The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors is expected to repeal a 2-year-old sex offender ordinance Tuesday to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit.
The 2012 ordinance was inspired by Phillip and Nancy Garrido, the county's most notorious sex offenders, who were convicted the year before of kidnapping Jaycee Dugard and holding her for 18 years.
The measure forbids registered sex offenders from coming within 300 feet of parks, schools, libraries, public pools and other places where children congregate.
"The ordinance that's on the books today is, in fact, unconstitutional," said attorney Janice Bellucci, who represents a 48-year-old sex offender from Pollock Pines who sued El Dorado County in federal court last summer.
"Phil Garrido is an extreme case and an extreme situation and unfortunately the ordinance that was passed by the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors is just too broad," Bellucci said.
The final item on Tuesday's agenda calls for county supervisors to repeal the ordinance as a condition of Bellucci dropping the lawsuit.
The repeal would become effective 30 days later.
Bellucci said she would begin discussions with the cities of Placerville and South Lake Tahoe, which followed the county's lead and enacted similar ordinances.
El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson said he would help draft a new ordinance in the coming weeks, using recent court decisions as guidance, to craft a measure that will withstand another challenge.
"You go into it trying to be as careful as you can in terms of the drafting of it, but you can never anticipate everything that can come up," he said. ..Source.. by George Warren
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