Sex offender registry changes proposed

We urge folks to support and lobby New Hampshire lawmakers on behalf of an 11th hour effort to take HB 1628 off the House consent calendar for the March 10 House floor session and retain it in the House for the rest of 2010. The innocuous sounding bill asks the Department of Safety to devise voluntary guidelines for community notification of neighbors when a sex offender moves in. Such notification frequently causes vigilantism. Instead of sending HB 1628 to the Senate, the House would ask the Criminal Justice Committee to deal with its subject matter as part of a comprehensive study of the sex offender internet registry, risk assessment, and community notice.

3-7-2010 New Hampshire:

Editor's note: This is one in an occasional series about state legislation regarding sex offenders.

Several bills being proposed in the state House of Representatives would make adjustments to the state's sex offender registry.

The measures come after Gov. John Lynch signed a bill into law in 2008 that brought the state into compliance with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection Act, which required the state to implement a tiered registry.

Since then, lawmakers have proposed bills that would add offenses to or otherwise adjust the registry. The latest round of bills range from requiring those who murder children to register for life to changes such as requiring the registration of sex offenders' watercraft.

The bill proposing the lifetime registration of child murderers, House Bill 1647, has received some heat for a provision that would restrict residency. The bill would require any person convicted of first- or second-degree murder against someone under 18 to register for life on the Department of Safety's list. It also would restrict paroled child murderers and certain sex offenders from living within 25 miles of the victim or victim's family.

Two Lakes Region lawmakers proposed the bill in response to convicted child killer Raymond Guay moving to New Hampton, where two aunts of his victim live about two miles from his residence.

State Rep. Fran Wendelboe, R-New Hampton, is the primary sponsor of the bill and said Guay's case is the perfect example of why such a law is needed. Guay killed a 12-year-old Nashua boy in 1973 and was sentenced to 18 to 25 years in a federal prison.

Probation officials notified New Hampton selectmen about Guay moving to the town, but the board's legal counsel told the board not to release the information because of liability.

Wendelboe said authorities have always believed Guay's intentions against the boy were sexual assault, but since he was never charged with sexual assault, he was never required to register on the list that would allow the public to track him.

"The community wasn't informed when he moved into the community, and there was a lot of outrage," she said.

During a January hearing in Concord, most were in favor of the provision of the bill that called for those convicted of murder against a child to register on the sex offender list.

However, the part calling for the residency restriction came under fire because of recent issues regarding such restrictions, including a District Court ruling that Dover's sex offender ordinance barring offenders from living 2,500 feet from a school or day care was unconstitutional.

Wendelboe said it was not the intent of her bill to include sex offenders as well as murderers in the 25-mile-radius, and she is considering rewording that portion of the bill or dropping it.

"There's not many people that murder, but it would be a nightmare if sex offenders were included," she said.

Wendelboe said once changes are made to that part of the bill, she is confident it will pass.

"We're not the first state to do this," she said. "Children are the most vulnerable of the population. Anyone who murders a child is in a different category."

The bill is due to reach the House floor on March 10.

Another piece of legislation, House Bill 1642, would bring the state into further compliance with the Adam Walsh Act. The bill has passed the House and now will come before the Senate.

Assistant Attorney General Ann Rice said there were some elements left out of the law, and this is a chance to correct that. The bill adds the language "accomplice to, or an attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to commit" under sex offense crimes that would require a person to register as a sex offender.

The bill would also require an offender to provide the state with the make, model, color and license plate or registration of any vehicle, watercraft or aircraft owned and operated by the offender, as well as the location where such equipment is regularly kept. The current law only required this for vehicles such as cars.

Other bills have a longer road ahead of them. One, House Bill 111, asks not to include Tier 1 offenders on the public list of registered offenders, but rather on a private list, which the state used to have before its registry was modified to fit the Adam Walsh Act. Tier 1 includes offenses such as sexual touching and violation of privacy.

The bill was proposed in early 2009 by Rep. Jennifer Brown, D-Dover, and was placed in interim study, where it remains.

Brown said she has no problem with Tier 1 offenders registering with police but doesn't think they should be on the public list because it puts them under the same umbrella as other sex offenders.

"They just don't belong in the same place as the real bad guys because they get looked at that way by the public," she said.

Rep. Laura Pantelakos, D-Portsmouth, said House Bill 111 is one of multiple bills pertaining to sex offenders that has been placed in interim study. Pantelakos said these bills seek to making adjustments to the tiered system and the goal of putting them into study is to better organize them and bring them back as one bill.

Pantelakos is not a supporter of the Adam Walsh Act.

"I think each state should address things as they go along," she said.

She supports House Bill 111 because she thinks it separates those "who made a stupid mistake" from sexual predators.

Another bill being studied is House Bill 1601, which proposes that those convicted of aggravated felonious sexual assault against adults, not just those who offend against children, be required to register on the Department of Safety's public list.

Other sex offender bills proposed in the House include:

House Bill 1508, which would prohibits those convicted of aggravated felonious sexual assault or felonious sexual assault against children from initiating contact with the victim and includes all forms of communication. Anyone guilty of this would face a Class A misdemeanor. This bill passed the House on March 3 and now goes on to the Senate.

House Bill 1628, which would require the commissioner of the Department of Safety to develop guidelines to be used by local law enforcement agencies for providing neighborhood residents notification of the release of a sexual offender. This bill is recommended by the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee and has a March 10 floor date in the House. ..Source.. AARON SANBORN