City approves sex offender signs

This is the kind of nonsense that needs to be fought in many ways, like make sign a lay it flat down, face down, on lawn. Get ACLU involved in this stupidity; clearly further punishment. Also fight on equal application of law, for other offenses are not so required; public safety is not the basis of this stupidity.

12-5-15 Texas:

GONZALES — The Gonzales City Council approved an ordinance at Tuesday night’s regular monthly meeting requiring registered sex offenders within the city limits to post signs in their yard alerting everyone to their crime. Though councilmen were quick to move forward with the motion, it took several more minutes to explain what the law could actually do.

City Manager Allen Barnes started by stating that several cities in the area have passed similar ordinances and said the law has been upheld by the courts. The ordinance would require registered sex offenders to place a permanent sign in their yard, measuring two feet tall and two feet wide, with black lettering stating, “A REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER LIVES HERE.”

The motion to accept the ordinance was made by District 2 Councilman Tommy Schurig and seconded by District 4 Councilman Clarence Opiela. But before they could vote, a few questions were raised about how the law would work.

District 3 Councilman Lorenzo Hernandez asked Barnes a hypothetical question, like what would happen if a registered sex offender were to live next to a new park — such as a skate park — and families chose to no longer visit the area because of that. Barnes said that current laws state that sex offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of a place where children generally congregate, such as a park. He also said that not all sex offenders are made alike. Some, for instance, have waivers and would not have to post the signs.

District 1 Councilman Gary Schroeder asked how the city could get offenders to comply with the law. As Barnes mentioned earlier in his remarks, 24 sex offenders live in Gonzales’ ZIP code. This is where City Attorney Jackie Williamson interjected a bit of reality into the proceedings.

Williamson explained that if the law were to go into effect today, that it is not retroactive and that the current offenders would not have to post a sign if they stayed put at their current residence. The only offenders that would be required to post a sign would be new offenders, sexual offenders that move into the city or if an existing offender were to move to another permanent location within the city. ..Source.. by Erik McCowan

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Cadillac man faces life in prison for failure to comply charge, habitual offender 4th

6-16-15 Michigan:

A 25-year-old Cadillac man could be sentenced to life in prison after he allegedly failed to comply with the sex offender registry act.

Randy Paul Morris Jr. was charged recently with failure to comply with the sex offender registry act, second offense, in Wexford County’s 84th District Court.

A habitual offender, fourth offense notice was added, which carries a possible life sentence. ..Source.. by Rick Charmoli

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Male Teen Has Consensual Sex with Female Teen. He Gets 25 Years as Sex Offender, Banned from Internet.

6-16-15 Michigan:

Girl admits he did nothing wrong, has asked prosecutor to drop the case.

Computer science student Zach Anderson, 19, met a girl, 17, on the "Hot or Not?" app. He was from Elkhart, Indiana. She was 20 minutes over the border in Niles, Michigan. They hooked up. Once.

But it turned out the girl was really 14. She'd lied to Anderson and also in her profile. Now Zach sits in a Michigan jail, serving 90 days. When he gets out he will be on the Sex Offender Registry for 25 years.

Does anyone thinking treating him this way is necessary to keep kids safe? Anderson and his family certainly don’t.

Neither does his supposed underage victim. The girl readily admitted that she lied about her age, and in this WSBT-TV interview her mother admitted that Anderson “didn't do anything my daughter didn’t do.” Everyone agrees the encounter was completely consensual. The only reason the police became involved at all is because the girl suffers from epilepsy, and when she didn't come home as quickly as expected her mom worried and called the cops for help.

In this excellent South Bend Tribune article, the mom told a reporter that she didn’t just ask the judge for leniency, "we asked him to drop the case."

But court records show that Berrien County District Court Judge Dennis Wiley (who once jailed a woman for 10 days over Christmas because she cursed while paying a traffic ticket in the county clerk’s office) paid none of the participants any mind. At sentencing he told Anderson, "You went online, to use a fisherman's expression, trolling for women to meet and have sex with. That seems to be part of our culture now: meet, hook up, have sex, sayonara. Totally inappropriate behavior. There is no excuse for this whatsoever."

Now, in addition to registering as a sex offender, Anderson will spend five years on probation, during which time he will not be allowed to live in a home where there is internet access or a smart phone. He will obviously have to change his major. And he is forbidden to talk to anyone under age 17, except his brothers.

I spoke to Anderson's dad, Les Anderson, yesterday. He said the family is about to try to withdraw the original plea deal Zach agreed to, because, he says, "The prosecutor violated the plea."

You see, in Michigan there is a leniency provision for first-time offenders under age 21. It keeps them off the registry. As part of the plea deal, the prosecutor had agreed not to take a position pro or con on whether to apply the provision to Zach. But when it came time for sentencing, the prosecutor reminded the judge that he had denied leniency in similar cases twice before.

That struck defense lawyer Scott Grabel as not exactly neutral. "He did us a favor," says Grabel, "because now we have a basis to withdraw the plea."

I chatted with Grabel yesterday, too. He says that if the case is tried anew, he would like to hold off for another six-to-nine months, because by then it's possible that the Michigan Supreme Court will have decided to allow defendants to use she lied about her age as a component of their defense.

Right now, 20 states allow this. But in the other 30, you can turn to your would-be hook-up and say, "'Look I want to see a passport or driver's license,' and I'd say that's pretty diligent of you," says Grabel. But if the I.D. is fake and she is actually underage, you can still be convicted of statutory rape.

Let's hope Michigan makes that change. In the meantime, Judge Wiley should realize that just because you met someone online does not mean you are a depraved fiend who deserves 25 years on the Sex Offender Registry. ..Source.. by Lenore Skenazy

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Supreme Court upholds sex offender registration for non-sex crime

Adding OLD article.

3-19-2010 Wisconsin:

Wisconsin's Supreme Court on Friday upheld the requirement that a man convicted of a crime with no sexual component still must register as a sex offender.

James W. Smith was convicted in Brown County in 2001 of false imprisonment of a minor for making the victim ride with him while he attempted to collect a drug debt from the victim's friend. Both he and the victim were 17 at the time.

Under Wisconsin's original 1993 statute, only those convicted of first- or second-degree sexual assault were required to register. In 1996, the law was expanded to require registration by those convicted of other crimes, including kidnapping or false imprisonment of a child.

After Smith failed to register as a sex offender, he was charged with that crime in 2005, convicted and sentenced to a year in prison.

Smith appealed on the grounds that, as applied to him, the state's registry law was irrational, arbitrary and unconstitutional. The state Appeals Court upheld the requirement and the Supreme Court granted review.

Writing for the majority, Justice Annette Ziegler found that the requirement, stated clearly in the statute, is rationally related to a legitimate government interest - protecting children and assisting law enforcement. Despite its name, the sex offender registry's goal is not to identify those convicted of sexual crimes.

More than 41 other states require sex offender registration for those convicted of kidnapping or false imprisonment of a minor, even when there is no sexual element involved, according to the opinion.

Ziegler wrote that in many cases, people who kidnap children do have a sexual motivation.

In a dissent joined by Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote that by failing to define the sex registry statute's purpose clearly, the majority abdicated its obligation to provide meaningful review. Under the majority view, Bradley wrote, anyone convicted of just about any crime should register if the broad purpose of the sex offender registry is protect the public and assist law enforcement.

The dissent notes that Smith was originally charged with taking a hostage, party to the crime, conviction of which would not have required listing on the sex offender registry. He plea-bargained down to the false imprisonment charge, and Bradley says neither the sentencing judge nor the writer of the presentence investigation contemplated that Smith would have to register as a sex offender.

"The majority holds its analysis up as 'a paradigm of judicial restraint.' To the contrary, I conclude that it has abdicated its responsibility" in examining whether the law was constitutionally applied to Smith, Bradley wrote.

The dissent found there was no rational basis for making Smith register as a sex offender. ..Source.. by Bruce Vielmetti

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7 Surprising Things That Could Make You A Sex Offender

10-9-2013 National:

We recently reported on a 10-year-old child who's required to register as a sex offender for abusing younger boys on an Arizona Army base.

It's hard to imagine that a sex offender registry — a public database run by states - would include anybody who wasn't an adult pedophile or a rapist or seriously dangerous in some way. But sex offender registries can ensnare and publicly humiliate people who haven't victimized anybody at all.

Here are some of the more surprising ways you can end up on a sex offender registry:

1) Taking naked photos of yourself — if you're a minor. Teenagers who take nude photographs of themselves could get charged with child pornography and be put on sex registries, according to a 2013 report from Human Rights Watch. Kids who send naked photos that are viewed in another state could be charged with a federal crime, personal injury lawyer Linda Jane Chalat has written.

A 15-year-old girl in Pennsylvania was charged in 2004 with spreading child porn after taking nude photos of herself and putting them online, according to Human Rights Watch. She was still on the sex offender registry as of 2012.

2) Visiting a prostitute. While former New York governor Eliot Spitzer does not appear to be on New York's sex offender registry, patronizing a prostitute is considered a "registerable offense" in the Empire State. Until recently, some prostitutes in Louisiana could be registered sex offenders, too.

3) Peeing in public. At least 13 states require sex offender registration for public urination, according to Human Rights Watch's comprehensive review of sex offender laws in 2007. Two of those states specify that the urination must happen in front of a minor.

4) Flashing your breasts. You can get arrested for indecent exposure in California if you flash your breasts in front of a lot of people in order to gratify yourself or offend somebody else, according to the Shouse Law Group, a group of California criminal defense lawyers. And indecent exposure can land you on the sex offender registry.

5) Having consensual sex with a teenager, even if you're a teenager, too. At least 29 states require teenagers who have had consensual sex with each other to register as sex offenders, according to the Human Rights Watch Report from 2007. In Georgia, a woman named Wendy Whitaker was on the sex offender registry for years for having sex with a classmate when she was 17 and he was 15.

6) Sleeping with your sister. Incest is not just a social taboo; it's also illegal in a lot of states. Football player Tony Washington learned that lesson the hard way after getting in trouble for having sex with his 15-year-old sister when he was 16. "I didn't know it was illegal," Washington told ESPN in 2010. Washington, who had an incredibly troubled home life, pleaded guilty to prohibitive sexual conduct, according to the Toronto Star. He was charged under a Texas law that bars sexual contact between family members. He became a registered sex offender. His past continued to haunt him.

7) Giving another child a hug. There's been momentum recently to get rid of requirements that children register as sex offenders, the Wall Street Journal reported. Five residents of Colorado who were found delinquent for sex crimes as kids recently sued the state to fight a law that forced them to register as sex offenders, according to the Journal. One of those Colorado residents had been accused of trying to hug a girl at his elementary school too much when he was 13. ..Source..

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Man grabs girl's arm – now he's a sex offender

Adding OLD article.

7-2-2005 Illinois:

Driver's chastisement of 14-year-old who walked in front of car earns stigma

A man who grabbed a 14-year-old girl’s arm to chastise her after she walked in front of his car, causing him to swerve to avoid hitting her, must register as a “sex offender,” the Appellate Court of Illinois has ruled.

Fitzroy Barnaby, a 28-year-old Evanston, Illinois, man was prosecuted for attempted kidnapping and child abduction charges following a November 2002 incident in which he nearly hit the teen with his vehicle.

The girl testified Barnaby yelled, “Come here, little girl,” when he jumped out of his car and grabbed her arm. She broke away and called authorities. Barnaby says he was merely trying to lecture her for her carelessness.

The trial jury accepted Barnaby’s version of the story, but found him guilty of unlawful restraint of a minor – a sex offense under Illinois law.

As a convicted sex offender, Barnaby is required to be listed on the state’s sex offender registry and must keep authorities informed of his place of residency. He also isn’t allowed to live near schools or parks. The Illinois Sex Offender Information website, operated by the Illinois State Police, lists those in the registry, along with their photographs and home addresses.

Trial Judge Patrick Morse ordered registration reluctantly, acknowledging it was “more likely than not” Barnaby only intended to chastise the girl. “I don’t really see the purpose of registration in this case. I really don’t,” Morse said. “But I feel that I am constrained by the statute.”

Barnaby was not listed on the registry during his appeal, but following the recent ruling by the appellate court, he soon will be.

“This is the most stupid ruling the appellate court has rendered in years,” Frederick Cohn, Barnaby’s attorney, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “If you see a 15-year-old beating up your 8-year-old and you grab that kid’s hand and are found guilty of unlawful restraint, do you now have to register as a sex offender?”

The appellate court agreed it was “unfair for [Barnaby] to suffer the stigmatization of being labeled a sex offender when his crime was not sexually motivated,” however it sided with the state’s attorney who argued it is “the proclivity of offenders who restrain children to also commit sex acts or other crimes against them.”

“It is [Barnaby's] actions which have caused him to be stigmatized, not the courts,” reads the decision. ..Source.. by WND.com

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Orwellian Criminal-JusticeThink > He grabbed girl's arm -- now he's a sex offender

7/4/2005, 1:26:38 PM by AWestCoaster

Fitzroy Barnaby said he had to swerve to avoid hitting the 14-year-old Des Plaines girl who walked in front of his car.

She said he yelled, "Come here, little girl," before getting out of his car and grabbing her by the arm. He said he simply lectured her. She said she broke free and ran, fearful of what he'd do next.

In a Thursday ruling, the Appellate Court of Illinois said the 28-year-old Evanston man must register as a sex offender. While acknowledging it might be "unfair for [Barnaby] to suffer the stigmatization of being labeled a sex offender when his crime was not sexually motivated," the court said his actions are the type that are "often a precursor" to a child being abducted or molested. ..Source..

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Mix-up nearly costs sex offender 5 years in prison

ANy conviction in this matter is a miscarriage of justice; the man followed the spirit of the law and police instructions.

9-1-2014 Virginia:

Although it may have seemed innocent enough, picking up his 13-yearold stepson from Salem Church Middle School on May 14 almost cost a county man five years in prison.

Joseph Patrick Runyon Sr.’s wife had just started a new job and when school officials called her to pick up her son from school early, she asked Runyon if he would pick the boy up.

Runyon agreed, and in the process of checking in with office personnel at Salem Church Middle School, they discovered he was on the State Police Sex Offender Registry.

School officials then checked with Trooper Michael King, who coordinates the sex offender registry in Chesterfield. King confirmed that Runyon was a sex offender, but that he also had permission to go on property where his son attends school. King couldn’t recall which school, but instructed Salem Church Middle School officials to allow Runyon to take his stepson home.

On further investigation, however, it was determined that Runyon had permission to enter Bellwood Elementary School, not Salem Church Middle. Runyon was then arrested by Chesterfield Police on a felony charge of a sex offender being on school property.

Runyon, 37, of 2000 block of Willis Road, was scheduled to be tried on the charge last week in Chesterfield Circuit Court before Judge Frederick G. Rockwell III.

Moments before the trial was to begin, Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Larry S. Hogan and defense attorney Denis C. Englisby came to terms on a plea agreement.

When Hogan recounted the facts in the case to the court, Judge Rockwell said there was a “substantive basis” for him to accept the plea agreement. Runyon agreed to an Alford plea, meaning that while he was not admitting guilt, he does acknowledge that if the case had gone to trial, county prosecutors would have had sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction. ..Source.. by Ben Orcutt

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When Horseplay Becomes a Life Sentence

7-20-2011 New Jersey:

I have read newspapers my entire life. It's a hazardous occupation, with the negative and the stupid and the tragic far outweighing the uplifting elements of society. But I have never felt like this – sick to my stomach and full of anger. Jurisprudence in this country has died with this decision.

In Somerset County, two young boys became branded as lifelong sex offenders for, well, being boys. As fourteen year olds, they roughhoused and in a disgusting act, sat on the face of a fell student with their bare buttocks. As my grandmother once said, it is boys being boys, an unexplainable phenomenon left over from the cavemen days. I certainly do not condone it. I have never done it myself nor had it done to me. Among friends it is known to be a funny, but disgusting form of horseplay. Among those that are not friends, it is the most vile and embarrassing form of bullying and should be punished with significant amounts of suspension, community service, and counseling.

But branding them as perverts, child molesters and rapists? And for the rest of their lives? Today, their neighbors are fretting about the devaluation of the neighborhood, because a sex offender living in a section of town ruins that section of town. When they are eighteen and they go to apply for college, they will be sex offenders. God knows I wouldn't want my freshman in college sharing a room with a sex offender or even being in the same dorm as a sex offender. When they are in their twenties and start to seriously date, they are sex offenders.

God knows I wouldn't want my daughter dating a sex offender, or worse yet, marrying one. At least my daughter could easily find out that he is a sex offender, so she could break off the relationship. When they head out to the job world, they are sex offenders. How often do companies hire sex offenders? When they go and buy a house, you guessed it. Never mind bringing over apple pie; the new neighbors will be protesting up and down the sidewalks. A child molester has moved in next door. If they get through all of this, and are fortunate to have a family, their children will find out that daddy is a branded sex offender.

All because they bullied another boy, did something they shouldn't have done for attention and laughter – something done by countless boys over many generations. Terrible? Yes. Bullying? Yes. Vile? Yes. A life sentence as a sexual predator? Lord help us.

I wondered when the extreme nature of Megan's Law would begin to destroy quasi-innocent people, a law where there is no rehabilitation, no flexibility, no timeline, and no way out. I could be wrong, but a young boy who sits on another young boy for schoolroom giggles is not the same as the man that assaulted and murdered Megan Kanka.

It is torture we have instituted, particularly those branded sex offenders who are not, nor never have been, true sex offenders. I got an idea: let's cut the arms off of children that shoplift.

Shame on the Somerset Appellate Court, and the judges that passed down such a decision. Shame on the trial court judge who found the boys guilty of criminal sexual conduct. Shame on the prosecutors for making a name for themselves with this nonsense. An absentee protest by one or many of them would have been heroic. But instead, collectively, they have ruined the lives of these two young boys. They did the cutting.

Shame on the makers and supporters of this law, for leaving such loopholes in place. Hopefully, the Supreme Court takes this case and changes the extreme aspects of Megan's Law to ensure this doesn't happen again. Hopefully, the decision is reversed and the boys get the boyhood punishment they deserve, not the lifelong sentence they have received. ..Source.. by Brian Campbell/NJ Voices

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Mom failed to report daughter's sex with adult man

2-25-2011 Tennessee:

A Rutherford County mother was charged with 22 counts of statutory rape after police say she failed to report her underage daughter was having sex with a 23-year-old man.

Joyce L. Green, 37, of Murfreesboro was indicted by a grand jury this month after an investigation by Murfreesboro Police Detective Tommy Roberts revealed she failed to report the criminal activities.

"The investigation showed Ms. Green was the parent of one (of three) victims and was aware that her daughter was having sex with the adult male," Roberts reported. "The case was presented to the January 2011 grand jury and the male suspect was indicted."

That man, however, has since fled the state, according to Roberts, and is yet to be apprehended.

Green was also indicted for failure to report a crime.

She was booked into the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center following her arrest on Feb. 3 and her arraignment in circuit court is pending. ..Source.. by THE DAILY NEWS JOURNAL

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Former wrestler informed police of sex offender status, but not student status

2-25-2011 Michigan:

Former Central Michigan University wrestler informed area police of his sex offender status before arriving on campus last fall.

The 19-year-old Zeeland freshman wrote a full disclosure statement, which was reviewed by admissions, housing and local police, before he arrived on campus, Cheatham said. But he neglected to tell police he was going to attend CMU.

He pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the Michigan Sex Offender Registry Act Wednesday.

“___failed to notify the police department or any other law enforcement agency that (he is) a CMU student,” said his attorney, Charles Moses. “That is a violation of this act.”

___ first registered as a sex offender at 14, when he was convicted in 2006 of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person under the age of 13, according to Michigan’s Public Sex Offender Registry.

Judge Mark H. Duthie reduced the felony to a high court misdemeanor as part of the plea process.

“(He lowered it) in part because he felt like that was proportional to what happened here,” said Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick. “My guess is that he’s going to be put on probation. The question will be whether the judge is going to include, as a condition of probation, a period of incarceration up front.”

___ said he thinks his punishment might be a little harsh, but he also understands he violated the law.

The dual-sport high school athlete was accepted as a walk-on to the wrestling team and was planning to join the track team in the spring. He was dismissed from the wrestling team in January.

Future at CMU

___ appealed the Athletics Department’s decision the week of Feb. 7, but the decision was upheld, said Athletics Director Dave Heeke.

“How athletes represent themselves, the university and certainly the athletic program are key to our code of conduct,” Heeke said.

Any athlete can be dismissed for a code of conduct violation, Heeke said.

___ said he plans to finish out the semester at CMU, but is not sure if he will stay afterward. He said he does not want to transfer to a Division 2 school.

“I came to CMU to be a wrestler and a student,” ___ said. “My goal is to be a D1 athlete.”

___ said he was sorry for the negative press the incident has generated for the wrestling team and the university.

___, also pleaded guilty of one count of possession of a stolen object valued at less than $200.

He said the stolen object charge, based on a CMU parking permit in his possession, came as a surprise to him. ___ said he was covering for a friend who took the permit, thinking neither would encounter problems.

“The person who owned the parking permit didn’t want to press charges, that’s why I didn’t think I was going to get in trouble,” ___ said. “Then a month later it got brought up in court.”

___ will be sentenced April 4 in Isabella County Trial Court, 200 N. Main St ..Source.. Maryellen Tighe

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School Says Sex Offender Mother Can't Participate on Trips

2-23-2011 Florida:

School Says Sex Offender Mother Can't Participate on Trips

For almost nine years, Alashia Green has tried to put the conviction that makes her a sexual offender, behind her.

But Tuesday, a lewd or lascivious battery charge from Bay County, reared its ugly head again.

She says the school her four-year-old son attends, told her she couldn't bring him to, or pick him up from school.

"I'm not here to harm their kids," Green said. "I have a child of my own so I'm with them on the sexual offender thing. I'm not against that. But you should be able to listen to people's stories of how they became a sex offender."

When Green was 18-years-old she was convicted for having sex with her then 16-year-old boyfriend.

Green says she's paid her debt to society behind bars and she wants to do the things any other mother would be able to do for their children.

"I'm a mother now. People need to look at me differently than how they're looking at me and that's not right," said Green.

Tuesday the Murat Hills Head Start center gave Green a letter saying "Head Start will not allow anyone who is a registered offender to volunteer or participate in center activities."

Dorothy Iman-Johnson is the Executive Director of the Community Action Agency, which is over the Head Start Program, and said Green isn't banned from transporting her child to and from school.

Iman-Johnson says the problem arose when Green requested to go on a field trip with her son's class.

"We have to follow the same laws that any other child care facility has to follow that if someone is on the registered sex offender list for the state, we can't put other parents' children in jeopardy by allowing them to be here," said Iman-Johnson.

The school says Green can still drop off little Nathaniel and pick him up but Green, contends they told her a different story.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement says at the state level, there aren't any stipulations keeping Green from being able to go on field trips or participate in activities.

FDLE says those restrictions were imposed by the center. ..Source.. by Deneige Broom

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Teen girl charged with posting nude photos on Internet

Wonderful, a new sex offender with THREE charges, as such on a public registry will look like a recidivist. Is this prosecutor out of his mind? Charging her with "Possession of CP" for having in her possession, a self portrait? I would love to know WHERE the self portrait was kept? If in her own bedroom, or on her computer, where no one else goes, are such portraits illegal? Are minors viewing child porn when seeing themselves naked in the bathroom? Prosecutors need limits, and this one needs to have those limits reigned in!

1-7-2011 Colorado:

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A 15-year-old girl has been arrested for taking nude photographs of her self and posting them on the Internet, police said.

The girl, whose identity was withheld, was accused of sending out photographs of herself in various states of undress and performing a variety of sexual acts. She sent them to people she met in chat rooms on the Internet, police said.

Police seized her computer and found dozens of photographs stored on the hard drive. Authorities did not say how police learned about the girl.

She has been charged with sexual abuse of children (PLURAL), possession of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography. ..Source.. by 9News.com

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Essay: Sex and Justice

11-19-2010 Michigan:

A recent horrifying case involving teen suicide has gotten wide attention. The case got Michigan Radio’s Political Analyst Jack Lessenberry thinking about the state’s sex offender registry.

If news is what people are talking about, then the big story in Michigan last week wasn’t the budget deficit, or Governor-elect Rick Snyder’s efforts to put together an administration.
No, the big story was a horrifying case where a fourteen-year-old girl killed herself after having sex with an eighteen-year-old boy.

And it ought to make us all think about a lot of things, including whether the Michigan Sex Offender registry makes any sense.

In this tragic case, both teens at first told police the act was consensual, but later the girl appeared on local TV news, and said she had been raped. Following that, the kids in her high school evidently turned on her. Eventually, the child went home and hung herself. This story is distressing on too many levels to count.

Whatever actually happened between the teens is hard to determine, though police say the girl said she told the boy she was eager to lose her virginity. If so, she later had second thoughts. As a journalist, I am appalled that a local so-called news station put this child on TV, identifying her by name, as she talked about her sex life.

Grownups ought to know how cruel the world can be.

But this whole episode really ought to draw attention to an appalling institution called the Michigan Sex Offender Registry.

Since the 1990s, the registry has listed anyone convicted of a so-called sex crime and indicates where they live. The idea was to protect children by allowing families to discover if a convicted sex offender lives in the neighborhood.

That may make some sense in the case of serious pedophiles, though it also could be seen as a dangerous invitation to vigilante action. But the registry also includes those convicted of a wide variety of far lesser offenses, including drunk frat boys who relieved themselves in public. They are on there with the serial rapists.

The main problem is in cases like this one. In Michigan sixteen is the legal age of consent. But in our highly sexualized society, there are many sixteen year old boys who are active with their almost sixteen year old girlfriends. Legally, they are committing a felony.

If they are caught, they will end up on the registry, and you can imagine what that will do to their futures.


A few years ago, I knew of a seventeen-year-old honor student who was taken to court for having relations with his underage girlfriend. Upon finding out he’d be on the registry, he killed himself by driving into the path of a huge truck.

In the case now making headlines, the student who was the dead girl’s sex partner wasn’t old enough to legally drink, but he was headed to hard time in prison, even if she had admitted that she solicited him. Our law has no tolerance for sex with underage minors, no matter the circumstances. The young man would also have been on the sex offender list for at least twenty-five years.

But ironically, he won’t be on that list now, since the only witness is dead. I’m not saying he should be, nor am I condoning whatever his behavior was. I am saying there is something terribly wrong with this system. ..Source.. by Michigan Radio’s Political Analyst Jack Lessenberry

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In response to this story is another relevant comment:

As the mother of someone on the registry, I can attest to the nightmare it creates. As a young boy, my son did something inappropriate, yet deemed typically "exploratory" by the evaluators we saw. Every evaluation stated he should not be looked at as a "predator." Even the judge acknowledged the faults with the registry. The stigma pushed my son to attempt suicide three years ago, 10 years after the incident. We're lucky he was found before he died. If the Adam Walsh Act is enacted by our legislature, I fear he will be pushed to the edge again. He and his high school sweetheart of eight years would love to plan a future together, but live in fear of the unknown. Let's hope and pray people in power see the punishment these Draconian laws inflict.

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B-N woman ordered to register as sex offender after battery charges

How soon will it be that, the mere mention of the word "Sex" will require registering as a sex offender?

11-13-2010 Indiana:

BLOOMINGTON -- A Bloomington woman was ordered Friday to register as a sex offender and serve two years probation for battery that involved sexually motivated contact with two minor boys.

Trina Hall, 37, was acquitted by a jury in July of molestation but found guilty of battery of the two children with whom she was acquainted.

In his sentencing statement Friday, Judge Charles Reynard said he found the trial testimony related to inappropriate touching of the minors to be credible. In addition to probation, Reynard sentenced Hall to 177 days in jail but stayed the sentence pending a remission hearing in March.

Defense lawyer Stephanie Wong argued that a sex offender report was compiled by an evaluator who was not allowed to see police reports and other documents related to Hall's case. The jury's decision to acquit Hall on the sex-related counts exonerates the woman from allegations of sexual misconduct, said Wong.

Describing her client as playful and naive, Wong asked for probation without a sex offender registration requirement.

Prosecutor Bill Workman agreed with probation but also asked for 60 days in jail.

In a statement to the court, Hall apologized for her conduct.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think this could happen to me," said Hall. ..Source.. by Patagraph.com

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Sheriff busts breast-baring teens, photo taker

Unbelievable! Fact: "Among high school students nationwide, 34.2% were currently sexually active,.." Source: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. Why are these youngsters not arrested, its not like they are unknown?

8-6-2010 Florida:

The photo-taker could be deemed a registered sex offender

CHARLOTTE COUNTY - A lawman's work is never done, apparently even for a sheriff in an unmarked cop car who sees girls flashing their breasts at passing motorists.

That very thing happened last night to Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Cameron, who was driving around to National Night Out community safety events when the girls exposed their breasts at him, according to a sheriff's press release.

Cameron was driving on State Road 776 near County Road 771 around 7 p.m. Tuesday when he saw the girls flash him and other drivers. He turned around to confront them when he saw a motorist drive up and snap a photo on his cell phone of the naked girls, the release said.

Cameron detained all three people, and all were later arrested.

The two girls, who turned out to be 15, were arrested on indecent exposure charges; their names were not released, though the release pointed out that one is a local girl and the other is from another state. They were booked and released to parents.

Meanwhile, 33-year-old Robert Lee Blevins of the 6500 block of Coliseum Boulevard was arrested and charged with felony possession of photos of sexual performance by a child and a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Authorities confiscated evidence, including Blevins' phone that held the photo of the girls, the release said.

If convicted, Blevins could face five years in prison and could be deemed a registered sex offender.

The sheriff's office press release concludes with a message to the media: “Don't even ask as the evidence photo will NOT be released since they are juveniles.” ..Source.. Hearld-Tribune

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"Toy Story 3" Has Unhappy Ending for Sex Offender in Mich. Theater

'"Toy Story 3" will be just fine without him.' says the article, maybe so, but, what about his family knowing he has been convicted of a crime for simply doing what is right for his family? Folks, sometimes the law, is an ass!

7-12-2010 Michigan:

HOWELL, Mich. (CBS/AP) "Toy Story 3" had a very unhappy ending for a man from Michigan, who took his family to see the popular G-rated movie at a Livingston County theater.

You see, Michael Keeler, who's 46, isn't supposed to go to a children's movie; in fact, Keeler isn't supposed to go anywhere within 1,000 feet of anyplace "primarily used by people age 17 or under."

That's because those are the terms of Keeler's probation -- as a convicted sex offender. He was sentenced in May 2008 to serve five years' probation after being found guilty of second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a person under 13.

It was the electronic tether that Keeler wears that alerted authorities he was at the theater for "Toy Story 3."

For him, the end of the story was getting arrested, pleading guilty to violating his probation, and being ordered to serve 90 days' house arrest.

Of Keeler's decision to take his family to the kid flick, his attorney said Keeler "was trying to be a good father and he lost sight of his responsibility to the community."

"Toy Story 3" will be just fine without him. ..Source.. Barry Leibowitz

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In Pasco County court, inmate disputes sex offender label

A man with a short fuse, who raises issues where he is likely right about his assertions, but because of his coutroom conduct and a judge who feels courtroom conduct is more important than justice, loses and leaves in handcuffs. But, hey, this is Florida and that tells us something to!

5-31-2010 Florida:

DADE CITY — Christopher Munroe was arrested with a friend in Fort Lauderdale in 2001, accused of attacking a teenager and trying to rape her.

He pleaded no contest to the charges and served time in prison. Since then, Munroe has never gone long without running astray of the law. He was branded a sex offender — unfairly, he says — and anytime a law enforcement officer checks his name, that label appears and things immediately escalate.

But Munroe's plea in South Florida did not include the sex offender registration — the judge who sentenced him didn't make it a requirement. It appears to be the action of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which maintains the registry and has the power to add names. The law says people can be sex offenders even for nonsex crimes if their crime had a "sexual component."

Munroe, for his part, denies attacking the girl and says he never would have pleaded had he known he'd be branded a sexual danger.

What's more, his friend whom police say also tried to rape the teenager took a plea in the case, like Munroe, and went to prison.

Yet his name is nowhere on Florida's sex offender registry.

Munroe's case, which wound up in Pasco County after he failed to register here, raises a constitutional question about due process — how can people challenge the evidence used to declare them sex offenders if it's not done by a judge?

He's no angel

The allegations against Munroe and his friend, Clarence Wiley, were ugly. A 16-year-old girl walking home from the beach on Sunrise Boulevard said the two men propositioned her outside a drugstore. When she said no, she told police, they grabbed her, pulled down her bathing suit and fondled her breasts. She escaped and got help from police.

Munroe, in a jailhouse interview with the Times, claimed he barely spoke to the girl. He says he was using a pay phone while Wiley chatted with the girl, who bummed a cigarette and a beer off them, then walked away.

"That was it," he said.

A police officer approached them about a half-hour later, he said, and he and Wiley were off to jail. Munroe was also accused of hitting and spitting on the officer.

He wanted to fight the charges and go to trial, but he says his lawyer advised him that because of the allegations he'd probably be found guilty of something.

Prosecutors offered Wiley 20 months in prison to plead, and he took it.

Munroe was offered 29 months.

"I said, 'All right, you know what, I'm so tired of this,' " Munroe said.

Munroe is 36, handsome and tan with lots of tattoos. He is nicknamed Miami, after growing up in South Florida where he was in a gang as a youth and first went to prison at 16 for shooting into a crowd of people.

He once told a girlfriend, "I'm not a bad guy, but I'm not a good guy either," he said.

He is the single father of two sons, 10 and 11, and two stepsons, 19 and 15, who live with their mothers. He said he makes a point of spending time with them when he's not locked up.

Not long after he got out of prison, he says, he violated his probation and went back to prison. Upon his release, in 2004, he was presented with papers to register as a sex offender.

"(A prison official) said, 'You either sign it or you don't get out of prison.' I signed the paper," Munroe said.

He listed his sister's address in Zephyrhills but never really intended to live there. He worked in New Port Richey for a few months laying carpet. He says he spent time with his kids, doing family things on weekends.

When he learned from his sister that the sex offender unit was looking for him, he says, he skipped town to Texas. When he was crossing back into the country from Mexico, a warrant turned up from Pasco for failure to register as a sex offender.

Facing five years in prison, Munroe says his public defender advised him to take a plea deal for 20 months in prison.

He did, and this time when he got out in 2006, he registered. For a while, things were going okay.

"I had just got back everything, getting back into the groove of things," he said.

But there were incidents like one in Zephyrhills, when he was walking to a convenience store, shirtless, and a cop stopped him and asked his name. The sex offender alarm rang, and soon, Munroe was facedown on the hood of the police car.

Different outcomes

Clarence Wiley, Munroe's co-defendant in the Broward County case, served his 20 months and got out of prison in 2002. Since then, he has been arrested on drug and paraphernalia possession charges and numerous times for failing to appear in court.

He pleaded to charges several times and went to jail, but he has not been back to prison.

"Out of the same case, same facts and circumstances" one person became a sex offender and one didn't, Geoff Cox, Munroe's new lawyer, told a judge in a hearing last week.

Munroe is set to be released from prison in October on his most recent failure to register charge. But he wants out sooner. He successfully appealed a claim that his lawyer didn't raise enough questions about why he had ever been required to register, and the 2nd District Court of Appeal granted him a new hearing.

Cox argued to Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa that the allegations in the police report from Broward County aren't enough to establish him as a sex offender. For one thing, police reports aren't admissible as evidence in court, so how could they be sufficient to put someone on the registry?

Even so, without a hearing, it's impossible to know if FDLE officials relied on those or something else to put Munroe on the registry, Cox said.

"There was no hearing," he said. "Due process requires there to be a hearing on the matter. That original judgment and sentence did not designate him a sex offender."

Siracusa denied Munroe's appeal. He acknowledged the discrepancy between Munroe and Wiley, but likened it to two drivers speeding and only one getting pulled over.

Siracusa decided that Munroe's first attorney was reasonable in advising him to plead after reading the police report. But he told Munroe, who lost his temper at times in the hearing, that he could fight the designation in Broward County.

"If you believe there's no sexual component, you should definitely go back and do that," the judge said.

But no one in Broward County ever designated him a sex offender, Munroe shot back.

"You violated my constitutional rights in every way, I know that much," Munroe said, vowing to appeal, as he was led away in handcuffs. ..Source.. Molly Moorhead, Times Staff Writer

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UPDATE: Sex Offender Arrested After Community Meeting

Truth or fiction? i.e., a way to get these men removed from their community on nothing but an allegation.

4-23-2010 Wisconsin:

UPDATE: Madison police make two arrests after community meeting on Sex Offender Relocation.

UPDATED Friday, April 23, 2010 --- 11:35 a.m.

Incident report from the Madison Police Department:

Incident Type: Arrested Person

Incident Date: 04/22/2010 - 8:50 PM

Address: 1100 block Catalpa Circle

Arrested: Marcus S. Deloney, age 30, Madison, Mr. Deloney was arrested for a Probation Violation.

Enrique J. Merrill, age 35, Madison. Mr. Merrill was arrested for a Parole Violation.

Details: On Thursday night, there was a Sex Offender Community Notification Meeting at the MPD's South District, 825 Hughes Place. The purpose was to provide information to residents about the placement of a sex offender.

Mr. Marcus S. Deloney had moved in with another registered sex offender on Catalpa Circle. During the meeting citizens advised Madison Police and Wisconsin Department of Corrections staff about concerns regarding these two men. One woman said Mr. Deloney had been playing basketball with her 14-year-old and some other juveniles. Another citizen reported loud music, the sounds of a party, and a distinct odor coming from the men’s' apartment. A probation and parole supervisor was at the meeting, and this information was enough to order the men arrested for violations of their probation or parole.

Both were convicted of sexual assaults involving children. Madison Police immediately went to the apartment of the registered sex offenders and placed them under arrest.

The MPD would like to thank citizens for their participation in the meeting. We need residents to be our eyes and ears, and we take potential violations like these very seriously. ..Source.. Madison Police Department

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Sex Education Could Mean Charges for Teachers

If prosecutors are good at anything, they are best at misconstruing the law. Time to wake up and make sure good folks are chosen to prosecute.

4-9-2010 Wisconsin:

MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin prosecutor is warning sex education teachers they could face charges if they follow a new state law that allows them to instruct students about proper contraceptive use.

A letter sent to five school districts by Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth said the instruction could amount to contributing to the delinquency of a minor if teachers know students are sexually active. He said the districts should drop sex education until the law is repealed.

Southworth also argued that teaching contraceptive use encourages sexual behavior among children, which equates to sexual assault because minors can't legally have sex in Wisconsin.

"Depending on the specific facts of a case ... this encouragement and advocacy could lead to criminal charges," Southworth, a Republican, wrote to districts in his county.

The law's chief author, state Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, dismissed the March 24 letter as a scare tactic.

"It's beyond ridiculous," Grigsby said Tuesday. "It's irresponsible to portray this act in the way he is."

Southworth said in a Tuesday e-mail to The Associated Press that he "merely provided a legal opinion to my school districts about the impact of the new mandate."

"It was the Legislature that acted irresponsibly," he wrote.

Wisconsin school districts aren't required to teach sex education. But the new law, which took effect March 11, lays out requirements for those that do, including teaching the benefits of abstinence, criminal penalties for having underage sex and the benefits and proper use of contraceptives.

Supporters, including groups representing nurses, health departments and the state teacher's union, maintain the law will help reduce teen pregnancies. Conservative opponents counter schools should focus on abstinence.

Southworth's letter said law would convert sex education classes "into a radical program that sexualizes our children as early as kindergarten. This, in turn, will lead to more child sexual assaults."

Southworth complained that language prohibiting biased instruction makes it impossible to teach that sexual promiscuity is wrong. He also said a clause allowing volunteer health care providers to teach sex education could open the door to Planned Parenthood employees marketing sexually oriented products to students.

Planned Parenthood doesn't go into schools unless a school asks, said Chris Taylor, public policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. Taylor said the law is designed to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies.

"The real issue here is you have a district attorney who says teachers will be prosecuted," she said.

Southworth's letter is "a friendly warning," said Matt Sande, legislative director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, which registered to lobby against the law.

"He's simply doing his duty as district attorney," Sande said.

New Lisbon Superintendent Tom Andres said his district, which was among those that received Southworth's letter, is seeking legal advice about the law. While the school board will make the ultimate decision, Andres said he believes his schools should teach according to the law if parents approve.

"We're in a moral dilemma," Andres said. "We know our kids need correct, right information. We have to know what that is and teach it in such a manner that doesn't promote sexual assault or bullying." ..Source.. FoxNews.com

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Middle school students charged in 'sexting' case

A Juliet Juliet case? Or, is it a crime at all? The prosecutor (County Prosecutor Brian Gensel) should be charged with "Failure to use discretion" and "Political-itis" obviously he wants to make a name for himself -its election time-, at the expense of these young folks! Please remember, traditionally a criminal matter must have a "victim" and an "offender" can you define who is who?

1-28-2010 Indiana:

Police said Valparaiso boy, girl sent nude pictures to each other

Middle school students charged in 'sexting' case

Police said Valparaiso boy, girl sent nude pictures to each other

Two Ben Franklin Middle School students who Valparaiso police said were caught using their cell phones to exchange nude pictures of each other -- a practice called sexual texting or "sexting" -- are facing criminal charges.

A 13-year-old Valparaiso girl and a 12-year-old Valparaiso boy were referred to juvenile probation on charges of possession of child pornography and child exploitation. In adult court, the charges would carry a maximum penalty of 11 years in prison, but prosecutors expect the case to be handled in the juvenile system.

"Something needs to be done, but we think dealing with them through the juvenile court system is appropriate, so as not to saddle them with (consequences) from the adult system," Porter County Prosecutor Brian Gensel said.

In the adult system, convicted offenders face not only prison time but also having to register as a sex offender.

The case against the Valparaiso students came to light when the girl's phone went off during class Jan. 21 and the teacher confiscated it. The teacher told police the girl asked to delete something from the phone before it was turned over to the administration, but that request was denied.

The teacher said the girl began crying, saying she would get in trouble because the boy had sent her a dirty picture.

An investigation revealed the boy sent the girl an explicit photo of himself Jan. 17 and asked her to use her cellular phone to send back a similar picture of herself, which she did, police said. Police further found out the girl showed the picture of the boy to one of her friends.

Deputy Prosecutor Cheryl Polarek said young people don't understand the ramifications of texting nude pictures or posting certain material on social networking sites like Facebook. She said a nude picture could end up being shared with half the school and could get in the hands of people who seek out child pornography.

Even though it is illegal to send or possess nude pictures of someone younger than 18, a national survey found 20 percent of teens have texted or posted online nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves.

Gensel, who belongs to the National District Attorneys Association, said the association's trade publication featured a column on sexting that highlighted Montgomery County, Ohio, Prosecutor Mathias Heck Jr.'s implementation of a "diversion program" for sexting cases.

Young people who enter the diversion program undergo education on appropriate sexual boundaries and related topics, complete community service and relinquish their cell phone for a period of time. If the program is successfully completed, the charges are dismissed or never filed.

Gensel agrees with Heck that there needs to be some "tempering" of prosecution so some foolish, consenting behavior doesn't have long-term ramifications on young people's lives. Gensel favors a system in which young people receive an explanation about how serious of a matter sexual texting is, and that there will be serious consequences if they continue doing it.

Valparaiso police Sgt. Michael Grennes said this case shows the need for parents to educate their children about what they can and can't do with their cellular phones or on their computers. He also recommends parents to follow through by monitoring their children's phone and computer use. He also said parents might want to consider whether their child really needs to own a phone. ..Source.. Ken Kosky

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