Lawyer asks court to allow homeless with sex offenses to stay at shelters near schools after Grand Rapids man died in cold last winter

12-12-2009 Michigan:

GRAND RAPIDS -- When Thomas Pauli froze to death early this year next to a car in an auto salvage yard, his friends were outraged that state law prevented the convicted sex offender from taking shelter at local missions.

Now, in the aftermath of the 52-year-old's death amid frigid temperatures, a move is under way to clarify a law that prohibits registered sex offenders from residing anywhere within 1,000 feet of a school or day care.

"No one, regardless of what they have done, deserves death on the street like that," said Miriam Aukerman, a Legal Aid of Western Michigan attorney taking up the legal battle on behalf of area homeless advocates.

Among the local agencies supporting the effort are: Mel Trotter and Degage ministries, the Servants Center, Salvation Army, Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness, Guiding Light Mission and Bethlehem Lutheran Church.

Aukerman recently asked Michigan State Police Director Peter Munoz, whose agency oversees the state's Sex Offender Registry, to look at whether shelters should be considered the "residence" of a homeless person. Munoz declined to rule, saying the state police primarily only keeps the computerized database of offenders.

Aukerman now plans to ask a court to issue a decision.

Pauli, convicted in 1991 of molesting a pre-teen girl, reportedly tried to get into Guiding Light Mission or Mel Trotter Ministries the night before his death, but was turned away because of the state law. Officials from the missions could not confirm Pauli tried to get in, but could not rule it out, either and, last January, said they were obligated to turn away known sex offenders on the registry.

As winter weather descends on West Michigan again, the issue is important to local homeless advocates who do not want to see any deaths similar to Pauli's.

"I think it was an unfortunate turn of events with Mr. Pauli," said Chico Daniels, director of Mel Trotter. "I would not like to put people out in the streets. We are in this business of providing hope for those who would otherwise be without, but at the same time, we have an obligation to obey the law.

"It's a real tug of war for us," he said.

As temperatures dipped into the low teens Thursday night, Mel Trotter Vice President of Programs Bill Merchut said the mission would rely on the homeless to identify whether they are sex offenders and would not ask questions.

"Both (men's) missions have said that, in this weather, we are going to be available," he said.

Aukerman filed the request for a "declaratory ruling" with the state police on behalf of a 49-year-old man with a sex conviction from 20 years ago, and a 23-year-old developmentally disabled woman convicted of a sexual touching crime.

Both are concerned about being turned away from local missions in the winter, she said.

Aukerman argues that shelters are not a permanent residence for the homeless and are simply "night by night" accommodations. Homeless men generally have to leave both missions before 8 a.m. for the day.

"They bring their bags of things with them and they have to take their property the next day," she said. "It's much more akin to staying in a hotel."

Aukerman also argued that since all of the emergency shelters in Grand Rapids are within 1,000 feet of a school, the state law "effectively criminalizes homelessness." She does not believe the state Legislature intended "homeless people to freeze to death."

"We want to make sure the law is clear and no one suffers the same fate as Mr. Pauli did," she said. ..Source.. John Tunison | The Grand Rapids Press