9-30-2009 Florida:
(CNN) -- A Florida death-row inmate convicted of abducting and murdering 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford in 2005 has died, prison officials said Wednesday.
John Evander Couey, 51, died at 11:15 a.m. ET of natural causes, a Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman told CNN. He had been taken to a Jacksonville, Florida, hospital from Florida State Prison in Starke, Florida.
Because of privacy laws, no further information could be released by the Department of Corrections.
A source close to the case told CNN that Couey's death was not unexpected and he had been ill for some time.
"I never dreamed it would happen like this," Jessica's father, Mark Lunsford, told CNN. He said he never thought he would live long enough to see Couey put to death because of the lengthy appeals process.
He said he was sad when he heard the news of Couey's death. "To me, death is sad," he said. "But her death, Jessie's death, has been redeemed ... I'm relieved. I'm glad it's over with."
Couey was sentenced to die in August 2007 for abducting and raping Lunsford, then killing her by burying her alive. The girl was snatched from her bed in her family's Homosassa, Florida, home the evening of February 23, 2005, by Couey, a registered sex offender. Her body was found three weeks later, buried at the home of Couey's half-sister, who lived within sight of the Lunsford home.
The girl's body was wrapped in plastic garbage bags, and her hands were bound with speaker wire. She was clutching a stuffed dolphin -- a toy won for her at a state fair by her father, and which Couey allowed her to bring with her when she was abducted.
"I am not shedding any tears," the girl's grandmother, Ruth Lunsford, said on Wednesday. "I don't feel sorry for him. I think God said, 'John Couey, it's time to go.' "
"I don't feel sorry for him that he had to suffer," she said. "He didn't have any mercy on my granddaughter when he murdered her. I'm glad we didn't have to wait years and years for his appeals and execution, and the taxpayers no longer have to pay for him. I'm glad that God took a hand in it."
Authorities believe Lunsford was kept for several days before she was killed. Her blood was found on a mattress in the home where Couey was living, her fingerprints also were discovered at the location. During the search for the girl, as authorities and hundreds of volunteers combed Citrus County, north of Tampa, police twice visited that home.
"Couey's timeline after he kidnapped Jessica Lunsford leaves open the possibility that she was alive, and in the house, at the time of the first and possibly the second interview," according to a prosecution memo in the case.
In sentencing Couey, Judge Ric Howard noted Couey became fearful of police dogs being used in the area in the search for the girl. He told Lunsford he was planning to take her home, but did not want her to be seen, and so persuaded her to get into a trash bag. He then knotted another trash bag over her head, placed her in a hole and shoveled dirt on top of her.
Jurors convicted Couey of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery on a child under 12 in March 2007.
Howard, at Couey's sentencing, brought many in the courtroom to tears as he discussed how the girl died slowly as her oxygen ran out. A medical examiner testified she could have been alive as much as five minutes, or even longer, before she lost consciousness, Howard said.
"He caused a slow, suffering, conscious death," Howard said of Couey. "Her only source of comfort during this horrific experience was her purple dolphin." Another horrific detail the judge noted: The girl was able to poke several fingers through the innermost trash bag covering her before she died.
The judge also noted that Couey made "crude, vulgar and repulsive" comments to police after his arrest regarding his sexual assault of the girl, and the judge quoted Couey as saying the media was blowing the case out of proportion -- "This kind of thing happens every day."
Lunsford's slaying sparked national outrage and led to stricter Florida laws regarding registration and supervision of released sexual predators, following a push led largely by her father, Mark Lunsford.
Although Lunsford's death was one of several that contributed to the passage of a federal child-protection law dealing with sex offender registration and other matters related to child sex offenses, Mark Lunsford said at the time of Couey's sentencing the law does not go far enough.
On Wednesday, Mark Lunsford told CNN he is a Christian and he believes he will see his daughter again.
In a jailhouse phone call before his sentencing, Couey told a woman described as his aunt he expected the death penalty.
"I kick myself in the butt a hundred times a day," he said. "Stupidity ... Just trying to figure out, I'm just asking myself, 'Why was you so stupid?' "
"Well, none of us are perfect," the woman said, "and the drugs didn't help any."
"No, that was a big problem," Couey said. "Drugs, alcohol."
Speaking after Couey's sentencing, Mark Lunsford referenced Couey's earlier comments in which he said that when he got to heaven, he would apologize to his victim.
"I have bad news," Mark Lunsford said. "I don't think you're going to make it there." He called on Couey to drop his appeals. "You want to do something for her, give your life for the one you took." ..Source.. by CNN
September 30, 2009
FL- Convicted child killer Couey dies in prison, Florida officials say
High Court to decide Sex Offender's Ex Post Facto Issue
9-30-2009 National:
Cert Granted in Carr v. United States 08-1301
Whether a person may be criminally prosecuted under 18 U.S.C. § 2250for failure to register when the defendant’s underlying offense and travel in interstate commerce both predated the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act’s enactment ; whether the Ex Post Facto Clause precludes prosecution under § 2250(a) of a person whose underlying offense and travel in interstate commerce both predated SORNA’s enactment. From SCOTUS Blog
In essence the court will be looking at this long standing case:
CALDER v. BULL 8-1-1798: This is the source of all ex post facto cases: The court holding a law is a ex post facto violation if any of the following have occurred:
1st. Every law that makes an action , done before the passing of the law, and which was innocent when done, criminal; and punishes such action.
2nd. Every law that aggravates a crime, or makes it greater than it was, when committed.
3rd. Every law that changes the punishment, and inflicts a greater punishment, than the law annexed to the crime, when committed.
4th. Every law that alters the legal rules of evidence, and receives less, or different, testimony, than the law required at the time of the commission of the offence, in order to convict the offender.
CA- Review targets parole lapses in Calif. kidnap case
9-30-2009 California:
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California's inspector general is reviewing whether lapses in the state's parole system allowed Jaycee Dugard's alleged kidnapper to go undetected for 18 years, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
"We all are shaking our heads, saying the same thing: 'How did this happen?'" said Laura Hill, spokeswoman for Inspector General David Shaw.
Hill said five or six parole agents monitored Phillip Garrido during the 10 years he was under California's control as a convicted rapist. He previously was under federal parole supervision for eight years.
Authorities say he was hiding Dugard in the backyard of his Antioch home the whole time.
Garrido is charged with kidnapping Dugard outside her South Lake Tahoe home in 1991, when she was 11 years old. She resurfaced last month, along with two daughters allegedly fathered by Garrido.
"We're not so much focused about what one parole officer did wrong, but what went wrong," Hill said.
The investigation is important "so that nothing like this happens again," she said. "So if there are changes to be made at the system level, the department knows what they are."
The report will be completed within 30 days, she said.
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Oscar Hidalgo welcomed the external investigation, but said the department is conducting its own review.
"We're always going to look to see if there's any problems, even if we believe we're 100 percent right," Hidalgo said. "It would not be prudent of us not to follow up and make sure all of the processes were followed."
Hidalgo said it appears parole agents made the proper visits to Garrido's home for years without discovering the victim and her children hidden behind a second backyard fence. He credited Garrido's current parole agent with uncovering Dugard's identity after Garrido's behavior with his two daughters caught the attention of University of California, Berkeley campus police.
"We're looking at what the agent did very well, and what the agent did very well was he arrested this guy," Hidalgo said. "He followed up on his instincts. He attacked quite aggressively once his suspicions were aroused."
The department has denied public records requests by The Associated Press and other media for Garrido's full parole file, citing government codes and regulations and confidential information within the file.
Hidalgo said the department plans to release more parole information, however, in cooperation with prosecutors.
"We're balancing the criminal prosecution ... with what the public appetite is for this to be shared," he said. ..Source.. by DON THOMPSON
TN- Bill would put teen sex offenders on registry
Lawmakers fail the youth of today, lawmakers know that youth do not possess solid reasoning powers, and thus must be treated as one without full faculties, even when they commit serious crimes. It is the duty of an adult to recognize facts that today's youth can not, lawmakers are failures when they ignore such realities and proceed with a vindictive mind.
9-30-2009 Tennessee:
COOKEVILLE -- Should juvenile sex offenders be listed on the state's Sex Offender Registry, just as adult sex offenders are? State Rep. Henry Fincher of Cookeville thinks so, and other legislators, including Sen. Charlotte Burks of Monterey, agree. They are among state lawmakers who have tried to enact a new law providing that convicted sex offenders under the age of 18 be treated like adult sex offenders when it comes to the registry, a public listing of those convicted of sex offenses.
A bill that Fincher and Burks are sponsoring in the legislature would require that juveniles 14 to 18 who are found guilty of aggravated rape of a child, rape of a child, aggravated rape, or attempts to commit these offenses be listed on the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry as violent juvenile sex offenders. The proposal is currently under study in a legislative subcommittee. According to Fincher, similar proposals have been discussed by legislators for some time, but no new law has been made.
Fincher says that passing such a bill is important not only for the protection of the public but also because it would trigger increased grant funding for law enforcement agencies in this state. And while Fincher, who said he has sponsored several bills aimed at "making it tougher on sex offenders," hopes to get the latest proposal passed, he stresses that it would apply to "violent" offenses, not to incidents in which "somebody just made a mistake.
I know that sometimes, juveniles make mistakes that do not amount to these more serious kind of sex offenses we are talking about in this bill," Fincher said. "And I know, of course, that the ideal in the juvenile justice system is to give kids a second chance."
But that rehabilitation, second-chance philosophy of the juvenile justice system must be balanced against the reality that some juveniles do commit very serious sex crimes, he said.
"We have to balance the ideal against the reality that there are sex offenders under the age of 18 who commit very serious crimes," Fincher said. "I have a 9-year-old daughter, and I don't care if someone living next door is 15 or 50, I have the right to know about any violent sex crime record." He said that failure to pass the bill will jeopardize some federal grant funding to Tennessee which comes through a program stressing the need to enhance laws protecting children. "I just think that a law that would help warn the public about dangerous offenders and also get the state more money is a winner," Fincher said. The Herald-Citizen was unable to reach Burks this morning for comment on the proposal. ..Source.. by Mary Jo Denton, Herald-Citizen Staff
MI- Target 8 story leads to state hearing
9-30-2009 Michigan:
Hotels housing released sex offenders
LANSING, Mich. (WOOD) - A Target 8 investigation into the concentration of sex offenders, including some convicted of assaulting children, at a Wyoming motel billed as family-friendly prompted a legislative hearing in Lansing Tuesday.
In July, Target 8 found 60 registered sex offenders staying at the Grand Rapids Inn along 28th Street; 22 of them were listed as having assaulting children. Most of the offenders were parolees, part of the state's prisoner re-entry initiative.
"I wanted to find out from the [Michigan Department of Corrections] how they arrived at the conclusion to use this facility, what they intend to do long-term, whether other options were explored and whether or not this is being done in other parts of the state," State Sen. Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland) told 24 Hour News 8.
It is being done elsewhere in Michigan, according to Russ Marlan of MDOC. The department is compiling a full list for Kuipers and the judiciary committee he chairs, Marlan said.
And how did MDOC arrive at the Grand Rapids Inn as a spot to house prisoners for the state's re-entry initiative? That's left up to local steering committees.
"I can't say if that was the first choice, the middle choice or the last choice -- but it seems to be working for that community," Marlan told 24 Hour News 8. Working, he said, because in the history of the Michigan Prisoner ReEntry Intiative's contract with the Grand Rapids Inn, there have been no reports of incidents involving the registered sex offenders.
Sex offenders can end up in clusters because they are banned from living within 1,000 feet of schools parks and playgrounds. Kuipers, who voted for the law that makes that distance mandatory, said he understands the limited options for the state. He said he still has concerns."If you have a high concentration in the same building as a hotel/motel that's being marketed as a family friendly exstablishment, I think there's some potential problems that could occur long term," Kuipers said.
24 Hour News 8 asked the corrections spokesman if the department sees concentration as a concern.
"I don't think so. I think that, as we told him, police are aware of who's living there. Parole agents are aware of who's living there. We have special services there. So it provides us the opportunity to supervise them more effectively than if they were spread throuhgout the community," said Marlan, who for six years supervised sex offenders himself as a parole officer in Detroit.
"They are very compliant," he said. "Their recidivism rates are very low, but some of the times the crimes they've committed are horrible. And they have the stigma of being a sex offender, so naturally there's some reaction to the community from that."
Sex offenders are more likely to commit sexual offenses in the future than the regular ex-offender population, but a 1990s U.S. Department of Justice study found that among sex offenders, 5.3 percent are re-arrested within three years for a sex crime. Overall, 67.5 percent of those released from prison are re-arrested within three years.While the above is a true statement, why should Target8 ignore the second part of that statement, which in summary shows, that non sex offenders released from prison commit far more sex crimes than do sex offenders released from prison. See chart:
Sex offenders compared to non-sex offenders
Who will commit more new sex offenses within 3-years of being paroled, sex offenders -OR- non-sex offenders?
Non sex offenders commit more new sex offenses when paroled!
All released sex offenders -vs- non-sex offenders
(NCJ 198281).Released
(Paroled)Offender Type Paroled ReArrested for
New Sex Offense%/# of New Sex
Offenses by ParoleesConvicted of
New Sex Offense9,691 Sex Offenders 5.3% (517) 13% (1 every 2 days) 3.5% (339) 262,420 Non-Sex Offenders 1.3% (3,328) 87% (3 per day) .83% 2,179)** 272,111 All Offenders 1.4% (3,845) 100% Construction of chart- DOJ Pg-24 states: Sex offenders compared to non-sex offenders: "The 15 States in this study released a total of 272,111 prisoners in 1994. The 9,691 released sex offenders made up less than 4% of that total. Of the remaining 262,420 non-sex offenders, 3,328 (1.3%) were rearrested for a new sex crime within 3 years." and "Based on official arrest records, 517 of the 9,691 released sex offenders (5.3%) were rearrested for a new sex crime within the first 3 years following their release (table 21)." and DOJ Pg-2 states: "Of the 9,691 released sex offenders, 3.5% (339 of the 9,691) were reconvicted for a sex crime within the 3-year followup period." **Calculated using same proportions between 517 and 339 for sex offenders.
The parolees living at the Grand Rapids Inn have, like all parolees, served their minimum sentence.
But since Kuipers said he was told the corrections department is least likely to parole sex offenders, he wants to know that the offenders were nearing their maximum term.
"If that's not the case then that rasies some additional questions that we had for Corrections," the Holland lawmaker said. ..Source.. by WOOD TV.com
NY- Nanuet woman accused of making false rape report
9-30-2009 New York:
SPRING VALLEY - A 42-year-old Nanuet woman has been charged with falsely accusing a village man of raping her and holding her captive, authorities said Monday.
Miriam Chambers' June accusations led Abraham Wilson to spend several months in the county jail as an accused parole violator, authorities said.
Chambers, who lived in Normandy Village, accused Wilson of approaching her on June 20 in Spring Valley and threatening to harm her unless she went with him to his Rose Avenue home, Spring Valley police said. She accused Wilson of beating her, breaking her hand and raping her, police said.
About a week later, however, Chambers recanted her accusations in a letter to Wilson's lawyer - at the Rockland Public Defender's Office.
As a result, the Rockland District Attorney's Office dismissed felony charges against Wilson: first-degree rape, first-degree unlawful imprisonment, first-degree assault and three counts of second-degree assault. Chambers works as a nurse at Nyack Hospital, authorities said.
Spring Valley police and the office began investigating Chambers. She and Wilson know one another, police have said.
On Thursday, police charged Chambers with a felony count of first-degree making an apparently sworn false statement. Her arrest is part of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Chambers' filing of the report, Spring Valley Detective Reginald Anderson said.
Anderson said Wilson spent several months in jail and was recently released. Wilson had been paroled in September 2008 from a 2007 felony drug possession conviction. ..Source.. by Steve Lieberman
UK- False rape allegation forces gay US soldier to out himself
9-30-2009 United Kingdom:
A gay US Air Force officer was forced to reveal his sexuality in order to clear himself of a false rape allegation, an admission which cost him his job.
According to Associated Press, Lt Col Victor Fehrenbach was discharged under Don't Ask, Don't Tell last year but is now using his story to highlight the injustices suffered by those fired under the law.
In 2008, he was questioned by police over an alleged rape of an acquaintance. Although his accuser Cameron Shaner was later discredited and found to be an "unreliable source of information", Fehrenbach had to admit the pair had engaged in consensual sex at his home after meeting on a gay website. Police found no evidence of the alleged rape.
Although he was soon cleared, the Air Force had a legal right to see the statement in which he admitted having consensual gay sex and he was notified last year that he would be discharged.
Emily Hecht, a lawyer for the Servicemembers Legal Defence Fund, said: "Because of the criminal allegation, Victor confirmed the fact he was gay.
"That's all the Air Force needed. Had his accuser been a woman, he'd have gone back to work with no further issue."
Fehrenbach's parents had both served in the Air Force and retired at the time of their choice. With 18 years in service, he was only two years away from a $46,000 annual pension.
He is currently on desk duty at Mountain Home as assistant director of operations for the 366th Operations Support Squadron.
Since his dismissal, Fehrenbach has come out to his parents and appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show.
Appearing on the show in May, he said: "I was faced with the end of my life as I knew it . . . The more I thought about it, about how wrong this policy is, I thought that I had to fight. And perhaps, with my unique perspective, I could speak out and help other people in the meantime."
Since Fehrenbach's discharge notification, pressure to repeal the 1993 law has been stepped up and US defence secretary Robert Gates has mentioned the idea of a more nuanced interpretation of the law, one which would see those outed by others with questionable motives being treated more leniently.
It is not yet known when he will officially leave service although he believes it will be this autumn.
Despite the circumstances of his case, and his new role as the poster boy in the fight against DADT, Fehrenbach has said he will happily rejoin the armed forces should the law be repealed. ..Source.. by Jessica Geen
UK- Man falsely accused of molesting girls
9-30-2009 United Kingdom:
HUNDREDS of leaflets have been handed out by police to stop vigilantes targeting a man falsely accused of being a paedophile.
People in Accrington were sent a warning informing them allegations made by two girls about a local man in his 60s are `false and without foundation'.
Allegations
The girls involved reportedly asked to walk the family's dog and visited the house regularly before the allegations were made last month.
Police say they investigated the claims thoroughly and found them to be groundless.
But hate mobs have targeted the home of the suspect and his wife, who suffered vandalism and insults.
The victim says he has suffered a stroke over the stress and the rumours of him being a child molester. He has called for his accusers to be prosecuted.
The leaflets given to residents by Lancashire Police read: "ATTENTION RESIDENTS. There have been allegations made about a local resident paying inappropriate attention to young children in the area.
"Allegations of this nature are taken very seriously and this matter has been FULLY investigated by the police.
"The result of our investigation is that the allegations have been found to be false and without any foundation whatsoever."
Insp Mick Johnson said: "Investigating officers became aware of issues that may be related to that allegation, allegations of damage and juvenile nuisance in the area.
'Investigations'
"The allegations have been fully investigated and no further action is being taken.
"Since the letter drop, the instances of nuisance in that area have dropped dramatically." ..Source.. by Pat Hurst
Group issues report on sex-offender registration for juvenile offenses
9-30-2009 National:
With Ohio becoming the first state to come into substantial compliance with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) that is part of the Adam Walsh Act, the Justice Policy Institute, a national organization focusing on juvenile and criminal justice issues, warned that compliance with the Act will provide little in the way of public safety benefits at substantial costs, particularly for those who must now be on sex offender registries for juvenile offenses.
To provide policymakers with more information about the negative impacts of SORNA, JPI is broadly releasing their report "Registering Harm: How Sex Offense Registries Fail Youth and Communities". (This report had a limited release in 2008.) Registering Harm concludes that while the prevention of sexual violence should be a priority for policymakers and the criminal justice system, the registration and community notification of youth convicted of sex offenses is unlikely to improve public safety, can have a lifetime of negative effects on a young person, and often penalizes an entire family. Furthermore, advocates say placing youth on sex offense registries is contrary to the purpose of the juvenile justice system, and SORNA has been found to be unconstitutional and in violation of children’s rights.
“There is a growing concern that this well-intentioned legislation is having serious negative consequences, particularly for young people,” said Tracy Velázquez, executive director of JPI. “Our juvenile justice system was set up to give delinquent youth a second chance; due to the very public and punitive nature of the online registries, the Act denies them this chance.”
“Courts have ruled as recently as this month that SORNA is unconstitutional as it is retroactively punitive,” added Velázquez, referring to the recent ruling by the ninth circuit court. “We know that states are being pressured to pass this legislation through threats of withholding federal dollars. However, in light of these serious civil rights issues, we urge state lawmakers to resist rushing into compliance, and to instead focus on insisting that their federal counterparts change this flawed legislation.”
Registering Harm examines the public safety implications associated with implementing SORNA, which would expand registries already established at state levels, requiring states to list all registrants on a national online database and to include children convicted of certain sex offenses. Although originally all states were required to come into compliance with SORNA in July 2009 or face losing a portion of their Justice Assistance Grant Program funds, no states were in compliance at that time and the U.S. Attorney general extended the deadline for compliance to July 2010. Most troubling, according to the report, is that under SORNA youth as young as 14 would be placed on registries, making them more likely to experience rejection from peer groups and positive social networks and therefore more likely to associate with delinquent or troubled peers. Additionally, as the Ninth Circuit Court pointed out, the registration of adult for decades-old juvenile offenses “threatens to disrupt the stability of their lives and to ostracize them from their communities,” notwithstanding years of living law-abiding and productive lives.
The report also notes that many of the offenses committed by youth are normative teenage behaviors. These behaviors are now criminalized and punished in ways that can last a lifetime. The report also concludes what similar reports, such as “The Pursuit of Safety” by the Vera Institute of Justice, also find, which is that registries do little to protect public safety, and may even endanger youth. And while states may lose federal dollars by not complying, JPI’s analysis shows that meeting the Act’s many requirements will likely cost more. SORNA implementation would leave law enforcement tasked with database management rather than community protection.
“Rather than educating the public about general practices for keeping children and communities safe from sexual violence, this Act encourages a disproportionate allocation of resources and inappropriate focus on registries and the people on them,” said Velázquez. She added that in some states, people can be placed on registries for offenses such as public urination or lewd bumper stickers on their car, which would make it difficult for people using the registry to determine who could be a possible threat to their families or neighborhoods.
Key findings in Registering Harm include:- The Act misallocates resources to a fraction of sexual violence incidences. Registries are designed to warn the public, and particularly parents, of “stranger danger;” however, sexual assaults are seldom committed by strangers. The Bureau of Justice Statistics found that more than nine in 10 sexual offenses against children were committed by either a family member or acquaintance. In addition, 87 percent of the people arrested for a sex offense in 1997 had not been previously convicted of a sex offense and therefore would not appear on a registry. The resource misallocation caused by the expansion of registries in the Act has an especially significant impact given the budget crises faced in many states.
- Overbroad registration or notification practices make it difficult for the public to determine who on the registry may pose a public safety threat and who doesn’t. Even the tier system of SORNA still provides little context to people who receive notification or view a public registry. In a review of all state registries, Human Rights Watch found that only five states provided enough understandable information on online registries for the public to be able to interpret the charge and the age of both the registrant and the victim.
- Registration and notification overburdens law enforcement. State and federal laws are enacted at the local level, leaving local law enforcement agencies and corrections departments to implement and shoulder the burden of registration and notification legislation. Law enforcement is forced to dedicate a great deal of time and resources to monitoring people on the registries, finding people who have failed to register, and constantly ensuring that information on the registry is correct.
- Registries and notification create barriers to education, employment, housing, and other social networks and outlets, making it difficult to live successfully in the community. Many states compound the barriers posed by registries with residency restrictions. This leads to increased risk of probation or parole violations or illegal behavior, which may lead to further incarceration.
- Public dollars could be better spent on effective prevention strategies that more comprehensively address ways to reduce sexual violence and abuse. The report recommends that policymakers on federal, state, and local levels employ proactive preventative strategies like educating communities about effective ways to prevent sexual violence, which can be a more effective way of increasing public safety.
“Our public policies should be driven by what works to keep people safe,” added Velázquez. “SORNA is one example of well-intentioned but unsound legislation that will have particularly toxic results, especially for youth. We need to move past emotion and rhetoric, and start putting in place more rational, effective policies for all.” ..Source.. by Chris Graham
OH- DEAD MAN TALKING
Is this a message to cease the death penalty or the method? Or could there be another message yet unseen?
9-30-2009 Ohio:
Survivor of Ohio's latest botched execution reveals breathtaking incompetence
Romell Broom achieved a macabre notoriety this past month when he became the first man to survive his date with the needle. Not just in Ohio, but anywhere.
The convicted rapist and murderer endured more than two hours of poking and stabbing before his date with death was called off indefinitely. His executioners could not find a vein to plant intravenous shunts, and they prodded him with needles at least 18 times to no avail, says Tim Sweeney, his lawyer.
The eyes of the world are on Ohio now, and many are questioning our death-penalty apparatus.
It was the first time an execution was called off while in progress, but it wasn't the first time our executioners unintentionally prolonged their work. In 2006, inmate Joseph Clark uttered "It don't work" as his handlers bungled an IV attachment and delayed his doom for more than an hour. In 2007, techs took close to two hours to find a vein and put down obese inmate Christopher Newton; at one point, they granted Newton a restroom break.
Broom lived to tell his tale in an affidavit filed in Columbus federal court days after surviving the death chamber. He described his time on a prep table as two technicians (he called them "nurses") struggled to find veins in his arms. Blood gushed as they pricked him. At one point, "The female nurse left the room," writes Broom. "The correction officer asked her if she was OK. She responded 'no' and walked out.
"I tried to assist them by helping to tie my own arm," recounts Broom. Witnesses said Broom turned on his side and flexed his arms to further assist. A third tech came into the room, and the workers repeatedly stabbed Broom in the arms, right ankle, lower right leg and right hand. Broom said he bled, bruised and felt a needle hit his ankle bone. The executioners' futile attempts left scores of puncture marks.
When Ohio prison director Terry Collins came into the room to tell Broom that the execution would be postponed, "Collins indicated that he appreciated my cooperation and noted my attempts to help the team."
Complications have confounded the Ohio execution team in one out of every 11 lethal injections. Prison officials have defended their employees, a group of at least a dozen men and women whose anonymity remains protected by court order.
In the face of international scrutiny, prison officials continue to defend Ohio's death team. "We believe they do a job most people couldn't do," says Julie Walburn, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. "We believe they do it professionally and appropriately."
Walburn says the state is not preparing a formal report in response to the Broom episode.
All states that practice capital punishment maintain strict privacy policies, with California ranking as the most open, says Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. This shroud poses a fundamental problem for states looking to defend their actions when questions arise. "With the fact that these mistakes happen, the explanation of 'Trust me, we're doing this right,' loses credibility," says Dieter. "There needs to be access, observation, to see what's claimed is what really happens.
"This is about keeping control of public perception, that lethal injection is antiseptic, a pain-free method," he continues. "It could be said that a firing squad or the guillotine are quicker and painless, but people don't want to go there."
Critics of the death penalty say a lack of public review fosters secrecy and denies accountability. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio filed a public-records request in an attempt to learn more about execution preparations, says Carrie Davis, the organization's staff counsel. There's no way to judge execution teams' credentials or work history, and because the state does not request autopsies of the dead inmates, there's no way to determine if the drugs were administered correctly.
"These people are carrying out a state-sanctioned killing in our name," says Davis. "These are our tax dollars at work. This is not a private enterprise. They are state employees."
What little we know about execution team members emerged in March in a federal lawsuit by Ohio death-row inmates challenging lethal injection. Ohio's former executioner (he retired in July, according to the Associated Press) testified while hidden behind a shield. He rattled off a job history that included hospital aide, paramedic and a manager for inmate vocational programs. Neither he nor his understudy — also an EMT —received training on the use or exact effects of the drugs in relation to certain dosages, according to court records. Instead, through his mirrored window, the 53-year-old career prison worker watched dying inmates "for vital-sign changes, watching for movement changes, just watching the person as I would if it was a person in my care."
Dr. Jonathan Groner takes issue with what he deems unqualified personnel using the instruments of his vocation — IVs, syringes and drugs — to kill. Groner, a professor of clinical surgery at the Ohio State College of Medicine and a staunch death-penalty abolitionist, says Ohio is caught in a "Hippocratic paradox." Those most qualified to help the state in executions — doctors, nurses, practicing EMTs — are forbidden from taking part in executions by codes of ethics and state boards. (Recently, the Ohio board that governs EMTs ruled that the state's executioners, despite their EMT certification, were outside the board's jurisdiction and thus free from sanction because they are not representing themselves as EMTs during the executions. At least two emergency medical technicians are part of a squad largely comprising prison guards, according to the Associated Press.)
Trained medical professionals are more likely to handle unexpected situations with success than the people the state uses in executions, says Groner. "People who put in IVs everyday — such as city paramedics, nurses in a hospital — they don't have these [technical] problems. For a person who does it for a living, it's like driving a car." In the pressure cooker that is the state death chamber, he adds, "you match the most difficult cases with the least experienced" personnel.
Problems with lethal injection forced Florida governor Jeb Bush to temporarily delay capital punishment in 2006 after an autopsy showed that the chemicals had infiltrated Angel Diaz' muscle tissue instead of his bloodstream. New Jersey temporarily halted the death penalty as it revised its execution procedures, but abolished the practice in 2007 after a greater debate on the capital punishment. Maryland, California and North Carolina have frozen their systems as they debate policy.
Ohio is the only state that has a law that requires a quick and painless execution, and Broom's lawyer, Tim Sweeney, argues that the state has not fulfilled that requirement.
"I think there are serious questions of whether the state is using the right people to carry out a relatively complex procedure," says Sweeney. "If the drug isn't administered properly, the inmate will assuredly be tortured to death."
U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost plans to hear Broom's arguments in Columbus on November 30 — well after the state's next execution, scheduled for October 8. Newspaper editorials have called for a halt. Ohio secretary of state and U.S. Senate candidate Jennifer Brunner recently became the highest-ranking state official to call for a moratorium.
Governor Ted Strickland's office has received more than 1,100 messages about the death penalty," says his spokesperson Amanda Wurst. She said Strickland cannot legally issue a blanket moratorium, and he has yet to issue a clemency ruling for Lawrence Reynolds, the next inmate in line for execution.
Broom's victim was a 14-year-old East Cleveland girl named Tryna Middleton. As she walked home from a football game, Broom kidnapped her at knifepoint, raped her and fatally stabbed her seven times. I visited her parents on Friday with the hopes of getting their take on this swirling debate.
Bessye Middleton answered the door, but deferred to her husband, a tall, burly man who came out onto his porch to speak with me. David Middleton accepted my handshake and listened coolly, but he did not want to be interviewed. He said that he's tired of exploitative reporters on his front yard and tired of the whirlwind events that have swept his family into the national spotlight.
When I told him that I had witnessed an execution in 2004, he perked with curiosity, and we chatted a bit more. I shared with him my haunting recollection of Lewis Williams' death. I asked him if the execution room was as dark as I remembered it. "Like a horror movie," he said.
Then he noted that his daughter was never coming back. It was difficult to look him in the eye when he said this. He wants to be left alone, he said. This isn't a horror movie for him; this is a tragedy he never asked for. I wished him the best and left. "I'm through with this," he said as I walked away. "Whatever happens, happens." ..Source.. by DAMIAN GUEVARA
September 29, 2009
You Commit Three Felonies a Day
First, thanks to the reader who pointed this out. Further, I think this is -SO TRUE- with laws governing sex offenders today, especially the conflicts between state sex offender laws and the Adam Walsh Act. And, so far courts are ruling that, the Adam Walsh Act supersedes all state laws.
9-29-2009 National:
Laws have become too vague and the concept of intent has disappeared.
When we think about the pace of change in technology, it's usually to marvel at how computing power has become cheaper and faster or how many new digital ways we have to communicate. Unfortunately, this pace of change is increasingly clashing with some of the slower-moving parts of our culture.
Technology moves so quickly we can barely keep up, and our legal system moves so slowly it can't keep up with itself. By design, the law is built up over time by court decisions, statutes and regulations. Sometimes even criminal laws are left vague, to be defined case by case. Technology exacerbates the problem of laws so open and vague that they are hard to abide by, to the point that we have all become potential criminals.
Boston civil-liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate calls his new book "Three Felonies a Day," referring to the number of crimes he estimates the average American now unwittingly commits because of vague laws. New technology adds its own complexity, making innocent activity potentially criminal.
Mr. Silverglate describes several cases in which prosecutors didn't understand or didn't want to understand technology. This problem is compounded by a trend that has accelerated since the 1980s for prosecutors to abandon the principle that there can't be a crime without criminal intent.
In 2001, a man named Bradford Councilman was charged in Massachusetts with violating the wiretap laws. He worked at a company that offered an online book-listing service and also acted as an Internet service provider to book dealers. As an ISP, the company routinely intercepted and copied emails as part of the process of shuttling them through the Web to recipients.
The federal wiretap laws, Mr. Silverglate writes, were "written before the dawn of the Internet, often amended, not always clear, and frequently lagging behind the whipcrack speed of technological change." Prosecutors chose to interpret the ISP role of momentarily copying messages as they made their way through the system as akin to impermissibly listening in on communications. The case went through several rounds of litigation, with no judge making the obvious point that this is how ISPs operate. After six years, a jury found Mr. Councilman not guilty.
Other misunderstandings of the Web criminalize the exercise of First Amendment rights. A Saudi student in Idaho was charged in 2003 with offering "material support" to terrorists. He had operated Web sites for a Muslim charity that focused on normal religious training, but was prosecuted on the theory that if a user followed enough links off his site, he would find violent, anti-American comments on other sites. The Internet is a series of links, so if there's liability for anything in an online chain, it would be hard to avoid prosecution.
Mr. Silverglate, a liberal who wrote a previous book taking the conservative position against political correctness on campuses, is a persistent, principled critic of overbroad statutes. This is a common problem in securities laws, which Congress leaves intentionally vague, encouraging regulators and prosecutors to try people even when the law is unclear. He reminds us of the long prosecution of Silicon Valley investment banker Frank Quattrone, which after five years resulted in a reversal of his criminal conviction on vague charges of obstruction of justice.
These miscarriages are avoidable. Under the English common law we inherited, a crime requires intent. This protection is disappearing in the U.S. As Mr. Silverglate writes, "Since the New Deal era, Congress has delegated to various administrative agencies the task of writing the regulations," even as "Congress has demonstrated a growing dysfunction in crafting legislation that can in fact be understood." Prosecutors identify defendants to go after instead of finding a law that was broken and figuring out who did it. Expect more such prosecutions as Washington adds regulations.
Sometimes legislators know when they make false distinctions based on technology. An "anti-cyberbullying" proposal is making its way through Congress, prompted by the tragic case of a 13-year-old girl driven to suicide by the mother of a neighbor posing as a teenage boy and posting abusive messages on MySpace. The law would prohibit using the Internet to "coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person." Imagine a law that tried to apply this control of speech to letters, editorials or lobbying.
Mr. Silverglate, who will testify against the bill later this week, tells me he figures that "being emotionally distressed is just part of living in a free society." New technologies like the Web, he concludes, "scare legislators because they don't understand them and want to control them, even as they become a normal part of life."
In a complex world of new technologies, there is more need than ever for clear rules of the road. Americans should expect that a crime requires bad intent and also that Congress and prosecutors will try to create clarity, not uncertainty. Our legal system has a lot of catching up to do to work smoothly with the rest of our lives. ..Source.. by L. GORDON CROVITZ
CA- Prosecutors Set Stage to Appeal Lori Drew Ruling
9-29-2009 California:
Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have filed a notice of appeal in the Lori Drew cyberbullying case, where a judge threw out the government’s case against Drew for allegedly using a fake MySpace account to drive a teenage girl to suicide.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause filed the notice (.pdf) on Friday in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, indicating that the government may appeal a judge’s ruling in July that acquitted Drew of three misdemeanor counts.
The federal prosecution of Drew relied on a controversial reading of a federal hacking law — essentially prosecuting Drew for violating MySpace’s terms of service by not being truthful in a online profile.
But U.S. District Judge George Wu said the government’s theory was unconstitutional.
Letting that interpretation stand would ultimately have given prosecutors the power to criminally prosecute anyone for violating a website’s terms of service, Wu reasoned, and “would convert a multitude of otherwise innocent internet users into misdemeanant criminals.”
Drew and two others created a fake MySpace account to harass 13-year-old Megan Meier, who later committed suicide. Federal prosecutors got involved after local authorities could not find a way to bring charges.
Friday’s filing, however, doesn’t mean the government will pursue an appeal.
In July, Wu conditionally overturned the jury convictions, which had found Drew guilty of three counts of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for breaking MySpace’s terms of service agreement.
Wu’s ruling, however, did not become official until he filed his written judgment on Aug. 31, at which point the clock for filing a notice to appeal began ticking.
The Court of Appeals will now have to set a schedule for filing the opening brief in the appeal. Mrozek said given the court’s current schedule, it could be four months or longer before the government’s brief is due.
Drew was initially charged with three felony counts of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and one count of felony conspiracy to violate the statute. Last November, a jury convicted her instead of lesser misdemeanor charges on the first three counts and deadlocked on the conspiracy charge. Prosecutors said at the time they weren’t sure whether they’d attempt to retry Drew on the fourth charge.
Eight months later, Wu overturned the convictions on grounds that the statute was unconstitutionally vague.
Orin Kerr, a former Justice Department prosecutor who now teaches law at George Washington University, plans to work on Drew’s defense if the government pursues an appeal.
Kerr wasn’t available for comment, but on his blog on Friday he noted that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals just recently rejected a number of cases that prosecutors in the Drew case had relied on for their broad interpretation of the CFAA. ..Source.. by Kim Zetter
MO- Mo. sex offender challenges residency restrictions
9-29-2009 Missouri:
A Missouri sex offender contends a law requiring him to live more than 1,000 feet from schools and child care centers is unconstitutional.
Attorney Michael Gross represented the sex offender Tuesday before the state Supreme Court. Gross says the law should be tossed out and the sex offender allowed to move into an O'Fallon home. The sex offender was convicted of five felony sex crimes in 1999.
Missouri first enacted the law on where sex offenders can live in 2004.
At issue is whether it's permissible for a law passed after the sex offender's conviction to restrict where he can live. There also is disagreement about whether the 1,000-foot buffer should be measured from building to building or lot line to lot line. ..Source.. by Examiner.com
AZ- Judge to Decide if 9-Year-Old Faces Rape Trial
9-29-2009 Arizona:
PHOENIX (AP) -- A 9-year-old boy charged in the gang-rape of an 8-year-old Liberian girl sobbed in court Monday as his teacher testified that he rarely did his homework and often got into fights with other students.
Under questioning by the prosecution, second-grade teacher Toya Abrams said the boy was a challenge and had various behavioral problems.
The boy eventually put his head down on a table and began sobbing, prompting his lawyer to ask for a recess.
The boy is one of four Liberian boys facing charges in the rape. Police say the boys lured the girl to a storage shed at a west Phoenix apartment complex with the promise of gum and took turns raping her.
All the children involved are refugees from the West African nation of Liberia.
The case sparked an international outcry after police reported the girl's father said she brought shame on the family and he didn't want her back -- comments a family pastor later said were misunderstood because of a language barrier.
State child welfare officials have custody of the girl, and police are recommending neglect charges against her parents.
Monday's hearing was to designed to help Judge Dawn Bergin decide if the 9-year-old charged in the rape is competent to stand trial. Two mental-health experts found that he is not, and Bergin must listen to testimony from them and others before she makes a decision.
Bergin was expected make a ruling Monday or Tuesday, but decided testimony would take too long for that. She scheduled another hearing on the same matter for Nov. 18.
Abrams, who teaches at Camelview Elementary School in Phoenix, also testified that she was concerned about the boy's home life, saying he wore the same dirty shirt to school for months, often smelled bad, and was often hungry. She said no one in his family ever showed up to his parent-teacher conferences or signed his homework.
''As a teacher, that let me know that I'm on my own,'' she said.
She said the boy often acted out in class and received poor grades even though she believes he was capable of learning his lessons. Whenever the boy was punished, she said he would ''shut down,'' putting his head down in his arms and refusing to work for the rest of the day.
The boy's attorney, Art Merchant, asked Abrams whether he would be prevented from properly doing his job because of such behavior. She answered yes, but Bergin ruled her answer as inadmissible.
A 14-year-old is charged as an adult in the case. A 13-year-old is undergoing a court-ordered process intended to make him competent to stand trial. Another 9-year-old has been ruled incompetent but is undergoing classes to teach him about the court system and become competent to stand trial. ..Source.. by NY Times
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ANNOUCES $11.8 MILLION TO HELP STATES AND TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS COMPLY WITH ADAM WALSH ACT
Unbelievable, look at the list of money being poured into a totally ineffective law: The Adam Walsh Act. This will go down in history as the biggest waste, and exceeding any stimulus and one could think of. Since these laws began BILLIONS and BILLIONS have been poured into these laws and nothing has come of it except, more law enforcement has jobs. With the money they have spent so far, they could have hired 2-3 people to monitor each former offender 24/7 and have had BILLIONS left over; fools run the law sbehind these grants!
9-29-2009 National:
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Justice today announced more than $11.8 million in grants and assistance to state, local, and tribal governments to assist with developing or enhancing programs designed to implement the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) provisions of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. These awards are made through the Adam Walsh Act Implementation Grant Program.
“Protecting our most vulnerable citizens from dangerous predators is an intrinsic duty,” said Jeffrey L. Sedgwick, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs. “These grants will provide states, units of local government, and tribal communities with the resources they need to protect communities and fully implement the Adam Walsh Act.”
The grants are administered by the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs’ (OJP) Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). Funding will be used to develop or enhance sex offender registration programs; improve law enforcement and other justice agency information sharing as it relates to sex offender registration and notification; develop or enhance local absconder apprehension efforts; collect, store, and analyze sex offender biometric and DNA data for investigative purposes; and implement other efforts aimed at furthering the objectives of SORNA.
The Adam Walsh Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush on July 27, 2006 and is designed to protect children and vulnerable adults from sexual exploitation and violent crime. The Act also aims to prevent child abuse and child pornography, promote Internet safety, and honor the memory of Adam Walsh and other crime victims. SORNA, Title I of the Adam Walsh Act, was enacted to protect the public from convicted sex offenders and offenders against children by establishing a comprehensive national system for the registration of those offenders.
To further the Justice Department’s efforts to assist state, local and tribal governments with the implementation of SORNA, the SMART Office will host its annual Symposium on Sex Offender Management and Accountability on July 30—August 1, 2008 in Baltimore. The 2008 Symposium will address a wide variety of topics relating to Sex Offender management and the implementation of the Adam Walsh Act. In addition, the Symposium will include specialized tracks focusing on policy, enforcement, emerging issues and Indian country issues.
The Office of Justice Programs, headed by Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey L. Sedgwick, provides federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims. OJP has five component bureaus: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and the Office for Victims of Crime. Additionally, OJP has two program offices: the Community Capacity Development Office, which incorporates the Weed and Seed strategy, and the Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking Office (SMART). More information can be found at http://www.ojp.gov.
Grant Recipients
| ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, AL | $300,000 |
| THE HOPI TRIBE, AZ | $178,216 |
| ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, AR | $231,500 |
| SAN MATEO COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE, CA | $98,795 |
| OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT, CA | $204,500 |
| DENVER POLICE DEPARTMENT, CO | $216,008 |
| CITY OF COLORADO SPRINGS, CO | $251,793 |
| DELAWARE CRIMINAL JUSTICE COUNCIL, DE | $119,732 |
| MIAMI POLICE DEPARTMENT, FL | $70,879 |
| PINELLAS COUNTY, FL | $256,452 |
| ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE, FL | $254,509 |
| PALM BEACH COUNTY SHERIFF OFFICE, FL | $300,000 |
| FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT, FL | $133,126 |
| CHEROKEE COUNTY, GA | $120,074 |
| GWINNETT COUNTY, GA | $157,920 |
| HAWAII CRIMINAL JUSTICE DATA CENTER, HI | $300,000 |
| ILLINOIS ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE, IL | $65,058 |
| INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, IN | $300,000 |
| IOWA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, IA | $269,450 |
| KANSAS BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, KS | $59,725 |
| SALINE COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT, KS | $37,060 |
| KENTUCKY STATE POLICE, KY | $231,609 |
| NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT, LA | $150,000 |
| TERREBONE PARISH, LA | $91,474 |
| MAINE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, ME | $63,000 |
| MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY & CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, MD | $299,970 |
| CITY OF BALTIMORE, MD | $140,236 |
| NEW BEDFORD POLICE DEPARTMENT, MA | $63,689 |
| MICHIGAN STATE POLICE, MI | $220,000 |
| GRAND TRAVERSE BAND OF OTTAWA AND CHIPPEWA INDIANS, MI | $41,134 |
| LITTLE TRAVERSE BAY BANDS OF ODAWA INDIANS, MI | $296,753 |
| MINNESOTA BUREAU OF CRIMINAL APPREHENSION, MN | $207,273 |
| JACKSON COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT, MS | $9,000 |
| MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL, MO | $116,338 |
| BUCHANAN COUNTY, MO | $91,676 |
| NEBRASKA STATE PATROL, NE | $280,248 |
| HENDERSON CITY, NV | $132,994 |
| NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, NV | $300,000 |
| WASHOE TRIBE OF NEVADA AND CALIFORNIA | $77,249 |
| NEWARK POLICE DEPARTMENT, NJ | $53,075 |
| NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF LAW & PUBLIC SAFETY, NJ | $165,963 |
| BERNALILLO COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPT, NM | $135,330 |
| SANTO DOMINGO TRIBE, NM | $105,067 |
| PUEBLO OF TAOS, NM | $108,232 |
| SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY | $300,000 |
| UTICA CITY, NY | $281,981 |
| ONONDAGA COUNTY SHERIFF, NY | $14,717 |
| PITT COUNTY, NC | $23,205 |
| NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF CRIME CONTROL AND PUBLIC SAFETY, NC | $239,904 |
| NORTH DAKOTA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, ND | $300,000 |
| STANDING ROCK SIOUX TRIBE, ND | $75,000 |
| MANSFIELD POLICE DEPARTMENT, OH | $74,153 |
| APACHE TRIBE OF OKLAHOMA, OK | $40,000 |
| UNITED KEETOOWAH BAND OF CHEROKEE, OK | $32,769 |
| CHEROKEE NATION, OK | $134,375 |
| CITY OF PORTLAND, OR | $299,067 |
| CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF WARM SPRINGS, OR | $300,000 |
| PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE, PA | $300,000 |
| SOUTH CAROLINA LAW ENFORCEMENT DIVISION, SC | $299,859 |
| ANDERSON COUNTY, SC | $22,013 |
| SOUTH DAKOTA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, SD | $31,331 |
| CITY OF AUSTIN, TX | $297,000 |
| TEXAS DEPT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, TX | $187,500 |
| CITY OF HOUSTON, TX | $297,490 |
| UTAH DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, UT | $300,000 |
| VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF STATE POLICE, VA | $38,155 |
| NOOKSACK INDIAN TRIBE, WA | $140,000 |
| SUQUAMISH TRIBE, WA | $8,550 |
| SHOALWATER BAY INDIAN TRIBE, WA | $23,750 |
| CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF THE CHEHALIS RESERVATION, WA | $104,959 |
| WISCONSIN DEPT OF CORRECTIONS, WI | $204,780 |
| MENOMINEE INDIAN TRIBE OF WISCONSIN, WI | $124,805 |
OH- Homeless offenders a headache
9-29-2009 Ohio:
Keeping track hard for sheriff's offices
egistered sex offenders live in Schiller and Goodale parks in Columbus.
Another gives his address as behind Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, while still another stays in an old railroad steam tunnel in Cambridge.
And five live in vehicles parked on the streets of Marietta, from a pair of vans to a purple Dodge Neon.
How are sheriff's offices supposed to obey Ohio law by keeping track of such offenders and notifying neighbors of their presence?
Short answer: They can't.
"This is a horrendous problem for us," said Steve Martin, chief deputy with the Franklin County sheriff's office. "We're doing everything that is humanly possible to monitor these people."
But he acknowledges that's difficult for those who don't have a fixed address, such as the homeless. At least 160 people are "homeless" on the state's sex-offender database of more than 18,000 sex offenders, and many more are listed as living in such places as tents or vehicles, or on porches or park benches.
Examples of sex offenders' "homes" from the database: "Dayton Mall area" in Montgomery County; on "Courthouse Square" in Warren; "diversified" in Columbus; in a "Ford Fairmont station wagon" on River Road in Cincinnati; "under bridge by post office" in Newark; "across from Big Lots" on 2nd Street in Ironton; and "garage behind barber shop" on Reading Road in Mason.
Deputies are supposed to tell everyone living within a 1,000-foot radius when a sex offender moves in and monitor the offenders to make sure they keep their addresses current, as required by the law.
But keeping track of them is a challenge facing virtually every sheriff's office in Ohio, said Robert Cornwell, director of the Buckeye State Sheriffs Association.
"The real challenge comes in verifying that somebody lives someplace like under a bridge," he said. "How often do you go back and check on them to see if they're still living there?"
Martin said deputies met with the Franklin County prosecutor's office earlier this month to explore a possible change in state law. Until then, sex offenders without a permanent fixed address are being asked -- not required -- to check in daily with the sheriff's office.
Deputies struggle with who to notify when a sex offender lives in some place like a park, Martin said. Do they notify everyone around sprawling Schiller Park, for example, about the sex offender who lives there?
"Depends on what corner of the park he's in," Martin said.
In theory, the Schiller Park offender -- a 49-year-old man who has been convicted of failing to provide a change of address three times -- also would have to stay at least 1,000 feet away from Stewart Traditional Alternative School, which is across the street from the park. ..Source.. by Darrel Rowland, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
GA- Sex Offenders Thrown Out of Woods
These stories become sicker every passing moment. As to those on parole or probation they are NOT ALLOWED to move without PRIOR approval of their Agent, and Agents normally will not allow a move without first checking the place these folks want to move to. Who will win, Transportation or Corrections? If it were me on P/P I'd sit there, get arrested and force everyone into court, let the judge slam ALL the state workers, because it is not the fault of the men living in the tents. Thats the only way to generate proper documentation for any Corrections Hearing as to a violation of P/P.
9-29-2009 Georgia:
COBB COUNTY, Ga. -- Members of the Georgia Department of Transportation accompanied by the Cobb County Sheriff's Department walked into the woods at a nearby business park and told the dozen sex offenders camped out there that they had to leave.
This happened just hours after it was reported in print publications that homeless sex offenders were living in the woods in Cobb County because they couldn't find any other place for them to go.
"That flood was ridiculous." 11Alive's Jaye Watson talked to a sex offender who wanted his name withheld. He said he lived here for a little over a month. That he had had a home and a job, but lost both because they were within a thousand feet of a church.
The state's law that prohibits sex offenders from living with a thousand feet of a church, a school, bus stop, or any place children congregate has made it virtually impossible for some sex offenders to find homes or work.
For homeless sex offenders, the problem is compounded. They cannot seek shelter at a church, or sleep in a park, because those are placed from which they are barred.
The sex offender Watson interviewed said his probation officer directed him to this spot of woods.
Watson asked, "Did she say there's a place in the woods you can go?"
"Yeah, she said there's a place by this address that is compliant," he replied.
The other sex offenders tell the same story, that their probation officers told them this was only place left. The men in the woods visit their probation officers once a week and weekly visits were made to the men in the woods.
"We're putting them in a place where they have no restroom and winter is going to be coming. This is not a solution," said attorney Gerry Weber.
Weber is with the Southern Center for Human Rights -- and he says it's also hard for police to keep tabs on the offenders.
Some police showed up while 11Alive was filming, saying they had read about it and that citizens were already calling, concerned.
A few hours later, the men were told they had 24 hours to get off the property or be arrested. Within another 72 hours they must be registered with a new address.
None of the men know where they can go next. ..Source.. by Jaye Watson
OFF TOPIC: Wabash Valley woman didn’t realize second cold medicine purchase violated drug laws
Throughout the nation laws are being enacted that result in "unintended consequences" and why? Simply because lawmakers refuse to take the time to analyze their words as to the consequences of them. This is but one example!
9-29-2009 Indiana:
CLINTON — When Sally Harpold bought cold medicine for her family back in March, she never dreamed that four months later she would end up in handcuffs.
Now, Harpold is trying to clear her name of criminal charges, and she is speaking out in hopes that a law will change so others won’t endure the same embarrassment she still is facing.
“This is a very traumatic experience,” Harpold said.
Harpold is a grandmother of triplets who bought one box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband at a Rockville pharmacy. Less than seven days later, she bought a box of Mucinex-D cold medicine for her adult daughter at a Clinton pharmacy, thereby purchasing 3.6 grams total of pseudoephedrine in a week’s time.
Those two purchases put her in violation of Indiana law 35-48-4-14.7, which restricts the sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, or PSE, products to no more than 3.0 grams within any seven-day period.
When the police came knocking at the door of Harpold’s Parke County residence on July 30, she was arrested on a Vermillion County warrant for a class-C misdemeanor, which carries a sentence of up to 60 days in jail and up to a $500 fine. But through a deferral program offered by Vermillion County Prosecutor Nina Alexander, the charge could be wiped from Harpold’s record by mid-September.
Harpold’s story is one that concerns some law-abiding citizens who fear that innocent people will get mistakenly caught in the net of meth abuse roundups.
But the flip side of the story comes from the law enforcement arena, which is battling a resurgence in methamphetamine production in the Wabash Valley.
As the 12th-smallest county in the state, Vermillion County ranked as the state’s fifth-largest producer of methamphetamine just a few years ago.
“I don’t want to go there again,” Alexander told the Tribune-Star, recalling how the manufacture and abuse of methamphetamine ravaged the tiny county and its families.
While the law was written with the intent of stopping people from purchasing large quantities of drugs to make methamphetamine, the law does not say the purchase must be made with the intent to make meth.
“The law does not make this distinction,” Alexander said.
If the law said “with intent to manufacture methamphetamine,” no one could be arrested until it was proven that the drug actually was used to make meth, the prosecutor said.
And that certainly wasn’t the intent of the law, either. It was written to limit access to the key ingredient in meth — pseudoephedrine — and thereby to stop the clandestine “mom and pop” meth labs that were cooking drugs throughout the area.
Just as with any law, the public has the responsibility to know what is legal and what is not, and ignorance of the law is no excuse, the prosecutor said.
“I’m simply enforcing the law as it was written,” Alexander said.
Pharmacies post “Meth Watch” signs, alerting customers that their purchases of drugs containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are being monitored. Pharmacies also are required to submit a list of purchase records to police, who then examine the lists for violations of the law.
It is up to customers to pay attention to their purchase amounts, and to check medication labels, Alexander said.
“If you take these products, you ought to know what’s in them,” she said.
While many people know that Sudafed, Actifed and Claritin-D contain pseudoephedrine, there are many more over-the-counter medications that also contain the key meth ingredient.
Ron Vencel, a pharmacist with JR Pharmacies in Terre Haute, said consumers should check all drug labels, and notes that any drug that has a “D” after it, for “decongestant,” has a likelihood of containing pseudoephedrine, or PSE.
Vencel has worked with area police to help curb the sale of over-the-counter pseudoephedrine to people buying it as a meth ingredient, and he offered insight into some of the purchasers.
As authorities and retailers have limited the sale of PSE, some meth-makers have resorted to asking their relatives and friends, who are unaware of the intended use of the product, to go buy the cold medicine. That has put some innocent people unwittingly into the cycle of meth production. And a buyer may call five or six different people to go buy the cold medicine, thereby circumventing the law.
Harpold, who is employed at the Rockville Correctional Facility for women, feels her reputation has been damaged by the arrest, and that she has been wrongly labeled as someone who makes meth.
Her police mug shot ran on the front page of her local newspaper, she wrote, in a letter to the Tribune-Star, “with an article entitled, ‘17 Arrested in Drug Sweep.’”
“That is something I have never been involved in,” she said of meth.
When she told her co-workers about the arrest, she said, they could not believe it. They have been supportive of her, she said, and other friends in the community have tried to help stop the misinformation that has spread because of the arrest.
The morning she was arrested, Harpold and her husband were awakened by police officers banging on the front door of their home at Midway along U.S. 36. She was allowed to get dressed, and was then taken in handcuffs to the Clinton Police Department, where she was questioned about her cold medicine purchases. She was later booked into jail, and her husband had to pay $300 bail to get her released.
Harpold said she did go talk to the prosecutor about the situation, and Alexander offered her the deferral program, in which Harpold is required to pay the court costs, abide by all laws and not be arrested for 30 days. At the end of 30 days, the class-C misdemeanor will be erased from her record.
Alexander said she is working with Harpold about the charge, but the prosecutor asserts that Harpold did break the law with her purchases and is being held accountable.
“I do want people to know that we will check the pharmacy records and we will prosecute people who violate this law,” Alexander said.
Vermillion County Sheriff Bob Spence said he also is willing to help Harpold overcome the negative situation.
“If there’s any way we can help her, we will,” Spence said.
He explained that the process leading to Harpold’s arrest involved an officer checking area pharmacy purchase records, and coming up with about 40 purchases that violated the law.
That information was then taken to the prosecutor, whose staff drew up the probable cause affidavits to be filed in court. A judge then found probable cause and issued arrest warrants, and the sheriff’s department is required by statute to see that the warrants are served.
Harpold was not arrested by Vermillion County officers, Spence stressed, since her residence is in Parke County. But she was returned to Clinton where she was questioned and processed.
Spence agreed with pharmacist Vencel’s scenario that the people making the meth often send other people to buy the medicine. And Vigo County Sheriff Jon Marvel, who recently renewed efforts to track pseudoephedrine sales in the Wabash Valley, understands Harpold’s arrest is embarrassing for her.
“Sometimes mistakes happen,” Marvel said. “It’s unfortunate. But for the good of everyone, the law was put into effect.
“I feel for her, but if she could go to one of the area hospitals and see a baby born to a meth-addicted mother …”
For now, Harpold is hoping to raise public awareness so others will avoid the stress she is going through. She has written to state lawmakers and to U.S. Sens. Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh and Congressman Brad Ellsworth about changing the law.
So far, only Lugar has responded to her letter, she said, but she will continue to pursue the issue.
“I just don’t want this to happen to other people.” ..Source.. by Lisa Trigg
