DE- Del. court upholds offender registry

To say that the Adam Walsh Act does not violate rights is to stick one's head in the sand and ignore the very meaning of the words "further punishments" simply because, as a judge, you can and no one dare question you. Here we see the political decision not any real analysis of the facts as it affects the majority of cases. This case is not a good example of what is wrong with the law, it is clear he skirted the state law and they chose to prosecute him instead under federal law. Obviously because he would get a longer prison sentence which may ultimately bite the state.

2-12-2009 Delaware:

Judge: Adam Walsh Act doesn't violate rights

WILMINGTON -- In a ruling hailed as an "important victory" for advocates and prosecutors, a federal judge in Delaware upheld a federal law designed to track sexual predators through a national registry.

Chief District Judge Gregory M. Sleet dismissed a challenge by convicted pedophile Thomas Pendleton to the 2006 Adam Walsh Act, finding Pendleton's argument that Congress overreached its authority in creating the registry was not persuasive. He also said a criminal case against Pendleton for failing to register should go forward, likely to trial.

The decision is believed to be the first time a court in the third federal circuit, which includes Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, has ruled on a constitutional challenge to the registration requirement.

The Adam Walsh Act was named for the son of victim advocate and television host John Walsh, whose son was abducted and murdered 25 years ago. It requires convicted sexual predators to register with local authorities when they move into an area.

Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which helped craft the law with then-Sen. Joe Biden, said Sleet's ruling Tuesday was an "encouraging decision" and "right under the law."

Allen said the law was designed to stop sex offenders who pose a significant threat from traveling between states to evade local registration and notification laws.

Associate Professor Geoff Moulton of Widener University School of Law, said the ruling on this comparatively untested law was, "an important victory both for the [Adam Walsh] law, the Department of Justice and those people who advocated this legislation."

Several federal districts across the country have upheld the act, but at least one federal court in Florida ruled that Congress overreached in creating the registry.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ilana Eisenstein said prosecutors are pleased the ruling "will permit this case to go forward against a serial sex offender."

Assistant Federal Public Defender Eleni Kousoulis, who is defending Pendleton, said the constitutionality of the sex offender registry "is a recurring issue," among federal courts and hasn't been ruled on by the U.S. Supreme Court. She said this case is likely to be appealed "if necessary."

Allen described Pendleton, 66, as exactly the type of person the act was designed to stop and the reason why a national registry, not a patchwork of state laws, is needed.

"I don't think I could have written a better example," he said.

Pendleton was arrested in Delaware last year after federal authorities charged that he improperly claimed the state as a permanent address when he had never lived here.

Instead, according to court papers, Pendleton traveled the country after he was expelled from Germany in 2006, after serving an 18-month prison sentence there for the sexual abuse of a minor.

According to attorneys, Pendleton researched his options and decided to claim Delaware as home because of an apparent loophole in the state law that did not require him to register here because his convictions had all been overseas or were more than 15 years old.

Before his conviction in Germany, he was convicted in Latvia in 2001, and served a 3 1/2-year prison sentence there for molesting two boys, ages 9 and 13. Prior to 1993, he had convictions in Michigan and New Jersey.

Delaware legislators have since passed a law designed to close that loophole.

Prosecutors allege that Pendleton, on his return from Germany, traveled through Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan and California, often staying at youth hostels, and failing to register in any of those states.

U.S. marshals picked up Pendleton when he stopped by the false address he claimed as home in Wilmington to pick up his mail.

Pendleton's attorney asked Sleet to toss out the indictment against him, alleging the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act improperly draws its authority from the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, regulating interstate commerce. She said Pendleton's actions had nothing to do with commerce. ..News Source.. by SEAN O'SULLIVAN • The News Journal