NH- Judge mulling stands over sex offender residence curbs

4-8-2009 New Hampshire:

CONCORD — A convicted sex offender will have to wait until at least Monday to know if he can live with his companion and three children in Franklin while his challenge to the city's sex offender residence restrictions makes its way through the state's courts.

Frank Singleton III, appeared in tiny Courtroom 3 of the Merrimack County Superior Court while his lawyer Barb Keshen pleaded his case for an injunction to stop the enforcement of Code 247 to Judge David Sullivan.

Singleton has argued the Three Rivers City's residency restriction is keeping him incarcerated in N. H. State Prison after he was granted parole on Jan. 22.

"He has been stigmatized in prison as a sex offender," said Keshen who said his request for an injunction is even more relevant because the media attention surrounding his case has made prison life more intolerable. "He feels the conditions of his confinement have deteriorated."

Speaking for Franklin, City Attorney Paul Fitzgerald countered that Singleton's additional 75 days of imprisonment and the harm Keshen alleges he suffers "are not the fault of the city of Franklin. He has yet to produce a satisfactory parole plan."

"[The harm] goes to his conviction, and that's why he is back in jail," said Fitzgerald who referred to the fact that Singleton's most recent convictions were for failing to register as a sex offender in both Northfield and Tilton.

(Posted by eAdvocate)

Keshen's argued further that Tilton and Northfield, "tiny quadrants surrounding Franklin" have also implemented similar regulations and not only was her client prohibited from living in those towns, those very regulations are part of the reason Singleton didn't register in time and why he is back in prison.

"He registered consistently except when he tried to live in Tilton and Northfield. He got arrested for failing to register even though he tried to," said Keshen adding if Sullivan agrees to suspend Code 247 then Singleton will discuss the remained of his parole plan with his parole officer.

The rest of Singleton's argument goes to the actual ability of the city to impose such residency restriction. "Franklin cannot establish their own little rules," said Keshen who contends the matter is beyond an individual town's purview.

"New Hampshire statutes have no restrictions — only registrations," she continued offering lower court case decisions supporting her pleas in New Jersey, Georgia and Pennsylvania.

Fitzgerald countered that those decisions involve state, not local, restrictions and the one upper court decision that speaks directly to local residency restrictions was in Iowa where its Supreme Court ruled in favor of a community in similar circumstances.

"I would also take exception to the statement that Franklin doesn't want sex offenders," added Fitzgerald. "Fully two-thirds of the city is open including core municipal areas."

Fitzgerald also provided Sullivan with a map of the city that listed where the restricted areas are, despite Keshen's claim that when Singleton's companion called the Franklin Police for such a map she was referred to the city and when she approached the city, she was referred back to the police.

Sullivan gave Fitzgerald and Keshen until Friday to reply in writing to the other's arguments and said he would make his ruling early next week. ..News Source.. by GAIL OBER