007 letting him know he was in violation of a law prohibiting some sex offenders from living near schools or other places frequented by children, the Lafayette man moved.

Nine months later, Doe -- living in a residence that had been approved by the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department -- got a letter saying he was in violation again.

"All this after they gave him the OK to live there," his attorney, Earl McCoy, said Friday. "They said the map had been wrong. He had already been there almost a year."

The man, using the pseudonym John C. Doe in court documents, recently filed a civil lawsuit against the sheriff's department and the Tippecanoe County prosecutor's office, challenging their enforcement of the law.

The statute, which took effect on July 1, 2006, prohibits sex offenders against children from living within 1,000 feet of a school, public park or youth program center. Violating it is a Class D felony.

Doe was convicted in 1985 and again in 1987 of child molestation in Tippecanoe County, according to an affidavit filed in Tippecanoe Superior Court 2. He was released from prison in 1993 and from probation in 1994 without any further sanctions.

This is the third civil complaint McCoy and his associate, Chad Montgomery, have filed in Tippecanoe County on behalf of sex offenders who had to move. A fourth lawsuit was filed here by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana.

The three older lawsuits have been partially shot down by county judges.

Sheriff's detective Greg Haltom, who is in charge of the Sex and Violent Offender Registry for Tippecanoe County, said Friday that he delivered the note to Doe on behalf of the prosecutor's office.

"The prosecutor's office makes that determination and wrote the letter," Haltom said. "They determined that where he had been living was near a youth program center."

Prosecutor Pat Harrington is named as a defendant in the lawsuit with Sheriff Tracy Brown.

"What we use is constantly being updated and revised with new information," Harrington said, explaining why Doe was in violation a second time.

He points out that when his office and the sheriff's department first began enforcing the law, Haltom sent letters to dozens of churches and other organizations, asking whether they host programs for youth.

About two dozen sex offenders against children in Tippecanoe County moved under the new legislation. Harrington said all complied and no charges had to be filed.

"The law does allow them some relief," he said. "They can file an injunction challenging it."

McCoy is asking for preliminary injunction, which would allow Doe to stay in his residence as the lawsuit progresses, and permanent injunction against the statute.

His client does not have a driver's license and relies on public transportation to get to and from work.

Doe also has filed a request asking that Tippecanoe Superior 2 Judge Thomas Busch determine whether Doe is still considered to be an offender against children.

McCoy said also at issue is whether the statute violates ex post facto under Indiana's constitution and the U.S. Constitution by imposing punishment for Doe again, years after he completed his sentences.

Busch on Friday set a telephonic status conference for July 30 to schedule dates to proceed with the lawsuit. ..News Source.. by Sophia Voravong