AR- Sex offender argues he deserves a hearing

10-10-2008 Arkansas:

A former part-time Benton County sheriff’s deputy should be allowed to challenge his classification as a serious sex offender before a state board, his lawyer argued before the Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday.

The attorney general’s office contends that the sexual offender assessment process meets constitutional standards.

Eric Burchette, now 27, was convicted of one count of misdemeanor fourth-degree sexual assault and two felony counts of sexual indecency with a child in 2004. He was sentenced to six years in prison.

Burchette exposed himself and made sexual advances to at least three girls under age 16, according to court documents.

As a convicted sex offender, Burchette was assigned a Level 3 or serious status by the Sex Offender Screening and Risk Assessment Program, partly because of allegations of threats of violence in his investigative file that were never pursued by a prosecutor.

Burchette’s lawyer, Jeffrey Rosenzweig of Little Rock, said the federal and state constitutions require that Burchette get a hearing before at least one member of the nine-member committee. Six of those members are appointed by the governor.

“He should have the right to appear before the committee to say: I should not be Level 3,” Rosenzweig said.

Once out of prison, a Level 3 sex offender is subject to living, work and other restrictions that compromise his freedom, Rosenzweig said.

“We are dealing with extensive and important liberty interests,” he said.

Assistant attorney general Amy Ford said she “wasn’t convinced” that Burchette’s liberty had been compromised. She said the Legislature had decided that protecting the public outweighed any deprivation of liberty caused by residency restrictions or other prohibitions.

“Mr. Burchette received his due process.... A hearing is not required,” Ford said.

She said the court had already decided the issue in January 2007 when it ruled that a man acquitted of rape by reason of insanity couldn’t contest his sexual offender classification.

Justice Robert Brown asked whether requiring a hearing before the Sex Offender Assessment Committee would open the door to mandatory hearings in hundreds of other state boards and committees.

“This is not a case of taking away some barber’s license,” Rosenzweig responded.

The Sex Offender Assessment Committee is the “decision maker,” he said. And by ranking sex offenders in ascending order of threat from Level 1 to Level 4, the board has an impact on the rest of their lives.

For that reason, Burchette should have a right to plead his case before the panel instead of a prison social worker or psychologist. State Rep. Dawn Creekmore, D-Hensley, a leading advocate for tougher sex offender laws in the Legislature, attended the oral argument. Afterward, she said she agreed with the state that no hearing should be required. “He had his interview. These aren’t hour-long deals. It’s an extensive interview,” she said.

Burchette is an inmate at the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern, according to the Department of Correction Web site. His original parole eligibility date was December 2005.

The Supreme Court typically issues a ruling within a few weeks of hearing an oral argument.