Fmr. Cleveland Sportscaster Not Guilty of Rape

Here we have a case of adults, and the court ruled him innocent of rape. My feelings are mixed, but lean to, why after such a decision -based on these facts- is the woman's name not shown? Lately there does seem to be more false claims than I have ever seen 10 years ago, and given that change -and these facts- I think naming the accuser also needs to change.

1-31-2011 Ohio:

CLEVELAND — A former Cleveland sportscaster accused of rape has been found not guilty of all counts associated with the alleged crime.

The verdict in the trial of Terry Brooks was announced just after 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Afterwards, Brooks raced into his wife's embrace, then said, "God is good. I wasn't guilty of any of the things they accused me of."

Brooks, 32, was on trial for nine counts in all of rape, attempted rape and kidnapping for what the alleged victim said happened after the two met for drinks in September 2009.

The alleged victim, a 22-year-old woman, claimed she and Brooks met for drinks at a local bar and she drank too much throughout the evening. After allegedly becoming very intoxicated she agreed to have Brooks give her a ride home.

The woman claimed, instead of driving to her house, Brooks drove to his South Euclid home and raped her.

Defense attorneys argued successfully that the alleged sex act was consensual. They also focused on the fact that there was no physical evidence in the case, and that the alleged victim had waited four months to come forward.

Brooks did not take the witness stand in his own defense throughout the trial.

His wife Nicole did testify during the trial and, following the verdict, said, "I supported my husband one hundred percent. I feel very sorry for victims who actually go through what my husband was accused of. I feel very sorry for them because false cases like this one make it harder for them to come forward."

A man who identified himself only as the father of the alleged victim saw it very differently. Yelling at Brooks as he walked toward the elevator, he said, "You are not going to get away with it. Trust me, I do not appreciate what's gone on. She's a good daughter. And if she said he did it, he did it." ..Source.. by BILL SHEIL

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N.C. sex offenders fight ban on joining social networks

The principle in barring former sex offenders from social networks is based on the possibility that they may happenstance on a minor who may also have a account on the same social network, and communicate with them. Based on that well accepted theory which speaks to the Internet (Virtual World), what about telephones or any other virtual communication system.

However, laws prohibiting registrants from places where children might gather (i.e., school, playgrounds, day cares, etc.) in the physical sense, does not bar them from total communications with children. Why should the Internet be different?

My personal belief is that social networks have a responsibility to design their networks so that minors are -so to speak- corralled, segregated so that adults cannot communicate with them. Laws totally prohibiting registrants, are unconstitutional because they are not focused on the correct thing to protect children! Think about it...

1-30-2011 North Carolina:

RALEIGH, N.C. Registered sex offenders aren't allowed at schools, churches, shopping malls or other places where children may gather in the real world. But what about Facebook and other spots in the virtual world?

Two local lawyers say it's unconstitutional to bar registered sex offenders from such social networking sites, and they're seeking to overturn a North Carolina law passed by the state legislature three years ago.

In North Carolina last year, 75 offenders were charged under the law, which targets social networks such as MySpace and Facebook that allow minors as members. Eight men were charged by the Durham, N.C., police and sheriff's department last summer after an investigation determined that the men were maintaining accounts on the sites.

Two of those men - Christian Martin Johnson, 34, and Lester Gerard Packingham, 29 - are now challenging the Information Age statute.

"The regulation does not just keep a registered sex offender from engaging in obscene speech with a minor," wrote Johnson's lawyer, Glenn Gerding of Chapel Hill, N.C., in a motion filed late last month. "It prohibits any and all speech, however innocent, even if it's a religious conversation between the offender and his priest, or a discussion of family matters between the offender and his mother."

Packingham's lawyer, Lynn Norton-Ramirez, argues that the law keeps her client from communicating with friends and promoting his business on Facebook.

But North Carolina Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, who sponsored the law as a state senator, says there are other ways registered sex offenders can communicate.

"We do have the mail," he said. "We do have telephone."

Dalton said the Internet restriction is no different from a sex offender being prohibited from running a food vending cart on a school campus.

"When you are deemed to be a sexual predator, sometimes you do not have all the full rights of every citizen out there," Dalton said. "It's got a good public purpose. We don't need sex offenders engaging with minors."

But online communication is not the same as physical proximity, said Rebecca Jeschke, a spokeswoman for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based organization committed to Internet freedom.

"Speech is very well-protected under the Constitution," she said. "It's definitely a problem to say certain classes of people can't talk on the Internet."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation supports educating children about Internet safety while letting sites such as Facebook make their own rules, instead of the government imposing laws.

Johnson's underlying sex offenses were two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child. He pleaded guilty to those after initially being charged with more serious crimes.

After serving his sentence, Johnson worked as a computer software developer, but Gerding said the law has kept his client from integrating his company's product with Facebook and MySpace.

"Mr. Johnson was unable to perform those work-related assignments," the attorney wrote. "(He) was ultimately fired from his job in part because of the restrictions and in part because of the charge in this case."

Gerding said the law is so broad that it prevents registered sex offenders such as Johnson from accessing websites such as Google or Amazon.com, because these sites allow a user to create a profile and to share information and photos with other members.

"That could include sharing a recipe on BettyCrocker.com, exchanging information about heart disease on MedHelp.com, or speculating about the University of North Carolina Tar Heels sports teams on (sports website) www.Scout.com," Gerding said. "JesusKlub.com and GodTube.com would be off-limits to a registered sex offender. He could not view inspirational videos, submit a prayer request, read a devotional or learn about the Bible."

But Dalton said he doubts the criminal justice system would try to enforce the law beyond clear-cut social-networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

"I believe that these cases show that the statute is doing exactly what it was intended to do," he said. "That will ultimately be up to a court of law."


Dalton said that if evidence shows an offender had no bad intent in accessing a site, a judge could consider that in meting out punishment. Still, Dalton said, that doesn't mean the law is unconstitutional.

Durham Assistant District Attorney Mark McCullough hasn't filed any response to the motions and declined to comment on the cases while they're still pending. A spokeswoman said state Attorney General Roy Cooper backs the law but can't comment on individual cases.

The Durham County Superior Court is scheduled to hear the motions in mid-February.

FORMER SEX-OFFENDER CASES:

Chapel Hill defense lawyer Glenn Gerding previously challenged a North Carolina law that called for a 300-foot buffer between registered sex offenders and any place where children might gather. Gerding said the law effectively banished registered sex offenders from churches or even public streets near child-care centers.

In December 2009, Orange-Chatham Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour ruled the law unconstitutional.

But the law still stands outside Orange and Chatham counties in North Carolina, because the prosecution didn't appeal and it never went to a higher court.

Gerding had brought that case after his client, James Nichols, was charged with a crime for attending church.

Baddour acknowledged the state's compelling interest in protecting children, but he said, "there are less drastic means for achieving the same purpose."

Though he won that case, Gerding had been hoping to take it to the N.C. Court of Appeals so that a ruling like Baddour's would apply to cases all over the state.

"It's great for my client," Gerding said, but it does not bind a Superior Court judge in any other district. ..Source.. JESSE JAMES DECONTO - McClatchy Newspapers

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Albany judge removed after using child-porn gene theory in sentencing

1-30-2011 New York:

NEW YORK — A federal appeals court removed an Albany judge from the resentencing of a man in a child pornography case Friday, saying he was wrong to let his theory that a gene causes child porn consumption to affect his sentencing decisions.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe erred in citing his theory as he sentenced Gary Cossey to 6½ years in prison. It also took the rare step of ordering a resentencing by another judge.

The appeals court said Sharpe had rejected two separate psychological evaluations that had found Cossey was at a low-to-moderate risk to re-offend, saying the evaluations of psychologists and psychiatrists about the potential threat Cossey poses are "virtually worthless here."

The judge predicted Cossey's conduct a half century from now would likely be discovered to be caused by "a gene you were born with." The appeals court said Sharpe added: "And it's not a gene you can get rid of."

A three-judge appeals panel said Sharpe said he believed that therapy for Cossey "can only lead, in my view, to a sincere effort on your part to control, but you can't get rid of it. You are what you're born with. And that's the only explanation for what I see here."

Lawyers for the government and for Cossey did not immediately return phone messages for comment Friday.

Sharpe, reached by phone in his chambers, said he could not comment because the case was still before him until the appeals court formally issues a mandate. That process usually takes a few days.

The appeals court said it was all right for the judge to consider the likelihood that Cossey would commit a similar crime again but not to base his decision on his "unsupported belief that Cossey was prevented from controlling his behavior due to a genetic inability to do so."

In a plea deal, Cossey had pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography after it was found on his computer between Sept. 13, 2003, and Oct. 14, 2005. The plea deal gave him the right to appeal any sentence greater than four years and nine months in prison. Sharpe issued the 6½-year sentence on Dec. 3, 2009, and imposed a life term of supervised release once the prison term was over.

The appeals court said it must order a resentencing because the judge relied on his own scientific theories to sentence Cossey.

"The court's belief that Cossey was genetically incapable of controlling his urges affected the court's decision to sentence him to imprisonment, to impose a prison term that is lengthy, and to order him to submit to supervised release for life, all of which affect Cossey's substantial rights," the appeals court wrote.

The appeals court said it also must order that a different judge handle the resentencing because the extent of the discussion concerning Cossey's genetic predisposition to re-offend "has raised serious concerns over the objectivity of the judge in resentencing Cossey." ..Source.. LARRY NEUMEISTER

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Sex Charge Dropped In Butt Drag Case

1-28-2011 California:

Fresno, Calif. (KMPH News) – It's dragged on long enough. Now the debate over a controversial wrestling move is over. At least for the two young wrestlers involved.

"We got the case dismissed," Stephen Quade said. "I don't know how it can be any better than that."

Stephen Quade represents 17–year–old Preston Hill. The former captain of the Buchanan High wrestling team was accused of violating a teammate during wrestling hold — called the butt drag.

"What he did at the time was a wrestling move that he's been taught since elementary school," Quade told reporters outside Fresno County Juvenile Court.

Hill has maintained he did not do anything wrong and Thursday a judge dismissed the sexual assault charge filed against him.

"Preston never accepted any deal," Quade said. "He never had to make an admission and he never would have."

But, Hill and his accuser did have to attend a tolerance training course and write an essay about lessons learned.

"They went through a program called SHARE. I think they gained perspective on the whole process and he was held accountable at Clovis Unified and that was our ultimate goal," the accuser's father Ross Rice said.

The program both boys had to attend was put on by members of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. It's called (SHARE) Stop Hate and Respect Everyone.

Ross Rice says his 15–year–old son and Hill are ready to move on and bury the hatchet.

"I believe so. Will they get together and have coffee? Probably not. But, I think my son has grown passed that," Rice said. "He wants to be an advocate for bullying. It's a high profile problem nationwide. He wants to get his story out on anti–bullying."

As for Hill? His attorney is still fighting his expulsion from school. Quade says the experience has not changed Hill's plans to pursue a future in wrestling. ..Source.. Norma Yuriar

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Coaches clarify 'butt drag' in school wrestling case


What exactly is "butt dragging?"

The obscure wrestling move, suddenly in the spotlight as a Buchanan High School athlete faces criminal charges, is hard to define. It's not in any manual, and few coaches or athletes use the same words to describe it.

In a front-page story Sunday about the case, The Bee reported that the move involves a wrestler grabbing a rival's butt cheek and putting fingers in the anus to get leverage. In a clarification published today on page A2, the newspaper notes that coaches say it involves grabbing the butt cheek of a rival. Coaches vary on how often anal penetration occurs, but they say that it should never be intentional.

Former Fresno State wrestling coach Dennis DeLiddo emphasized this point in a statement he issued this week as controversy over the case grew.

"I have never taught, nor am I aware of any coach who has ever taught a wrestler to penetrate someone's anus while executing the butt drag," DeLiddo wrote.


"On extreme rare occasions, a person's finger could inadvertently be placed between the person's butt cheeks while legitimately executing the move. In no circumstance, however, would there ever be penetration of the anus unless someone was purposefully cheating and doing something other than what is known as 'the butt drag.' "

Some area coaches have told The Bee that penetration -- inadvertent or intentional -- can occur.

"I'm not going to say anal penetration never happens," Fresno City College coach Paul Keysaw said. "But I absolutely, unequivocally say 'no' that a coach would ever teach his kids to shove fingers up another kid's rectum. That's just a dangerous path to take."


According to a police report, Preston Hill, the wrestler accused of sexual battery, said he inserted his two fingers between his opponent's buttocks for three seconds as a wrestling tactic, because he wanted to get the boy to wrestle him.

"Everyone does this to motivate people who don't move on the mats," Hill said, according to the police report.

DeLiddo wrote: "I can only think of one or two wrestlers over the last 50 years of wrestling and coaching wrestling where I heard they would try to penetrate someone's anus while executing the 'butt drag.' Those were also the same wrestlers that would gouge other wrestler's eyes when they were in a position to hide it from the referee. Everyone knew who those wrestlers were and everyone viewed them as cheaters. No one has any respect for them." ..Source..

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Higher sex offender registration fees may be unconstitutional.

I questioned this in my earlier post on this issue. Lets see if, behind closed doors, they decide it is not a wise thing to do.

1-28-2011 Louisiana:

LAKE CHARLES, LA. (KPLC) - No doubt many people would prefer there to be no sex offenders in their neighborhoods. Said Police Juror Hal McMillin, "We have no love lost for sex offenders in Calcasieu Parish. We want to make sure that if there's any opportunity we can drive them out by raising fees and we can do it as a parish and all the cities in general. I think it would be a good thing."

Yet the United States Constitution protects everyone, even sex offenders. And Calcasieu Police Jury Attorney Allen Smith says local ordinances drastically raising fees for sex offender registration may be unconstitutional under both the U.S. And state constitutions. "There are a lot of people who have a lot of constitutional questions about this. For example, if you're a sex offender under our law you have to register where you live, you live in Iowa, $60. But you work in Lake Charles, you have to register in Lake Charles, $600. So there's some serious problems about whether this particular ordinance they have would withstand constitutional scrutiny."

The issue surfaced locally when Lake Charles City Council decided to raise sex offender registration fees from $60 to $600. And then Calcasieu Police Jurors started getting worried sex offenders would flee the city for rural areas to avoid the higher fee. Smith explains the Police Jury and City of Lake Charles are not the same when it comes to making laws. "A parish police jury can enact any ordinance that it is specifically authorized to do by law. A home rule charter, however, is free to enact anything that they wish that is not prohibited by state law."

Smith says attorneys from the various jurisdictions and the district attorney will meet behind closed doors next Wednesday to have a round table discussion on the issues. ..Source.. Theresa Schmidt

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Former Jackson stripper and her father bound over for trial in sex extortion case

1-28-2011 Michigan:

A former Jackson stripper and her father were ordered Thursday to stand trial for allegedly pressuring a "lap dance" customer to pay $2,500 after a sexual encounter in a motel.

Jennifer Allan, 24, and her father, David Allan, 50, were bound over for trial on extortion charges after a preliminary examination in Jackson County District Court.

Judge Joseph Filip added charges of conspiracy to commit extortion after testimony from four witnesses.

"Clearly it's a conspiracy with each other," Filip said.

The defendants are accused of collecting $2,500 in three installments from Theodore Bachakes, 25, of Dexter after he was threatened with a false accusation of rape.

Bachakes testified that he was "a regular patron" of Dr. Don's Famous Door, a downtown Jackson strip club. He met Jennifer Allan, a dancer, at the club last summer and often paid her $20 for "lap dances."

On Dec. 17, he testified, they met at Motel 6 and had sex. Afterward, he said, she threatened to accuse him of rape unless he gave her $500. He paid the money that same day.

Later a man identified by police as David Allan called Bachakes and convinced him to pay $1,500 more. A third payment of $500 was made after another contact with David Allan.

When David Allan asked for another $2,500, Bachakes filed a police report.

Detective Sgt. Christopher Boulter of the Blackman Township Department of Public Safety contacted Jennifer Allan. First she said Bachakes raped her, Boulter testified, but she quickly recanted and said the sex was consensual.

"She said she was upset with Mr. Buchakes because he had not paid for some lap dances," Boulter testified.

Filip suspected the reason she was upset was because he did not pay her for sex.

"Mr. Bachakes certainly should have known what to expect there," the judge said.

David Allan told police he knew his daughter was "scamming" Bachakes, but he described himself as nothing more than a middle man.

The father said "he told Jennifer on several occasions to stop pushing this, because it's going to come back to bite you," Boulter testified.

Robert Gaecke, attorney for David Allan, contends his client cannot be guilty of extortion because he never threatened Bachakes with a rape charge or anything else.

"He may have known what was going on, but he never made a threat," Gaecke said.

George Lyons, attorney for Jennifer Allan, contends she asked for Bachakes for money she felt was owed and then never asked a second time. Her father, Lyons contended, exploited the situation to keep squeezing money from Bachakes.

Prosecutors requested and Filip granted the addition of a prostitution charge against Jennifer Allan. Because of that charge, she will undergo court-ordered testing for sexually transmitted diseases. ..Source.. Brad Flory | Jackson Citizen Patriot

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Wild police party results in rape accusation, suspensions

WHAT?

1-27-2011 Tennessee:

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - Two Memphis police officers were recently suspended after a wild police party that went out of control and resulted in a rape complaint against an officer.

The party, which was held last August to celebrate a female officer's birthday, went on until 5:00 a.m., and resulted in a criminal investigation against a male police officer.

"(There was) a lot going on at what looks like sort of a loose party to say the least," Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin said.

A party guest, who is not on the police force, alleged that Memphis police officer James Patterson raped her in a locked bedroom during the party.

An internal affairs investigation revealed the alleged victim had consumed seven glasses of wine, six shots of vodka, and two shots of whiskey that night. The guest didn't tell Patterson "no" or "stop" during the act, but later told the officer hosting the party she'd been raped.

The following day, she identified Patterson in a police photo lineup when she filed a criminal complaint. But during a criminal investigation, Patterson told investigators the encounter was consensual, and his accuser was the aggressor.

The District Attorney's office ruled there wasn't enough evidence to pursue a rape charge.

"Fortunately for him, it ended up not being criminal, but really bordered that line," Godwin said.

Patterson's punishment was a 10-day personal conduct suspension for not practicing ethical decision making when sexual intercourse was initiated by a highly intoxicated stranger.

"When he's on the job he seems to be focused and doing the things he needs to do," Godwin said.

But Patterson was on the job in 2008 when a female officer he was training accused him of rape and sexual harassment. She later recanted her complaint.

"We found that the other person was untruthful and that person was separated," Godwin said.

Further investigation revealed Patterson was in a consensual sexual relationship with his married trainee. He admitted they'd performed sex acts in front of each other in the public parking lot of a community center. He was suspended for 13 days.

"We've got a real problem here or a real judgement problem," Godwin said.

Patterson's personnel file includes a number of commendations during his eight years on the force, but Godwin acknowledges a pattern of poor judgement.

"You would hope that he's going, 'My gosh, I need to really pay attention with my personal life, and who I'm being intimate, with and things like that,'" Godwin said.

Patterson told Action News 5 by phone he was unable to comment on this story. While he remains within the guidelines of Memphis Police Department standards, Godwin hopes Patterson's latest lapse in judgement at a wild police party will be his last.

"Officers make mistakes, and I hope they learn from them and then they move on, but unfortunately not everybody does," he said.

The officer hosting the party did not call police after Patterson's accuser told her she'd been raped. That officer received a five day suspension for violating the department's off-duty responsibility code. ..Source.. Anna Marie Hartman, WMC-TV

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Proposed State Bill Requires Sex Offenders to be Identified on Driver's License

Unbelievable, a code which can only be read by the police. With what X-Ray Vision glasses. If it can only be read by police, and not visible to others, how would a policeman know to put on his X-Ray vision glasses, or whatever other tricky way they use to read the invisible code? If the police stop someone, they run the license and immediately know who they are dealing with. This is a further waste of time and taxpayer money to appease one lawmaker. Anything visible and the public will quickly get to know the code and that would affect transactions between the former offender and that business. Stop this insanity!

1-27-2011 Maryland:

ANNAPOLIS (January 25, 2011) - State Sen. Richard F. Colburn wants to make sure police officers in Maryland know what they're dealing with when they stop a sex offender on the road, especially if that sex offender has a child in the car.

Colburn, R-Dorchester, has introduced legislation this year that would require that driver's licenses display a code identifying sex offenders to law enforcement.

"I believe that if we're serious about cracking down on sex offenders, we need to give our police officers this tool," Colburn said.

Colburn introduced a similar measure last year during a flurry of legislative activity on sex offenders in response to the December 2009 rape and murder of 11-year-old Sarah Foxwell in Wicomico County. A registered sex offender has been charged with the crime.

The 2010 legislation passed the Senate but died in conference committee due to concerns that the amendment had not been properly vetted and that it could lead to violation of offenders' rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union has been among those opposed to such legislation, calling any mark on an identification card "a scarlet letter" and an unnecessary measure.

David Walsh-Little, a public defender and member of Maryland's Sex Offender Advisory Board, said the mark would have the effect of "marginalizing people who need treatment in a society that needs education about sex offenses."

Colburn said the code, placed on a sex offender's driver's license by the Motor Vehicle Administration, could only be read by law enforcement. And that might be enough to convince other legislators to support the bill.

"If Sen. Colburn brings it back to the Judicial Proceedings Committee, and it's in a code that's only discernible to police officers, it has my support," said Sen. James Brochin, D-Baltimore County, and a member of that committee. "Because I think that's a win-win."

Colburn is unsure of how exactly the bill would be implemented, but Wicomico County Sherriff Mike Lewis, who led the search for Sarah Foxwell and worked with Colburn on the legislation, said there are a couple of ways it could be marked on the license -- either in the bar code or with a small, lettered caution code, similar to the marking for drivers with corrective lenses.

Lewis said that such marks would give his officers an additional level of awareness when pulling over sex offenders.

"I have every right, actually I have a duty, to ask that sex offender additional questions if he has a child in the car," Lewis said. Investigators believe that Sarah Foxwell was driven throughout Wicomico County the night of her disappearance.

Similar legislation has been considered in Connecticut and California. A few states, including Delaware, Louisiana and Tennessee, already have laws for marking the driver's licenses of sex offenders.

Other legislation has been introduced to crack down on sex offenders, including a bill toughening the punishment for indecent exposure involving minors and a bill to criminalize attempted sexual offense in the third degree. ..Source.. HOLLY NUNN

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Do Female Sex Offenders Receive a Lighter Punishment Compared to Males?

1-27-2011 Florida:

Is the judicial system sexist when it comes to sex crimes?

Sentencing for an Okaloosa sex offender has sparked a lot of discussion. 31-year old Michelle Kemp had sex with a 15-year-old boy but she will not be going to prison. The lawyers on both sides of the case insist, when it comes to sex crimes, the judicial system is not sexist

Michelle Kemp was arrested back in August 2009 for having sex with a 15-year-old. The boy's family decided not to press charges if the relationship stopped-- but it didn’t. In December, Kemp drove more than 100 miles from her home in Crestview to pick the boy up at a drug treatment center in Bay County, where the two had sex again.

Kemp was arrested again and charged with 2nd degree felony lewd and lascivious battery. She faced up to 15-years in prison but walked away with just 2 years of house arrest and 3 years of probation.

The case is strikingly similar to one that received national attention back in 2005 when former Tampa middle school teacher Debra Lafave had sex with a 14-year old boy. Lafave received house arrest and probation, but no prison time.

It was a very different case for Tim McGarry. The former Thomas Drive Fire Chief is serving a 40-year sentence for having sex with underage girls. The disparity in treatment makes some wonder if the judicial system is sexist when it comes to sex crimes.

District 1 Chief Assistant State Attorney Bill Bishop says no.

"We don't make any distinction one way or another whether or not someone who commits a sexual offense is a male or a female. We make our decisions based on the evidence we have available and the witnesses we have available to prosecute" Bishop says.

In Kemp's case, the victim would not cooperate with authorities. Kemp’s attorney, Jonathon Dingus says gender did not play a role in her sentencing.

"She was treated the same in a scenario like we have here where the complainant didn't want to go through the trial" Dingus says.

Both attorneys agree the outcome for any defendant depends on the case's circumstances. ..Source.. Meagan O'Halloran

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Lawmakers debate notifications for juvenile sex offenders in school

1-27-2011 Washington:

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- If a juvenile sex offender is attending a school, who should know about it? The principal? Teachers? Parents?

Lawmakers discussed the tough issue during a public hearing in Olympia Wednesday afternoon. Rep. Kirk Pearson is pushing a bill that would require notification of parents, staff and adult students when a juvenile sex offender attends a school. Under current law, only principals and those who supervise the student are notified.

"Notification like this is powerful," Pearson testified. "When you have information like this out, a juvenile sex offender knows they're being watched by people."

But opponents of the bill say such broad notification would make it difficult for the juvenile sex offenders.

"They would absolutely be bullied," said attorney Michele Shaw, who specializes in juvenile sex offender cases.

The focus should be on rehabilitation, Shaw argued, and recovery would be difficult if students learn about a juvenile sex offender's past.

"It would set hysteria and panic into place with parents," she said. "We would essentially have to create a school for juvenile sex offenders."

The recidivism rate for juvenile sex offenders is lower than the rate for adult sex offenders, Shaw said. The re-offense rate for juveniles is anywhere between 3 and 14 percent, according to national studies, said the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration.

Representative Pearson thinks anti-bullying laws would protect juvenile sex offenders from harassment.

During Wednesday's hearing, lawmakers also heard from people who favor greater notification for teachers and staff, including secretaries and bus drivers. Others expressed concern about having school officials, rather than law enforcement, notify parents about sex offenders. ..Source.. by JOE FRYER / KING 5 News

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Fire at Detroit police shooting suspect's home ruled arson

Are there police who really cannot see the connection between the sexual accusations -and- the suicide (or suicide by cop) act of the perpetrator? If so they need to read this blog "Sex Offender Suicides and Other Deaths" of hundreds of other cases. In particular the over 300 suicides of persons accused of sex crimes.

1-26-2011 Michigan:

(CNN) -- A fire at the home of a man police say wounded four Detroit officers was deliberately set, authorities said Wednesday.

Lamar Deshea Moore, 38, walked into a police precinct Sunday and "indiscriminately began firing," Chief Ralph Godbee said Monday. Moore was shot and killed when officers returned fire, the chief said.

The home at which Moore was staying caught fire early Tuesday and was heavily damaged, police said. Detroit Fire Capt. Kwaku Atara told CNN on Wednesday the fire has been ruled arson.

The home was unoccupied, authorities said, and its ownership was uncertain.

Police Officer Dan Donakowski and Sgt. Eren Stephens said Tuesday they were investigating whether Moore had criminal sexual conduct with a minor. They would not release more details, but Donakowski said the teen was "safe."

Other Detroit officers had gone by Moore's home several hours before the shooting at the precinct, but he was not at home, Donakowski said. He declined to provide details of the precinct shooting.

Moore had a relative who was scheduled to be sentenced for double homicide, said the city's police chief, who added he could not "speculate as to motive" in the attack.

"There is nothing in this that makes sense at all," Godbee said in a news conference Monday.

Two of the injured officers have been released from the hospital. As of Tuesday, two others remained hospitalized -- Cmdr. Brian Davis, who was shot in the back, and Officer David Anderson, who was grazed in the head, authorities said.

The shooting has led police to reassess security measures. According to the chief, Mayor Dave Bing has committed to bringing in resources to create a safe environment, and interim measures will be put in place.

"We will do whatever is necessary to provide an environment for our officers that is safe," Godbee said, but he wouldn't specify any immediate changes. The chief said his office will give the mayor recommendations of security protocols that are "reflective of the reality that we have to live with every day."

Meanwhile, efforts to find a motive for the shooting continue. Godbee said police plan to speak with Moore's family and friends to see whether they can provide information. ..Source..

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Va. Lawmaker Pushes for Castrating Sex Offenders

I guess I am not sure why this particular lawmaker wants this form of body multilation. Is he saying, cut-out the portion of the body that the crime represents. Maybe he hasn't yet compared the cost of all the surgery and lifetime followup that physical castration would take, and the lawsuits and damages such a procedure could cause taxpayers in the long run. Now, if a teenager is convicted of a sexting type crime, what part of the physical body would be targeted. Insanity in lawmaking!

1-26-2011 Virginia:

GOP State Sen. Wants Study of Physically Castrating Offenders Who Have Served Their Prison Terms; Says Treatment Too Costly

RICHMOND, Va. - A Virginia legislator is renewing his push to allow castration of sex offenders as an alternative to the increasing costs of detaining and treating them after they've served their prison sentence.

Republican Sen. Emmett Hanger's bill would require the state to study the use of physical castration as an alternative to costly civil commitment for those deemed sexually violent predators. The General Assembly approved similar legislation four years ago, but then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine vetoed it.

While opponents call the procedure barbaric and the proposal heavy-handed, Hanger argues castration is cost-effective for the state and could provide a cure for some offenders.

"I don't think it's radical at all," said Hanger, R-Augusta. "It's just something that's not typically the thing you want to bring up in polite conversation, but again the whole subject area is not for polite conversation.

"We're talking about people who are so driven because of the tendencies from the chemicals and the hormones inside their body to perform heinous acts. In that context, I think it's very appropriate to talk about something that could, perhaps, be a partial cure for them."

Eight other states allow for some form of castration for sex offenders, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Only Louisiana and Texas allow for physical castration — the surgical removal of the testes — while other states opt for chemical castration through medications that reduce testosterone, which fuels a man's sex drive.

Hanger acknowledges that castration isn't the answer for all offenders but said studies have shown it to work on many. He said Virginia must come up with alternatives to civil commitment, which costs the state about $100,000 per offender each year.

"We have such need for our scarce resources and there's such a resistance to creating additional revenue to deal with core services, that spending money unnecessarily for a program like this, I think is a crime in and of itself," Hanger said.

Virginia is one of 20 states that have a civil commitment program. An offender is eligible if he has committed certain sex crimes and a psychiatrist determines he has a mental abnormality — like being anti-social — that makes him likely to offend again. A judge or jury makes the final determination.

Commitments shot up dramatically after a change in the law in 2006 that expanded the list of qualifying crimes from four to 28 and changed the test used to determine if an offender was likely to re-offend.

As a result, the program's budget ballooned from $2.7 million in 2004 to an expected $24 million this year.

Gov. Bob McDonnell has proposed spending nearly $70 million over the next two years to meet the increasing demands, including opening a new facility because the 300-bed secure treatment center that opened in 2008 will be full this year.

Castration is an effective treatment when it is combined with therapy and other aspects of treatment, but it is not a cure-all, said Dr. Fred Berlin, director of the Sexual Behaviors Consultation Unit at Johns Hopkins University.

Berlin said opponents often compare castration to cutting off the hands of a thief, but he rebuffs that argument.

"This really gets at the motivation, the force that's energizing people who are committing these crimes rather than simply interfering with their inability to perform," he said.

But Berlin said there is no reason to subject offenders to the trauma of surgery when chemical castration accomplishes the same goal.

"It shouldn't simply be a rush to judgment and certainly shouldn't be done for punitive reasons with the idea that, 'We're going to castrate the bums,"' he said.

Mary Devoy, founder of Reform Sex Offender Laws of Virginia, called Hanger's proposal "a great bill with one shocking flaw."

"When abuse and mutilation of a human being is presented as an acceptable alternative to responsible treatment and housing for those deemed as sexually violent predators there exists a fault of reason," she said.

Devoy supports the part of Hanger's bill that also requires the state to examine the criteria for commitment and housing options for those released from the program. Currently, there are no halfway houses in Virginia that will take in these sex offenders, and officials will not allow offenders to be released unless they have family or friends living in Virginia to chaperone them.

Dr. Steven Wolf, director of the state's Office of Sexually Violent Predator Services, estimates at least 25 offenders could be released and monitored in the community if they had suitable housing. The cost would be about $21,000 a year for each offender, or about a fourth of holding someone in the psychiatric facility.

Some legislators balk at releasing offenders for fear they will commit another crime, but Hanger said there must be a balance between keeping the public safe and breaking the state's bank.

"We're going to have to establish a policy where we punish them, we treat them the best we can, but it's simply inappropriate policy to put them in an expensive treatment program that doesn't work and just keep them there needlessly," he said. "I think we're going to have to get a happy medium as far as public safety versus the cost." ..Source.. CBS News

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State rep proposes murderer registry

Again we see a lawmaker proposing a registry of a crime type that has the lowest recidivism rate of all crime types, and knowing the damage which the sex offender registry causes those registrants, now wants to inflict the same damage on those past offenders convicted of murders. Lawmakers have found a way, inflicted with perverted words, to after-the-fact cause further damage to past offenders who now are living according to law in communities.

1-26-2011 Illinois:

Database would track killers convicted before truth-in-sentencing law

Motivated by outrage over the 1998 murder of a Batavia woman, a state representative on Tuesday proposed creating a public database of convicted murderers.

Rep. Dennis Reboletti, R-Elmhurst, filed a bill known as "Andrea's Law," which calls for the Illinois State Police to create a murderer registry database on the Internet of individuals convicted of first-degree murder before truth-in-sentencing requirements were imposed.

The bill is named for Andrea Will, 18, who was strangled by her ex-boyfriend, Justin Boulay, while they were students at Eastern Illinois University.

Boulay was sentenced to 24 years in prison. Under sentencing laws at the time, he had one day removed from his punishment for every day he served without disciplinary problems. Boulay, now 33, was released in November and moved to Hawaii to live with a woman he married while incarcerated.

The proposed murderer registry "is a natural extension to the state's current sex offender and child murderer registry," Reboletti said in a prepared statement.

The law would apply to convicted murderers who committed the crime before June 19, 1998. It would require them to be registered for 10 years after their parole, a Reboletti spokeswoman said. ..Source.. by Ted Gregory

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Sex offender program encounters recidivism problem

1-24-2011 New York:

Almost a third of New York's dangerous sex offenders released into a community-based program have been accused of a new sexual offense.

Some committed new sex-related crimes, including one now accused of rape. Others violated terms of their release: Officials allege that two called telephone sex lines, three watched pornography and one created a business card advertising himself for sexual services.

That recidivism rate shows the difficulty of finding an effective solution to dealing with the most serious sexual offenders after they have served prison sentences.

The parole-supervised and community-based program known as SIST, for Strict and Intensive Supervision and Treatment, was created in 2007 as part of the state's civil commitment initiative.

New York is the only state with a two-pronged program in which a sex offender eligible for civil commitment — a criminal determined to have a mental defect making him more likely to reoffend — can either be sent to a secure psychiatric facility or community-based treatment. Nineteen other states have civil commitment programs for dangerous sex offenders.

State records show 57 percent — 54 of 94 offenders released to parole supervision — breached their release terms.

A quarter of them did so in their first month of freedom.

Fifty offenders are still free but under supervision. Many are on the state's sex-offender registry. The rest of the 94 who were once in SIST are either jailed or have been placed in a state psychiatric facility.

State officials say the significant number of violations isn't a sign that the decision to release the offenders — a choice ultimately made by a judge — was a dangerous misstep. Instead, they say, the high rate of violations is an indication of the program's tight oversight.

Offenders are placed on GPS monitoring and regularly subjected to polygraphs. Some with drinking problems wear bracelets that measure their sweat for signs of alcohol, said Mary Osborne, assistant deputy director of the Division of Parole's sex-offender management unit.

According to state data, 94 offenders were ordered into SIST from 2007 through Nov. 30, 2010. Of those, eight are now charged with new sex crimes and 21 were accused of noncriminal but sex-related violations of their release terms.

Parole officers assigned to SIST offenders have smaller caseloads, so they can provide more intense oversight, Parole Division spokesman John Caher said.

SIST's annual supervision costs are $10,000 to $12,000 per offender. That's about twice the standard parole price tag. For a sex offender in a secure facility, treatment costs are about $175,000. ..Source.. Gary Craig

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Federal Lifetime Juvie Sex Offender Registry Contradicts State Law; Justice Grants Held at Bay

This article clearly shows all the different state programs, and likely there are many more, which receive money THROUGH Bryne Grants. Is it any wonder why some lawmakers sacrifice former sex offenders to save these grants? Advocates need to address these other state programs in commentary fighting the Adam Walsh Act.

UPDATE: Note to readers, the 10% Byrne Grant deduction is applicable to a state for every year of noncompliance, not just for one year. This is why so many Advocate calculations are incorrect, they calculate for one year and fail to show following year/s.

1-22-2011 Maryland:

Feds Tie Grants to State Compliance with Washington Mandated Standards

WASHINGTON (January 21, 2011) - Maryland lawmakers thought the flurry of seven bills passed last year brought the state's sex offender registry in line with federal standards, but they discovered differently this week and now face a tough choice: Enact legislation to register juvenile offenders for life, or risk losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grants.

The state will forfeit 10 percent of its Byrne Justice Assistance Grants for next fiscal year if it does not make the sex offender registry compliant with the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 by June 30. That could mean registering sex offenders as young as 14 for the rest of their lives.

Bill Toohey, the director of communications at the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention, said 10 percent would have amounted to about $600,000 this year.

A search of that office's Awarded Grants Database revealed that 117 projects at the state, county and municipal level are receiving Byrne funding -- from as little as $1,540 to as much as $278,332.

"There's a whole wide array of services that are funded by (Byrne grants)," Toohey said. "That's why it's so valuable."

State Sen. Brian Frosh, D-Montgomery, sponsored a successful 2009 bill to give judges the authority to require the registration of juvenile sex offenders they considered a threat to reoffend. But Frosh said instituting mandatory lifetime registration of juveniles is something that requires careful deliberation.

"I'm not sure it's something we ought to be leaping into," Frosh said. "We are talking about juveniles, after all, and there is evidence that they can be rehabilitated."

Frosh, a lawyer, has warned about possible unintended consequences of such measures in the past. He used the fad of teen "sexting," or sending nude pictures to friends via cell phone, as an example of an offense that could lump juveniles in with violent criminals on the same registry.

"It's a mark that will hamper somebody for the rest of his or her life," Frosh said. "I mean, it's necessary in some cases, but I'm not sure that we want to paint this with a broad brush."

Maryland is not alone in its struggle for compliance -- far from it. Frosh said only four states meet the federal standards for sex offender registry so far because the federal legislation is hard to interpret.

But law enforcement agencies across Maryland rely on Byrne grants.

Baltimore has 14 programs receiving Byrne funds, including a Prostitution Diversion program ($59,071 in grant money), an Inter-Agency War Room Coordination program ($207,440) and a "YouthBuild" program focused on reducing criminal recidivism rates for juveniles ($110,080).

The Baltimore Mayor's Office on Criminal Justice received $278,332 in grant money for its Sexual Assault Response program last year. According to GOCCP, the program "encourages reporting of sexual assaults, improves case investigation protocols and techniques, and provides support and services to victims." It is using the grant money to provide training, equipment and personnel.

The program's director, Sheryl Goldstein, said now would be an especially tough time to lose 10 percent of the Byrne grants.

"There really isn't anywhere to make up money like that in today's economic climate, unfortunately," Goldstein said. "Everybody's being squeezed and certainly local governments are feeling the pain of budget cuts and reduced revenues."

Smaller cities also benefit from the Bryne grants. Brentwood, population 2,838, revived its police department in 2009 after it was disbanded in the 1970s. The town received $77,440 in grant money to modernize the new department with computers, a server and camera equipment.

"I don't know what we would have done (without the Byrne grant)," Brentwood Mayor Xzavier Montgomery-Wright said. "We would have probably been operating on a much smaller scale, meaning maybe one computer system for a number of officers and an admin person. How do you function like that from a public safety standpoint?"

While there's no discussion of losing the grants entirely, Toohey said losing even 10 percent "would make a very significant impact."

But there's some resistance in both branches of the State House to enacting the federal mandates for putting juveniles on the sex offender registry for life.

"I don't think that any decisions have been made yet about necessarily how to address some of the concerns," Delegate Kathleen Dumais, D-Montgomery, said. "Even when we passed the bills (last year) the majority of us were doing it because we didn't certainly want to lose any Byrne money. But at the same time, many of us thought that some of the federal requirements were pretty stringent. ... Putting juveniles on a public sex offender registry was really something that gave all of us a great deal of heartburn." ..Source.. ANDY MARSO

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Court orders release of Pa. man held more than 40 years

1-22-2011 Pennsylvania:

After spending more than 45 years in prison, 82-year-old Louis Mickens-Thomas will be released Tuesday, thanks to a federal court order.

Mickens-Thomas was convicted of the 1964 murder of Edith Connor, 12, largely on the testimony of a crime-lab worker who was later discredited. The former owner of a shoe-repair shop has steadfastly maintained his innocence.

A team of lawyers, activists, and scientists has claimed for years that Mickens-Thomas might have been wrongly convicted. An Inquirer story in November documented many of those claims while focusing on the scientific evidence.

"We are thrilled that Lou will enjoy whatever years he has left in freedom," said David Rudovsky, a University of Pennsylvania law professor and one of Mickens-Thomas' lawyers.

On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that Mickens-Thomas could be released from Graterford Prison as soon as his lawyers demonstrated they could find suitable housing for him.

"We've already found that," said James McCloskey, a longtime champion of Mickens-Thomas' who heads Centurion Ministries, a Princeton group devoted to helping exonerate the wrongly convicted.

McCloskey said Mickens-Thomas will live with his nephew Calvin Mickens and his wife in the Poconos town of Tobyhanna.

Mickens, 62, a retired security officer, said someone from the parole board came to his home Friday and informed him that Mickens-Thomas would be released Tuesday.

"He's my uncle, and I want to do what I can to help him," said Mickens, who believes his uncle is innocent.

Mickens-Thomas has never officially been exonerated, but his conviction was commuted in 1995 by then-Gov. Robert P. Casey Sr. The Pennsylvania Parole Board refused to let him out until 2004, when the same federal appeals court first ordered his release.

Mickens-Thomas returned to prison 15 months later for a parole violation. He allegedly made hostile comments to a counselor who was leading a course for sex offenders that Thomas was required to take, though he maintains he had nothing to do with the crime of which he was convicted.

The victim lived in the same West Philadelphia neighborhood as Mickens-Thomas, near 40th Street and Girard Avenue. Her body was found in an alley about 50 feet from the back of his apartment. The medical examiner determined that she had been raped and strangled.

The initial conviction of Mickens-Thomas was based entirely on "trace" evidence, including microscopic fibers and bits of wax and paint chips found on Connor's body that crime-lab workers said resembled materials from Mickens-Thomas' apartment and adjacent shop.

The lab worker who testified against him, Agnes Mallatratt, was later exposed as a junior high school dropout who repeatedly committed perjury by inventing her scientific credentials. In a second trial in 1969, crime-lab director Edward Burke said he supervised all of Mallatratt's work, and the conviction was upheld.

Still, court transcripts from the trials reveal a number of inconsistencies. In the first, Mallatratt testified that she had worked alone, while in the second, Burke said he worked with her at nearly every step.

Both Burke and Mallatratt have since died.

Swabs taken from the body might have contained DNA from the perpetrator, but the technology to analyze DNA did not exist at the time.

McCloskey, who agreed to help Mickens-Thomas in 1991, tried to get the samples tested that year, but discovered they had been destroyed just three weeks earlier.

At a hearing Jan. 12, John Knorr, chief deputy attorney general, argued that the octogenarian inmate had exhibited an "escalating pattern of high-risk behavior" when he was free the last time.

That pattern, Knorr said, including forcibly kissing an elderly woman from his church and fixing umbrellas that he would offer to women stranded in rainstorms.

"Oh, my goodness," Third Circuit Judge Maryanne Trump Barry responded in mock horror.

"You're a brave man for being here today, given the arguments we've heard and the papers we've read," Barry said to Knorr.

The judge's decision stated that there was "a combination of willful noncompliance, bad faith, and sufficient inference of retaliation or vindictiveness on the part of the [Parole] Board."

Parole Board spokesman Leo Dunn said agency officials were reviewing the court order and had no comment.

In an interview at Graterford in October, Mickens-Thomas said he enjoys reading and likes to discuss books with other inmates. He is active in the Christian Science ministry and has held a number of jobs, including making shoes, cutting hair, and caring for pigs on a prison farm.

Before his conviction at 36, Mickens-Thomas had been married and divorced, and had several children. He now has a number of grandchildren. He said he hoped to reconnect with his family. ..Source..

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Committee advances sex offender bill

A prime example of the short-sighted thinking of lawmakers. If registrants must go in to perform whatever, that means they cannot be working and may even lose a job. Now, if a registrant is paid less, due to time off, that means s/he will ultimately pay less in taxes at year end. Even if that only amount to -I don't know exactly- whatever, that amount multiplied by the number of registrants will far exceed the claimed cost of $70,000 dollars to taxpayers. Short-sighted thinking, every thought has consequences, lawmakers ignore consequences of their acts!

1-21-2011 Arkansas:

LITTLE ROCK — The House Judiciary Committee endorsed a bill today that would require sex offenders to verify their registration in person at local law enforcement agencies.

Currently, sex offenders are required to register with local law enforcement by mail every six months.

The sponsor of House Bill 1007, Rep. Justin Harris, R-West Fork, said the measure would save taxpayers at least $70,000 a year in postage because sex offenders are currently notified by mail when it is time for them to renew their registration.

The bill goes to the House.

The committee spent time debating HB 1015 by Rep. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, which would require a judge to impose a $250 fine on anyone the judge orders to register as a sex offender.

Under current law, a judge can opt not to impose the fine if “undue hardship would result,” but HB 1015 would eliminate that option.

Some committee members asked for a written statement of the bill’s financial impact on state prisons, which would have to house sex offenders who did not pay the fine. Woods agreed to pull down the bill and obtain the information.

The Judiciary Committee voted to stream its meetings live on the House website. No “no” votes were heard.

In the House Revenue and Taxation Committee today, Rep. Andrea Lea, R-Russellville, presented HB 1134, which would create a sales tax holiday for disaster-preparedness supplies from Sept. 10-23 every year.

Lea did not have a statement from the Department of Finance and Administration on the financial impact of her bill. She voluntarily pulled the bill down and said she would bring it back with a statement.

“One of the reasons I presented this today without the DF&A (statement) and everything is just to put it in your hopper to be thinking about,” Lea said. ..Source.. by John Lyon, Arkansas News Bureau

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Cops Scrapping Registry Computer System

1-21-2011 Vermont:

There are so many errors in the state’s online sex offender registry that the Department of Public Safety is replacing the computer system used to operate the registry.

A new system is being purchased with funds obtained through a special federal grant.

The errors were found last year in a legislatively-ordered audit of the accuracy of the information posted in the online registry. The question of accuracy was raised because two years ago the legislature decided that the home addresses of sex offenders should be listed online.

The proposal was controversial, though, because in other states vigilantes have gone to the listed homes of sex offenders and shot the occupants. In some cases, offenders following all the terms of their probation or release were killed. In others, the addresses were incorrect, and innocent people were killed or injured.

To mitigate the chance such tragedies could occur, the legislature delayed posting of the addresses until an audit of the registry’s current information was performed. If the audit was “unfavorable,” addresses could not be posted, legislators said.

The state auditor completed the audit this summer. The audit found significant errors in the processes used to maintain the registry information, and in the entry of information. There were even critical “single points of failure” where no checks existed to prevent mistakes.

Legislative committees have been briefed over the past two weeks by Auditor Tom Salmon and his IT and performance audits chief, Linda Lambert. Their report paints a grim picture of how the registry operates within the Department of Public Safety.

Sixteen individuals were erroneously posted on the registry. Four who should have been posted were not. More than two-thirds of offenders’ records had errors that were significant or serious.

One section of the audit was titled “Significant Control and System Limitations Warrant Urgent Attention.”

In 2009 the ACLU represented one of those individuals who had been listed erroneously. The individual had even pointed out the mistake to the Department of Public Safety, yet DPS refused to correct it until contacted by the man’s probation officer and threatened with a lawsuit. The story is told in an ACLU-VT blog post of November 2009. ..Source.. From ACLU Civil Liberties Blog Post

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Two Men Accused of Trying to Escape A Minn. Sex Offender Program Request Trials

1-21-2011 Minnesota:

MOOSE LAKE, Minn., - Two of four patients who tried to escape from the Minnesota Sexual Offender Program in Moose Lake requested trials Wednesday.

The assistant county attorney says Russell Norton,42, and Steven Housman,55, have pleaded not guilty to escape from custody charges in Carlton County.

Both are still in jail waiting for trial dates.

As far as the other two: Lloyd Hartleib,42, has pleaded guilty and Christopher Ivey,40, is representing himself. ..Source.. by FOX 21 News

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Domestic violence offenders may be listed in on-line registry

1-21-2011 Texas:

A local lawmaker is proposing a bill that would allow a domestic violence registry for those convicted of family violence.

The registry would be similar to the sex offender registry.

You could find out online if someone has a history of domestic violence.

State representative Trey Martinez Fischer is backing the bill.

If passed, anyone who is convicted of beating their spouse, girlfriend or child at least three times would be put on this registry.

Fischer says the goal is to provide safety for anyone who may come in contact with those offenders. ..Source.. by KENS 5 State

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Tougher restrictions for Lake Charles convicted sex offenders

I'd be real surprised if this would stand a court challenge. ACLU and good lawyers, where are you? There are times when officials may eat their words, I'd bet this is one of them; let the court rule. There is little difference between a law banishing former offenders and ex post facto applied fees to accomplish the same.

1-20-2011 Louisiana:

LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) - It is now harder for sex offenders to live in Lake Charles. During a Wednesday evening meeting, city council members adopted an ordinance aimed at deterring sex offenders from living in Lake Charles.

It changed the steps a convicted sex offender must go through to register in the city. The new law requires a more detailed description of a sex offenders conviction. It also raised the registration fees from $60 to $600, and an additional $200 a year.

"We have zero tolerance for sex offenders. I wanted to be crystal clear, and not politically correct, that we don't want sex offenders living in Lake Charles," said Lake Charles Councilman John Ieyoub.

"It's probably the most expensive place for a sex offender to live. It's probably the most expensive place in the whole country. We make no apologies for that," said Sgt. Mark Kraus with the Lake Charles Police Department.

Ieyoub, who spearheaded the new ordinance, said when a convicted sex offender runs a notification ad in the newspaper he or she must now include details about what they were convicted of, the age of their victim, the sex of their victim, and any past convictions.

"We're thinking a felon will look at Lake Charles and say, well, this is a little more embarrassing to list all of this information. I don't want to live there," said Ieyoub.

The law will go into place as soon as Mayor Randy Roach signs the ordinance into law. All convicted sex offenders will have to pay the new $600 registration fee. They have 180 days to comply. ..Source.. by Adam Hooper

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Police stay busy with sex offender site

What an unbelievable waste of taxpayer money for a glorified address book w/pics that tells everyone WHERE a registrant SLEEPS for a few hours of the day or night. There isn't a single research paper that proves, knowing where a registrant SLEEPS will PREVENT further crimes, or protect the public at all.

1-19-2011 West Virginia:

CHARLESTON, W.Va.--Kanawha County's two "sexually violent predators," who are required to provide authorities with updates on their whereabouts every 90 days, last reported that they were living in homeless shelters in downtown Charleston.

While there are only 23 such "sexually violent predators" statewide, a total of 3,228 offenders overall are now registered in West Virginia.

Keeping up with them has becoming a big job for the State Police, with 639 officers responsible for that and a myriad of other duties.

The troopers stay busy updating the registry, which can be viewed on the State Police website, and looking for those who don't update their court mandated registration, said Sgt. Michael Baylous, spokesman for the State Police.

People convicted of sexually motivated offenses are required to register with the State Police as part of their sentences and must update their registrations once a year, or sooner if their information changes. They have 10 days to notify troopers of changes.

About 400 offenders have been added each year since the Sex Offender Registry's inception in 1993.

Those deemed "sexually violent predators" by the courts are required to update their registration every 90 days.

"An enormous amount of resources are dedicated to accomplish the task of maintaining the Sexual Offender Registry," Col. Tim Pack said in a statement.

Registering and checking up on the offenders can be a lengthy process.

Offenders must report to detachments in the counties where they live and the counties where they work or attend school to update their registration.


They must disclose information about their home, vehicle, occupation or school and e-mail addresses and Internet screen names.

A trooper updates the offender's information, takes fingerprints and snaps a new photograph. That process takes about 30 minutes.

The legwork begins in the days following the visit and can take an hour or more depending on the driving distance, Baylous said.

Troopers must travel to the physical address provided and also check with the postmaster to ensure the offender still receives mail at the address. Baylous estimated the total time required to update an offender's registration at about two hours.

"There's a misconception that they come in and update their information, we take their word for it and they're done," Baylous said. "That's not how it works. We have to go out to their home, wherever it may be, and physically verify all of the information they've given us."

The task is more difficult when offenders list homeless shelters as their place of residence.

As of Monday, six of the 339 offenders living and working in Kanawha County listed their addresses as 503 or 505 Leon Sullivan Way, which are adjacent men's shelters in Charleston.

One of those offenders is ___, who was convicted in 1997 of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious conduct involving a girl in Florida. He is listed as one of Kanawha County's two "sexually violent predators."

___ is supposedly staying at the Crossroads shelter operated by the Union Mission, but a call placed there Monday went unanswered.

The other such predator is ___, a repeat offender first convicted in 1995 for sexually assaulting a male teen at gunpoint. He listed the Roark-Sullivan Lifeway Center at 505 Leon Sullivan Way as well as GPS coordinates as his physical address.

A staff member at that shelter confirmed ___ was staying there on Monday.

Baylous said troopers visit whatever address or physical location the offenders provide to verify their whereabouts, whether it is a private residence, a shelter, or even the streets.

Another difficulty troopers face in keeping the registry updated is the possibility an offender has moved or obtained a new car or e-mail address without registering.

If an offender fails to register, troopers seek them. Baylous said the department depends a lot upon the public. It often receives tips from people who check the website.

Troopers arrested 1,250 sex offenders between 2008 and 2010 who failed to update their registration or register at all.

In 2009, the website received 2,000 to 4,000 visits per day. In July of that year alone, the website received over 100,000 hits.

"It works and people do look at it, but it's not an all-inclusive tool," Baylous said. "Just because someone isn't listed on the website, it doesn't mean there's not a sexual offender in the area.

"We may not know about them (an offender); maybe they moved here from out-of-state and they didn't update like they're supposed to, or maybe they just haven't been caught yet," the sergeant cautioned. "This is just another useful tool that can be used."

He said parents concerned about sex offenders should take an active role in their children's lives and in the community.

State Police welcome those with information on registered sex offenders to contact them if they notice any discrepancies on the website but to realize the updating process can take time. ..Source.. Ashley B. Craig, Daily Mail staff

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400 Sexual Offenders Registered Last Year

1-19-2011 West Virginia:

State Police released Monday that nearly 400 people were added to the sex offender registry last year. This is up from when statistics were first recorded in 1993.

The number of sex offenders in the state has doubled from 1,468 to a little more than 3,200 this year.

Sex offenders must register once a year, during the month of their birth, with state police, for as long as a judge sentences them too.

This sentencing all depends on the type of crime.

"Anytime anybody has any harmful or offensive contact with somebody with a sexual motivation they could wind up on the sex offender list regardless if there's any intrusion or any penetration or anything like that," explains Harrison County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Shaffer.

No matter what type of sexual crime an offender is convicted of, the same process occurs every time a sex offender goes to state police.

"We finger print them, photograph them, note any changes in their appearance and then we go to their house and verify their address, their cable providers, their internet access and if they're getting mail there," says Trooper First Class J.G. Barker.

While some offenders only have to register for a limited amount of years, others almost always register for life.

"Basically when they offend against children they wind up on the sex offender list for life," says Shaffer.

Prosecutors can even take it further if the crime is what Shaffer calls "so egregious" and can attempt to have the offender deemed a violent sexual predator.

"If in the opinion of the psychologist and the psychiatrist the individual is a high risk to re-offend, then that person could be adjudicated a sexual predator. That person could receive an enhanced sentence as well as supervised release, if they're ever let out of prison," Shaffer explains.

Right now there's 29 registered sexual predators in the state.

No matter what charge a sexual offender has against them, if they fail to register yearly, more charges may be brought against them.

"Sex offenders are arrested for failure to register in West Virginia and it's a felony," says Trooper Barker.

Since 2008 nearly 1,200 sexual offenders have been arrested for failing to register with the state police.

Some didn't register for their regular required yearly registry, while others didn't notify the troopers of changes in their address or jobs. ..Source.. Nicole Porter

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OFF TOPIC: Police: Derision Over Flatulence Was Stabbing Motive

It does not take much to set many off these days. Sadly so, but this is an example of what has been in the news recently.

1-19-2011 Connecticut:

A 21-year-old city man charged with stabbing four people at a party Saturday night, killing one, told investigators he became enraged because people were criticizing him for passing gas, police said.

Marc Higgins, who was described by witnesses as being "very drunk," stormed out of the party, came back armed with three knives and started stabbing people indiscriminately, according to court documents released Monday.

Matthew Walton, 21, also of Bristol, died of stab wounds after the attack, police said. Two men and a woman also were stabbed, but all have been released from Bristol Hospital.

Higgins told police he was angry at being derided and wanted to teach people that they shouldn't trifle with him, according to the court documents.

Higgins, of 40 Pardee St., appeared in Superior Court in Bristol on Tuesday and was ordered held on $2 million bond. A judge transferred his case to Superior Court in New Britain, where major cases are heard.

According to court documents, police were called to 126 High St. late Saturday after a 911 caller reported a stabbing. When officers arrived, they found Walton in a first-floor apartment badly wounded and unresponsive. A woman, Sandra Ranger,18, also was suffering from serious stab wounds. Both were taken to Bristol Hospital, where Walton was pronounced dead.

Police later learned that two others, David Klett, 19, and Tyler Basso, 18, had also been stabbed but went to the hospital on their own. Ranger, Klett and Basso are all Bristol residents, police said.

Police say Higgins got into an argument with another person at the party, Stacy Buccheri, who chastised him for being flatulent. Witnesses told police that Buccheri slapped Higgins, who smashed a beer bottle and then stormed out of the apartment.

He returned about 45 minutes later, police said, and attacked several people on a porch with knives, including all four who were wounded.

Higgins fled by the time police arrived, but turned himself in to police a few hours later, police said.

Police said Higgins confessed to the attacks, and referred to Walton as a friend and Ranger as an acquaintance. He told investigators that he didn't specifically target them and that they were simply the first people he saw when he returned to the party, police said. ..Source.. KEN BYRON

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Corrections department needs to improve sex offender reporting

1-18-2011 Vermont:

MONTPELIER – State Auditor Tom Salmon, CPA, today released the results of an audit that looked at the caseloads of the Department of Corrections probation and parole officers who are designated to supervise sex offenders.

Recently adopted legislative provisions limit caseloads of the Department of Corrections’ (DOC) probation and parole officers (POs) assigned to supervise sex offenders to 45 cases with some exceptions. The legislature also required that the auditor look at Corrections’ sex offender PO caseloads.

The auditor said that offenders who commit sex crimes evoke concern and fear in communities. Because of the heightened concern and since sex offenders are frequently supervised in community settings, supervision of convicted sex offenders is an important public safety issue.

“The Legislature’s attention to caseloads among other aspects of DOC’s supervision of sex offenders reflects the concern of many in Vermont communities,” Salmon said.

Overall, the auditor’s office found that almost all of the POs supervising sex offenders had caseloads in accordance with the statutory requirements. One out of 29 of Correction’s designated sex offender POs had a caseload in excess of the statutory limit.

Although PO caseloads were largely found to be in accordance with the statutory requirements, the auditor’s office determined that the tools that DOC uses to monitor caseloads warrant attention. The reports used to identify active caseloads contained data errors and system anomalies. Some of the causes for the report inaccuracies were a lack of training in the DOC system for DOC personnel and the lack of procedures specifying the timing and process for updating offender records. Salmon also commented that DOC is hindered by an antiquated computer system.

The audit report’s recommendations emphasize actions that can be taken to ensure the availability of reliable reports for continuous monitoring of PO caseloads.

“I am confident that implementation of our audit recommendations will help DOC to improve monitoring of caseloads and accuracy of the information in its system, and will promote consistency in the assignment of sex offenders under community supervision to appropriate POs” said Salmon.

The auditor also noted that during the course of the audit DOC field personnel and central office staff were professional and cooperative.

DOC Commissioner Andrew Pallito said in a letter to the auditor’s office: “We are committed to ensuring that sex offender caseloads comply with statutory requirements.”

The report entitled “Sex Offender Supervision: Corrections’ Caseloads Were Largely in Accordance with Statutory Requirements, but Monitoring Tools Could Be Improved.”

The audit report released today by the Auditor’s Office is the second in a series of audits expected to be performed related to sex offenders and sexual abuse response issues. The first report, “Sex Offender Registry: Reliability Could Be Significantly Improved,” was issued in the summer 2010 and addressed the reliability of the state’s sex offender registry and made recommendations to the Department of Public Safety, Department of Corrections, and the Court Administrator. It is also available on the auditor’s web site. The auditor’s office expects to conduct a second audit of the registry once planned improvements are implemented. ..Source..

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