NH- Dover won't fight for curbs on sex offenders

8-25-2009 New Hampshire:

Dover – Police will not appeal a district court ruling last month that struck down a city ordinance restricting sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of a school or daycare.

“The Dover Police Department has decided not to appeal the Court’s decision in State v. Jennings. Chances of success on appeal are only fair based upon the ruling in this particular case,” police said in a statement issued this morning.

“The Dover Police Department will continue to provide aggressive enforcement of the sex offender registration laws and to provide educational programs to provide for the safety of citizens of all ages. Dover will continue to have its fair share of citizens with criminal records, but with proactive law enforcement, Dover will continue to be a safe place to live, to work and to raise a family.”

The decision means that although Dover’s ordinance is nullified, similar ones from several towns across the state can continue. An appeal to a higher court likely would have led to a precedent-setting ruling that could have either strengthened or quashed sex offender residency ordinances statewide.

Dover stopped enforcing its ordinance shortly after Judge Mark Weaver ruled last month that it violated the state constitution’s equal protection rights. Weaver said the city had to prove its ordinance was “substantially related to an important governmental objective.”

“In this case, the state offered no such evidence,” Weaver wrote.

Former Dover resident Richard Jennings was charged with violating the city ordinance in November 2007 because his Locust Street home fell within a restricted zone.

Jennings sued the city last year with the help of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union and claimed that the ordinance was unconstitutional. The case was heard in Dover District Court in September 2008, but a ruling was only issued earlier this month.

Jennings’ was expected to be a test case that could set a larger precedent, but that appears very unlikely now.

In his ruling, Weaver repeatedly said the city did not show how restricting where sex offenders live would protect children. He noted that the city did not seek input from experts when it passed the ordinance in 2005, but instead relied upon testimony from former police Chief William Fenniman.

Weaver also said police had not proven that the city children have been any safer since the ordinance went into effect.

“Without any evidence to relate the passing of the ordinance to its stated purpose, the state cannot meet its burden,” he wrote.

Dover was the largest New Hampshire municipality to restrict where sex offenders could live, though others, including Manchester, had considered similar ordinances.

Other communities that continue to restrict where sex offenders can live include: Franklin, Tilton, Northfield and Boscawen. ..Source.. by CLYNTON NAMUO