IN- Registered sex offender challenging ordinance to allow him to see his son play baseball

It appears he is being excluded, not because he is a RSO, but because of other unrelated acts (maybe criminal). The problem is the ordinance doesn't permit excluding folks based on any other acts, so there is a good likelihood the judge will rule in his favor, IF, the ordinace has a construction which has permitted him to come to court again.

8-8-2008 Indiana:

(WHAS11) - A registered sex offender is challenging an ordinance to allow him to see his son play baseball.

Eric Dowdell was found guilty in 1996 off sexual battery of a 13-year-old who is mentally disabled and because of that he can’t go to public parks in Jeffersonville.

Thursday a judge heard his plea in court.

Eric Dowdell used to coach his son’s little league team but now he’s walking into court, instead of on the little league field.

That’s because he’s a registered sex offender.

A Jeffersonville ordinance passed last year prohibits sex offenders from entering any city parks.

The city says since Dowdell has been convicted twice since that initial conviction for domestic battery charges and was arrested as recently as this March on other battery charges, he shouldn’t be exempt from the ordinance.

“It goes to someone’s ability to understand the law is the law and violating the law causes you to give up certain privileges,” says Larry Wilder, the prosecuting attorney.

The city says Dowdell can watch his son play sports just from outside the fence that surrounds the parks. But Dowdell’s attorney says some people with similar convictions can already walk inside.

“If he wanted to prohibit someone like that, he could’ve said anyone convicted of domestic violence can’t come into the parks... Anyone convicted of jaywalking or speeding cannot walk into Jeffersonville parks,” says Gavin Rose, Dowdell’s attorney.

And since none of Dowdell’s other convictions involved children, his attorney says he should be allowed on park grounds. But most local parents disagree.

“When we go to the parks, we intend it to be a safe, family friendly place to go. I think that’s the intention of the parks,” says parent Amy Preston.

A judge will make a decision in the case Friday.

A sex offender can be fined anywhere from $100 dollars to $2,500 dollars if caught in a city park. ..News Source.. by WHAS11



Sex offender renews effort to enter Jeff parks

A convicted sex offender who was turned down twice by Jeffersonville City Court when he asked to be an exception to an ordinance banning sex offenders from city parks took his case to Clark Circuit Court today.

Eric Dowdell, 36, who completed his required 10-year listing on Indiana’s sex offender registry in 2006, wants to attend his son’s baseball games at the city’s Little League complex.

Dowdell was convicted in 1996 of sexual battery.

Dowdell’s lawyer, Gavin Rose of the American Civil Liberties Union, argued this morning that Dowdell has satisfied all the conditions of the city ordinance to get an exception and is not a danger to the community.

But Jeffersonville lawyer Larry Wilder disagreed, citing domestic violence convictions against Dowdell from 1999 and 2001 as well as a pending case from this year.

The ban on sex offenders in city parks, adopted in 2006, allows offenders who have completed their legal obligations to petition the City Court for an exception. But City Court Judge Ken Pierce denied Dowdell’s petition in April, just as his predecessor R. Scott Lewis did last year.

Parties to City Court rulings may ask a state court to take a fresh look at the matter, and Dowdell did so.

Circuit Judge Abe Navarro said he will issue a ruling tomorrow. ..News Source.. by The Courier-Journal