October 3, 2010

Sex registry lie not proven

Here we have a case where a prosecutor clearly abused his discretionary power. Simply said, he tried to over-charge this man, the court recognized that and dismissed the charge.
10-3-2010 New York:

CANTON — Raymond C. Miller Sr. was found innocent Wednesday by a St. Lawrence County judge on charges that he gave authorities the wrong address when registering as a sex offender.

Judge Jerome J. Richards ruled in the two-day nonjury trial that prosecutors didn't prove that Miller, 38, with no address listed, had lied when he filled out a sex-offender registry address form. Miller was charged with failing to register as a sex offender and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing.

He was released from St. Lawrence County jail on Oct. 26 and registered an address of 498 S. Main St. in the village of Massena. Miller testified in his own defense that he believed he could live there, but later learned after his release that he wasn't welcome at the woman's South Main Street apartment.

"It was possible, but not very likely, for him to live there," Judge Richards said.

Miller also testified he then stayed overnight in a Norfolk garage before going the next day to the Department of Social Services for temporary housing assistance. He was arrested the evening of Oct. 27 when found at Bob's Motel on Trippany Road in the town of Massena. He was placed there by Social Services.

The judge said that state law doesn't specifically address this type of situation and that the state Legislature should enact stricter rules and shorter time periods about how sex offenders register addresses. Judge Richards found that Miller legally had 10 days to register a new address after the South Main Street apartment didn't work out.

Miller is a Level 3 sex offender owing to a 1996 conviction for the attempted first-degree rape of a 32-year-old woman in Schenectady.

Defense attorney Brian D. Pilatzke represented Miller. Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Becker prosecuted the case.

Miller still faces charges in separate cases relating to the alleged theft of a GPS supervision device and punching another inmate while at county jail. He remains jailed without bail on the inmate assault charge. ..Source.. by DAVID WINTERS, TIMES STAFF WRITER

1 comment:

Just another SO said...

Let's see, he was released on the 26th. and re-arrested on the 27th. They must have been watching him, waiting for anything they could haul him in on. You would think that they had better things to spend time and manpower on then trailing an SO while he tries to find a place to live.'
Either that, or Social Services tipped them off as to his new address. Either way, his rights were violated when he was denied his 10-day grace period to find a new address. People need to start seeing these types of articles on a more national basis in mainstream media.
I love this site as it keeps me up to date on issues that affect me, but it's viewage is limited to a small group. We need to get the message out to the general public about what is being done to us.