NJ- Galloway to argue sex offender case before state Supreme Court

1-27-2009 New Jersey:

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP - The New Jersey Supreme Court has agreed to hear Galloway Township argue to keep a sex offender residency ordinance on the books.
The restrictions had been invalidated by a decision on a case involving a local college student.

The court let attorneys know Jan. 20, according to Township Solicitor Michael Blee. Blee is working with attorneys from the American Center on Law and Justice in Washington, D.C. The not-for-profit law firm is covering legal costs.

A student at Richard Stockton College, identified in legal documents as “G.H.” and scheduled to graduate in December, successfully challenged Galloway’s ban on sex offenders living within 2,500 feet of a school, park, playground or day-care center in 2006.

In July 2008, a state Appellate Court upheld the finding.

Those decisions prompted other New Jersey towns to repeal similar local ordinances, or to stop enforcing them until the court proceedings have concluded. ..News Source.. by EMILY PREVITI Staff Writer