12-23-2013 Wisconsin:
SANTEE, SC (WIS) - A South Carolina man has been awarded $890,000 in a defamation of character lawsuit because his condominium association mistakenly identified him as a sex offender.
"It was humiliating, embarrassing, disgusting," said James King. "Living in a small town I wanted to protect my name."
Three years ago, King owned two units at Lenora's Santee Resort Inn just off I-95. He thinks it started because of a dispute with the board of directors over the fact he was about $200 behind on association fees.
"I don't think that gives anybody any reason to do what they did," said King.
King said those board members started going around the complex with fliers with the picture of William James King, Jr., a sex offender. The problem is, the photo was of a different William James King, Jr.
"After I'd heard it from the fourth or fifth person, and after I heard it from my friend at the bank..." said King.
Word of the flier made it's way to King's loan officer. At that point, he called attorneys Jason Daigle and Shaun Kent.
"The defendants claimed they weren't telling people this was Jamie King, but asking people if it was Jamie King. We had fact witnesses whose testimony ran exactly counter to that," said Daigle.
"It wasn't an investigation," said Kent. "It was a witch hunt. They weren't going to listen to what anyone said."
"These people can learn a lesson, and realize they can't go around calling people what they want to," King said. "It's unfair, it's disgusting and it can really hurt someone."
King said he is happy that this is mostly behind them, as for the money he says he will be using it to send his daughters to college and buy a new house.
Defense attorneys have until today to file post-trial motions, including an appeals. ..Source.. by WISTV.com
November 22, 2014
Man awarded $890K after condo association mistakenly identifies him as sex offender
When the Only Crime Is Having a Common Name
7-23-2013 Illinois:
Samuel M. Jackson, of the Chicago area, already has it rough it enough when it comes to name recognition.
But comparisons with the same-named famous actor likely sounded wonderful to him after three other Samuel Jacksons got mixed up into his criminal background report. They're Samuel Jacksons all convicted of sex offenses; two of whom are currently in prison.
"He had a background check company that ran a background report that was grossly inaccurate. Almost laughably so if it wasn’t so outrageous," said attorney Chris Wilmes, who represented the job-seeking Jackson in a lawsuit against the background check company InfoTrack. "He had a background check report that suggested he was a serious, serious sex offender and that he had committed crimes that merited life in prison."
Wilmes said his client has no criminal record. His only fault? Having a common name.
"People with common names -- there is a significant risk that they’re going to get a background check that has nothing to do with them that shows a criminal record that doesn’t exist. And it is going to harm them when they are trying to get employment," according to Paul Strauss of the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, who also worked on the case against InfoTrack.
Samuel M. Jackson, the job-seeker, is white and was 26 years old when the background report was performed. The three Samuel Jacksons whose reports were attached to his name were all decades older, African American convicted sex offenders, two of whom were currently in prison. One of them is incarcerated for a rape that occurred when the job-seeking Jackson was only four years old.
"He was outraged that a background check company would be that sloppy with something that important," Wilmes said of his client.
InfoTrack did not return calls for comment by publication time, but did settle the lawsuit with the job-seeking Samuel M. Jackson. InfoTrack settled for $35,000 and corrected Jackson’s record.
But another example has no such happy ending yet in sight.
In Milwaukee, 29-year-old Dennis Teague has a 13-page criminal background report, riddled with gun and drug offenses. But Dennis Teague has never been arrested and has no criminal record.
"Dennis has done nothing wrong. He’s done absolutely, positively nothing wrong," said his lawyer, Jeff Myer of Legal Action of Wisconsin.
So why does Teague have the record of a career criminal? It goes back at least seven years, when a second cousin who was wanted by law enforcement used Dennis’ name when stopped by police.
"I didn’t do anything wrong, and that’s what I don’t understand right now today. It’s not me, I’m not a felon," Teague says.
Teague, who has a college degree, says the name-based background report delivered to prospective employers by the state of Wisconsin is standing in the way of his employment. He says scores of interviews that seemed promising went nowhere, which didn’t make sense until he says he discovered the misleading records blended with his report.
Teague says he feels like a lifetime of making the right choices is being tossed out with the state’s refusal to disseminate his actual record, which should be "no record."
"I feel like I’m just thrown out. For one, you’ve got to think about: no employer has the time to read 13 pages. So, they probably won’t know to look and say, ‘This is identity theft. Somebody stole his name,'" he explained.
“It’s just wrong for the government to be lying about their citizens," said attorney Myer. "There's no question that an African American male of Dennis' age who is looking for work, is seriously impacted when a criminal background check comes back and says anything other than "no record," and that's what Dennis is entitled to."
Teague is suing the state Department of Justice, asking that it change the way background information is disseminated, especially in the case of identity theft victims.
Wisconsin DoJ did not respond directly to NBC Chicago’s questions, but in court filings has said its system is based on the interests of law enforcement. If a citizen like Teague is impersonated by a criminal, who uses the clean name for an alias, police investigating a case may need to know that. It appears the state does not have a mechanism to produce one report for prospective employers, with a separate one for law enforcement.
In Illinois, an identity theft victim does have a mechanism that severs the thief’s record from his or hers. It is called the Criminal Identification Act.
Wisconsin did offer Teague a letter that confirms his identity is separate from that of his second cousin's, and that he has no criminal record. Teague said he can’t get far enough in an interview process to get much use of the letter.
"[Employers] don’t want to hear that. A lot of employees say, ’Oh , that wasn’t me, somebody used my name.’ They probably hear that all the time.. But with me, it’s the truth," said Teague.
Experts say these kind of incidents point to the need for all consumers to read their own background reports. Federal law requires notification if a job-seeker is denied employment based on a negative background report, but industry observers point out it is often impossible to know if that happens as required.
Consumer rights are laid out in the Fair Credit Reporting Act , but many job-seekers have no idea to what they are entitled if a company orders a background report on them.
The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse publishes a “Jobseeker’s Guide” that lays out frequently asked questions about employment background checks.
An industry group that represents some background check companies also answers frequently asked questions on the topic on its website. ..Source.. by Lisa Parker
Angry mob in Denver attacks man thought to be sexual predator
5-20-2013 Colorado:
DENVER – Residents angry that police had not warned them about sex assaults of children took matters into their own hands, chasing down a man they thought was the attacker, pelting him with rocks and leaving him with a bloody face in Colorado, authorities said Monday.
Pueblo police later released the man because of lack of evidence, The Pueblo Chieftain reported.
Neighborhood residents were looking for a man suspected of two separate sexual acts when they got word that a man matching the description had been spotted, said Alex Pacheco, one of the pursuers.
The group confronted the man and he ran.
Pursuers surrounded him and punched him in the face, police Capt. Tom Rummel said. Arriving officers shoved the man into a police car and whisked him to the station for questioning. He was not seriously injured.
"The primary officer on the scene said get him out of here," Rummel said.
Pacheco told the newspaper that residents were canvassing the area looking for the man who committed the sex crimes during the past few months.
One incident involved the sexual assault of a girl in her home. In the other, authorities said a man with the same description exposed himself to another child.
Police said the mob grew to about a half-dozen people as residents learned of the chase and joined in.
"We went through the right channels in contacting the police but there hasn't been much response," Pacheco said. "We can't wait around any longer without doing something. These are children that this man is after and we can't let any more children get hurt by him."
Rummel said police had notified the media and posted warnings on social media about the attacks, but authorities are not required by law to notify residents because no one had been arrested.
Rummel said police only had a vague description of the suspect because he wore a bandanna over his face.
The 54-year-old man accosted by the mob did not want to file charges against his pursuers, the chief said.
"He said folks were reacting to a bad situation and he told the officer, `I don't want to go that route,"' Rummel said. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
The name of the man was not released because no charges were filed. He agreed to give investigators a DNA sample so he could be ruled out as a suspect. ..Source.. by Fox News
Exonerated man's name pulled from sex offender website
10-28-2013 Illinois:
llinois State Police removed Carl Chatman's name from the sex offender registry this morning, following notification that Chatman had been exonerated in an alleged 2002 rape at the Daley Center and, thus, should not have been on the website.
The mistaken entry was identified after Berwyn police arrested Chatman Sunday because he was listed on the site as an unregistered sex offender.
Russell Ainsworth, who represented Carl Chatman in his wrongful conviction case, said the Berwyn Police Department held Chatman for about two hours, until Ainsworth was able to get to the station and provide documents proving the conviction had been thrown out.
"He is not required to register as a sex offender because he is not a sex offender," Ainsworth said.
It was not immediately clear why Chatman's name showed up on the Illinois sex offender registry website.
The registry is maintained by the Illinois State Police. Spokeswoman Monique Bond said they removed his name after being notified of the error Sunday by Berwyn police.
Bond said individuals on the registry or their lawyers should notify state police of any updates that could allow their names to be removed.
"If someone believes they are mistakenly placed on the list, they would contact us or the registering agency," Bond said.
Berwyn Police Cmdr. Joe Santangelo said the arrest was made as part of a routine sex offender compliance check. He said he planned to review the arrest Monday but believed the situation involved a records glitch.
Chatman's sister, Theresa, said her brother and she were getting ready for church when Berwyn police officers knocked on her door a little before 8 a.m. Theresa Chatman, who spent years trying to prove her brother's innocence, said the police told her they were looking for Carl Chatman.
"When I opened the door, they busted past me and then walked through the home to the kitchen," Theresa Chatman said. "(My brother) just had on his pajama pants drinking his coffee, and they had him in handcuffs."
She said she tried to explain to the police that her brother's conviction had been vacated and that she had the paperwork to prove it, but they arrested him anyway.
Chatman, 58, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for an alleged May 2002 rape of a county employee at the Daley Center. But last month, Cook County prosecutors made the stunning announcement that they doubted the credibility of the woman who brought the allegations against Chatman and no longer believed the sexual assault even took place.
Chatman, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and has a low IQ, was released from prison Sept. 10 after 11 years in custody. Since that time, Chatman has been living with his sister and her daughter in west suburban Berwyn.
Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state's attorney's office, said Berwyn police contacted the office about Chatman's case after they arrested him Sunday.
The state's attorney's office told police that Chatman's conviction had been vacated and that he was not required to register as a sex offender, said Daly, who added that she did not know how Chatman's name ended up on the site. The state's attorney's office is not required to notify state police of exonerations, she said.
"He shouldn't have been on the (sex offender) website," Daly said.
Ainsworth said the Berwyn Police Department told him that Chatman had been caught up in a sex offender sweep because he showed up as unregistered.
Police released Chatman around 10 a.m. and notified all Berwyn police officers of the situation, Ainsworth said.
Theresa Chatman said that since her brother's release, they have been trying to adjust to his life at home and his medication schedule and that the arrest Sunday did not help.
"We didn't think that every time we turned around and opened our door, there were going to be police there," Theresa Chatman said. "I mean, come on, when is it going to be over?" ..Source.. by Cynthia Dizikes
December 29, 2013
Cell phone ban, sex offenders, speed limit changes lead list of new laws
This is one of those "Make me (Lawmaker) look good laws. There isn't a single statistic to show any crimes committed by registered sex offenders in a playground (McDonalds' type) area.12-29-2013 Illinois:
With every new year it seems like lawmakers figure out one more place to limit where sex offenders aren’t welcome.
This year’s target: The playground at your favorite fast food joint.
Beginning Jan. 1, sex offenders would no longer be allowed to loiter in the playground area of private businesses, such as the Playland at your local McDonald’s.
The measure doesn’t ban sex offenders from McDonald’s entirely, but could leave them open to police scrutiny if they do more than order their food and eat it.
The legislation is House Bill 3023. ..Source.. by Kurt Erickson
December 28, 2013
Former Fayetteville police officer arrested in connection with rape
Note: Another writer has reported this story HERE, but a careful review of that story will show the report is incorrect. Below follows the two reported incidents in chronological sequence which is needed to get the facts correct.12-28-2013 Alabama:
A former Fayetteville police officer was arrested last week in connection with rape, second-degree sexual assault, burglary and disclosure to an unauthorized person.
Jamison Stiles, 31, of Fayetteville is accused of sexually assaulting one woman in October and another woman in July. Both alleged incidents occurred while Stiles was still employed as an officer with the Fayetteville Police Department.
Fayetteville police received a report on Nov. 10 from a woman who said she had been sexually assaulted on Oct. 26 by a uniformed police officer. The woman identified Stiles from a photo line-up, and an internal investigation began three days later on Nov. 13.
According to a preliminary arrest report, Stiles and another officer arrested an intoxicated woman at 12:03 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26 on North Block Avenue in downtown Fayetteville. Instead of arresting her, Stiles took the woman to her home at the Cliffs Apartments at 12:36 a.m.
Stiles returned to the area twice – once at 2 a.m. and again at 4 a.m. The woman said she awoke naked at around 4:30 a.m. to find a uniformed police officer standing over her. After a brief conversation, the officer pulled the woman’s blankets away, grabbed her breast and left the apartment.
Detectives said Stiles lived in the same complex where he worked as a security guard, which gave him access to a master key to all of the apartments.
Stiles was placed on administrative leave, and was relieved of his badge and gun on Dec. 4, according to a news release. Stiles was fired on Dec. 16 for several policy violations, including failure to cooperate with the investigation.
Stiles had worked for the Fayetteville Police Department as a patrol officer since January 2011. Before that, he worked as an officer with the Rogers Police Department for about a year.
Second report
Police received a second report on Dec. 17 from a former department employee saying she had been sexually assaulted at her home by Stiles in early July while Stiles was on duty and wearing his full uniform.
The woman said she was leaving work at around 6 p.m. July 7 as Stiles was arriving for his overnight shift. She said Stiles watched her drive away, and that he later sent her text messages. Detectives said Stiles used his police computer to find the victim’s address after accessing her license plate records.
This did not occur in the first incident.Stiles drove by the woman’s house at least four times that night before finally stopping early Monday morning to confront her in the driveway. After a long conversation, Stiles took the woman’s cell phone and began looking through her private photos “while moaning at them” before forcing his hands under her underwear twice, according to the report.
Stiles, who police said had no known prior criminal history before the incidents, was released on a $50,000 bond on Saturday.
Sgt. Craig Stout told reporters the case has certainly damaged the department’s reputation.
“Unfortunately, any time an incident like this happens, whether it’s in Fayetteville or somewhere across the country, it gives law enforcement a bad name,” said Stout. “We’re going to have to work very hard to rebuild trust with the community.” ..Source.. by Flyer Staff
December 26, 2013
Conviction of man who admitted having child porn thrown out
12-25-2013 New Hampshire:
The state Supreme Judicial Court has overturned the guilty plea, conviction and 2-15 year prison sentence of a man who police said admitted possessing child pornography.
David Latagne agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of attempted possession of child pornography last year and was sentenced to 2-15 years in state prison.
But the plea deal came only after a judge refused to throw out Latagne's admission to police that he possessed child porn and the results of a search of his computer. The agreement allowed him to remain free while he appealed that ruling.
Salem police arrested Lantagne at Canobie Lake Park in July, 2013 on disorderly conduct charges after getting complaints that he was taking pictures of young girls' backsides as they emerged from a water ride.
In a unanimous decision, the justices said since the disorderly conduct charge did not meet the legal standard for that crime, the arrest was "unlawful" and prosecutors could not use statements made when he was questioned while police were holding him on that charge.
The court said Lantagne was arrested after a woman complained to a security guard that Lantagne made her "nervous," and the guard observed Lantagne positioning his cell phone on the side of his leg and aiming at young girls clad in swim suits. ..Continued.. by BILL SMITH, New Hampshire Union Leader
Ramos’ Megan’s Law trial date pushed back
Suspect now wants jury to hear his case
WILKES-BARRE — Jose A. Ramos’ Luzerne County trial on an alleged Megan’s Law violation has been pushed into the new year after the defendant requested his case be heard by a jury.
Ramos was arrested Nov. 7, 2012, for allegedly lying about where he planned to live after prison, just minutes after he was released from the State Correctional Institution at Dallas. Ramos served a 27-year sentence for molesting children in Erie County, Pa.
A bench trial in the case had been scheduled for Dec. 30 in Luzerne County Court. According to documents filed on Ramos’ behalf by attorney Thomas Marsilio, Ramos is now seeking a trial by jury, and requested a continuance because no jurors are scheduled to report during the week of Dec. 30.
Judge David W. Lupas granted the continuance in an order filed late Monday, scheduling a trial to begin at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 21.
Ramos, 70, has made national headlines for his links to the Etan Patz case in New York City. Patz, 6, disappeared in 1979. Ramos has been labeled a material witness in the case of Pedro Hernandez, 52, who stands accused of killing the boy. Ramos, once considered a suspect in the Patz case, had been dating the boy’s babysitter.
Ramos filed an appeal last month against an order directing him to testify in New York during the Hernandez trial, which is set for April 23. ..Source.. by Roger DuPuis
December 23, 2013
Pennsylvania woman tries to frame hubby with child porn, police say
State police have charged a western Pennsylvania woman with putting child pornography on a computer in an unsuccessful effort to frame her estranged husband.
Online court records don't list an attorney for 42-year-old Meri Jane Woods, of Cherry Hill Township, who also doesn't have a listed phone.
Troopers from Indiana, Pa. say she started the investigation when she came to their barracks on Aug. 14 to report her husband sexually abused children and put images of same on their home computer. Police investigated and determined the images were put on the computer Aug. 11 but that Woods' husband left the residence July 23.
Woods is charged with a felony count of sexual abuse of children for possessing a computer with the images on it, and 40 counts of lying about alleged abuse incidents involving her husband. ..Source.. by Fox News.com
December 20, 2013
N.J. bill to shield texting teens stalls
This is what happens when lawmakers tuck UNRELATED issues, into a bill. But but but, thankfully this report also shows SOMEONE actually read the bill; hats off to that person!12-20-2013 New Jersey:
TRENTON A bill that would exempt New Jersey teenagers caught sexting with their peers from registering as sex offenders stalled in the Assembly on Thursday.
The measure was scheduled for a vote by the full Assembly but hit a last-minute snag, said Wayne P. D'Angelo (D., Mercer), one of its sponsors.
"It was a done deal," D'Angelo said, adding that he was "highly disappointed" by the setback, which stemmed from a provision that would impose a $30 monthly fee on sex offenders to pay for increased oversight by parole officers.
A similar version cleared the full Senate by a 35-0 vote this year.
The bill would make changes to Megan's Law that lawmakers say are needed to address a growing problem with minors who "sext" explicit photos, videos, or texts from one cellphone to another.
Under the current law, teens caught "sexting" must receive the same treatment as sex offenders convicted under the law, first adopted in 1994. They must register, and the community must be notified.
"Essentially, they're branded for life as sex offenders," said Sen. Linda R. Greenstein (D., Middlesex), one of the bill's Senate sponsors.
"We're not justifying sexting. We're only saying that it should not be a Megan's Law offense," she said.
Maureen Kanka, whose daughter, Megan, 7, was raped and killed by a neighbor who was a convicted sex offender in Hamilton Township, told lawmakers at a committee hearing last month that she wanted to keep teens who were not serious predators off the registry.
New Jersey became the first state in the country to adopt Megan's Law, and many states and the federal government followed suit.
Under the proposed changes, minors who share nude photos of themselves with other minors could be adjudicated as delinquent in Family Court, but would no longer be subject to the offender registry.
Other provisions would toughen penalties for adult offenders and for those who fail to notify authorities when they move.
In a compromise to avoid a possible conditional veto by Gov. Christie, a provision that would have set a 40-caseload maximum for parole officers who supervise offenders was struck from the bill, D'Angelo said.
But the bill ran into trouble when Democrats balked at the $30 fee, he said.
D'Angelo said the bill may come up again Jan. 6. ..Source.. by Melanie Burney, Inquirer Staff Writer
December 19, 2013
Milwaukee Ald. Jim Bohl under investigation for suspected coercion
He's suspected of pressuring landlord to evict sex offenders
Milwaukee Ald. Jim Bohl is under investigation for allegedly causing a landlord to get hit with a slew of code violations after he refused to evict two sex offenders from a property in the alderman's district.
Investigators from the district attorney's office believe Bohl then had the landlord's records falsely wiped clean after the landlord said he had broken a state housing contract for the offenders. The landlord, in fact, did not break that contract.
The investigation is revealed in a search warrant that seeks phone and email records of Bohl; his aide Todd Peterson; Department of Neighborhood Services inspector Todd Vandre; and an audit trail of DNS records related to nine of the landlord's properties.
The warrant indicates investigators were seeking evidence of misconduct in public office, and threats to injure or accuse of a crime. Both are felonies.
According to the search warrant affidavit, Bohl told the landlord's property manager in October that the two tenants "needed to go" from a house in the 3200 block of N. 77th St.
The men were both on supervised release under the state's Chapter 980 law that allows civil commitment beyond prison sentences for certain sex offenders. They were placed in the house through an August contract established by the state Department of Health Services, which oversees Chapter 980 subjects.
Within a few a days of the conversation with Bohl, property owner Jeff Stockinger told his manager that he had recently been hit with orders to correct a variety of violations issued by the city's Department of Neighborhood Services at his properties. All were from the same inspector, Vandre, and dated Oct. 15 through Oct. 18.
"I was shocked, stunned and scared," said Jim Miller, who worked as Stockinger's property manager. "Jeff was livid. He thought it would put him out of business."
Miller said that before the violations were issued, Bohl offered to take money out of his campaign fund to make Stockinger whole for three months' of rental — an allegation Bohl denied through his attorney. Miller said the monthly rent at the home where the two tenants were living was $1,250 a month, or $3,750 for the three months.
"Jeff never responded to the offer," Miller said.
On Oct. 24, Stockinger and Miller met with Bohl at the City Market, 8725 W. North Ave. According to Miller, Bohl said he was sorry to "play hardball" but that under no circumstances would he allow the sex offenders to live in his district.
"When he made that hardball comment, it really pissed me off," Miller said Thursday.
"We knew we didn't want to go toe-to-toe with him," Miller said. "We said there's no way to get out of the lease. Bohl said the violations weren't going to go away."
Miller said Stockinger asked Bohl would happen if the lease were to go away. Miller said Bohl said the violations would be wiped clean.
After Miller agreed to ask the state to break the lease, Bohl told Stockinger the many code violation orders would be "magically lost" and Stockinger could avoid the $20,000 to $40,000 in repairs the orders called for, according to the affidavit.
A district attorney's office investigator, Robert Stelter, said in an affidavit that the violations began to disappear from the Department of Neighborhood Services' records. When some remained, Miller called Peterson to complain and was told: "We can't just wipe the slate clean quickly. They'll very slowly trickle off."
Miller said he called the state employee in charge of placing sex offenders in the community and explained the situation. Then he called Bohl's office.
"I called Bohl's office and updated him," Miller said. "Bohl seemed pleased with this."
Officials at the state Department of Health Services, the agency that oversees placement of sex offenders, acknowledged they were aware of the investigation.
Inspection reports included with the search warrant application show Stockinger's properties were cited for a variety of violations and he was ordered to clear gutters, connect downspouts, pave parking areas, paint wood trim, repair or replace porch railings, roofing, mortar and a broken window, and install a dryer vent cover, among other repairs.
Attorney Mike Maistelman, who often represents clients at City Hall in licensing and has represented elected officials in other cases, said Thursday he was Bohl's lawyer.
In a statement released by Maistelman and attributed to Bohl, the aldermen said: "As my constituents well know, the safety of the residents of my district has been and always will be my number one priority. It is disappointing to see these allegations made public before a full examination of the facts was completed. I look forward to working with investigators to answer any and all questions and to resolve any outstanding issues."
Maistelman said the allegation that Bohl offered to cover the landlord's losses from his campaign fund is "unequivocally not true."
Aside from the statement, Bohl did not respond to emails or phone calls. He was not home when a reporter stopped there.
A source familiar with the probe said Bohl had been aware of the pending investigation for some time. Maistelman declined to comment on that.
Peterson, Bohl's aide, said his attorney had advised him not to comment on the matter. He then hung up the phone.
A spokesman for the city's Department of Neighborhood Services released a statement after the investigation was made public.
"Regarding the investigation mentioned in the Journal Sentinel, DNS was made aware of the situation by the district attorney's office. DNS is fully cooperating with the district attorney. Due to the nature of the investigation, DNS has no additional comment at this time," the statement said.
Bohl, 42, was first elected in 2000 and is serving his fourth full term represented the 5th Aldermanic District following his re-election in April 2012.
In 2007, he and Ald. Tony Zielinski proposed an ordinance that would have virtually prohibited any new sex offender placements within the city, with restrictions so tight that only 0.14% of the city's residences would have qualified to house them. The ordinance was not adopted.
Where sex offenders should be allowed to live has been a divisive issue for at least a decade, since Billy Lee Morford quietly moved into a home on the northwest side of Milwaukee.
Protests led to a search for alternative sites, each of which encountered its own resistance from neighbors. There was talk of making the state build a group facility somewhere in the county for sex offenders released under Chapter 980
Most recently, Shawn Schulpius finally won supervised release from Chapter 980 commitment after years of trying. His planned placement in the Bay View area met with more subdued concern. ..Source.. by John Diedrich
December 18, 2013
Should false rape accusers be sued?
12-18-2013 Alabama:
Editor's note: Roxanne Jones is a founding editor of ESPN The Magazine and a former vice president at ESPN. She is a national lecturer on sports, entertainment and women's topics and a recipient of the 2010 Woman of the Year award from Women in Sports and Events. She is the co-author of "Say It Loud: An Illustrated History of the Black Athlete," (Random House) and CEO of Push Media Strategies.
(CNN) -- Eighty years -- that's about how long it took the state of Alabama to posthumously pardon the last three of nine men who were falsely accused and wrongly convicted of raping two white women on a train. They infamously were called the Scottsboro Boys, because the nine black men were just 12- to 19-years-old when they were arrested in 1931.
It turned out that the women, Ruby Bates and Victoria Price, had lied to police about the rapes. At one of the trials, Bates recanted her testimony, saying she had made it all up. Still, the all-white jury convicted the boys, one after another.
Forty-three years later, a similar story: This time it was Delbert Tibbs, who died recently of cancer. Tibbs spent nearly three years in prison in Florida after he was convicted in 1974 of a rape and murder that he had nothing to do with, according to the Florida Supreme Court.
Ancient history, you say? We've moved past those shameful days of unequal justice, you insist. Think again.
In 2012, according to the FBI, nearly 87,000 "forcible rapes" were reported. That's down 7% from the number of rapes reported in 2008. Law enforcement agencies estimate that the number of false rape accusations ranges from 2% to 8% annually, or between 2,000 and 7,000 cases each year.
Exact numbers are difficult to track because of the lack of in-depth research on false rape cases and because of the varying definitions of what constitutes an "unfounded" rape claim. It can mean the alleged victim did not try to fight off the suspect or suffer injuries, was not threatened with a weapon or the victim and perpetrator had a previous relationship.
Law enforcement experts agree that rapes are widely underreported, and no one is suggesting that violence against women isn't a serious problem. But experts do not dispute that false rape accusations can and do happen. Many of those innocent men end up in prison or with lives shattered.
One of the unfortunate statistics
In 2002, Brian Banks was one of those unfortunate statistics. He was just 17 when a classmate, Wanetta Gibson, 15, falsely accused him of raping her at school. Banks, then a top football talent, spent more than five years in prison and five years on probation for rape and kidnapping. ..Continued.. by Roxanne Jones
Area Rep’s Child Porn Bill Passes House, Senate
State Rep. Marcy Toepel authored a bill to enhance sentencing for those convicted on child pornography charges.
A bill authored by local State Representative Marcy Toepel (R-147) to enhance the punishment for those convicted on child pornography charges has passed the Pennsylvania House and Senate chambers and will head to the governor’s desk later this week.
The legislation amends Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes on Crimes and Offenses, reflecting recommendations made by the Task Force on Child Protection.
“The state Task Force on Child Protection found in a 2012 report that those who committed the offense of child pornography received a wide variety of sentences, including probation, despite the egregious nature of the offense,” Toepel said. “It is never appropriate to think that the people committing these kinds of heinous acts on a child can walk away with only probation.”
The sentencing guidelines will be enhanced across the spectrum of child pornography charges and will be based upon the age of the child victimized, the number of images possessed, and the nature and character of the abuse.
The legislation also increases the penalty if the image in question involves any indecent contact with a child.
The varying punishments handed down by judges for individuals convicted of possessing child porn has become an issue throughout the country. In 2009, for example, a former schoolteacher in Pennsylvania was convicted of possessing child pornography and served a one-day jail sentence, followed by probation, according to the Wall Street Journal.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, roughly 2,800 individuals download or transmit child pornography every month in Pennsylvania. The Attorney General’s Child Predator Section (CPS) arrested 107 individuals this year, up from only 19 arrests in 2012.
“I look forward to the Governor signing my bill into law, ensuring pedophiles are held accountable for their actions,” Toepel said. ..Source.. by Brittany Tressler
December 17, 2013
Ephrata man gets probation for making citizen's arrest on sex offender
Suggested Read: How and When you might Make a Citizen's Arrest12-17-2013 Pennsylvania:
Displayed a badge, handcuffed teenager during 2011 incident
An Ephrata man who made a citizen's arrest in 2011 of a Denver teenager later charged with sexual assault will serve probation and complete community service for impersonating a public servant.
John Hall Jr. was accepted Monday into a two-year alternative-sentencing program that calls for probation, 2 years of community service and fines.
Hall, 43, was charged in July 2011 with placing handcuffs on 19-year-old Zane Robinson after he heard Robinson confess to sexually assaulting a boy.
East Cocalico Township police, after a two-month investigation, charged Robinson with felony sex crimes. Robinson is now serving an 8-to-16-year prison term.
Police, however, with approval from the county district attorney's office, charged Hall with a misdemeanor count of impersonating a public servant.
Hall displayed a badge and claimed to have jurisdiction to arrest Robinson, an arrest affidavit shows.
Along with the sentence, a local judge ordered the badge be destroyed.
"I don't, for any minute, consider this behavior to be trivial," Lancaster County Judge Dennis Reinaker told Hall. "You undermined the public confidence and trust in people like those two officers back there."
Reinaker gestured to East Cocalico police Officers Jonathan Zaun and Steven Savage, who worked the case.
Hall said little in court, aside from answering the judge's questions with "Yes" or "No."
"Hopefully, you learned a lesson from this," Reinaker told Hall.
"Yes, your honor," replied Hall, a large man in a gray suit.
Hall insisted from the start that he was exercising his legal right.
Hall claimed the victim, a 13-year-old boy who lived nearby, told Hall that Robinson had sexually assaulted him.
District Attorney Craig Stedman alleged that Hall then "lured" Robinson to a home in Denver Valley Estates and essentially coaxed a confession from him on July 23, 2011.
Police said the right thing to do would have been to contact police immediately after hearing of the alleged crime.
Hall, according to the affidavit, displayed a badge to the responding police officers.
"Hall said he worked for the federal government and stated he had jurisdiction to make an arrest," one officer wrote in the affidavit.
Police initially charged Hall with false imprisonment, but dropped the charge and replaced it with impersonating a public servant.
Hall also was charged with driving on a suspended license for driving to the police station to discuss the case.
In court Monday, prosecutor Ande Gonzalez went over all the conditions that Hall must complete in the program to have the charges expunged from his record. Those conditions include a $650 program fee, undergoing a mental-health evaluation and maintaining a full-time job.
Hall had been free on unsecured bail.
Robinson was sentenced in March to the negotiated 8-to-16-year term for illegal sexual contact with a pair of teenage boys. ..Source.. by BRETT HAMBRIGHT
December 16, 2013
No Hugs Allowed? Madison Targets Pro Cuddlers
UPDATE: It has closed12-16-2013 Wisconsin:
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin's ultra-liberal capital city is a place where just about anything goes, from street parties to naked bike rides. But city officials say a business is pushing even Madison's boundaries by offering, of all things, hugs.
For $60, customers at the Snuggle House can spend an hour hugging, cuddling and spooning with professional snugglers.
Snugglers contend touching helps relieve stress. But Madison officials suspect the business is a front for prostitution and, if it's not, fear snuggling could lead to sexual assault. Not buying the message that the business is all warm and fuzzy, police have talked openly about conducting a sting operation at the business, and city attorneys are drafting a new ordinance to regulate snuggling.
"There's no way that (sexual assault) will not happen," assistant city attorney Jennifer Zilavy said. "No offense to men, but I don't know any man who wants to just snuggle."
Snuggle House owner Matthew Hurtado hasn't responded to multiple requests for an interview. His attorney, Tim Casper, said in an interview last month the business is legitimate and Hurtado has put precautions in place to protect clients and employees from each other.
"The concept is obviously a novel one and you can see where they (the city) might be a little skeptical," he said. "Could something happen? Yeah, I suppose. But they're taking every precaution."
In recent days, it's become unclear whether or not the house is still in business. No one answered the door there Saturday. A posting on a Facebook page claiming to be the Snuggle House's site said it had closed, but the page owner wouldn't identify themselves — or confirm if it was the home's official site. Neither Hurtado nor Casper have returned phone and email messages.
Madison's concern seems to be deeper than in other cities where similar businesses have set up shop as cuddling has grown into a cottage industry over the past decade.
Police in Rochester, N.Y., said they've had no complaints about The Snuggery, which offers overnight cuddle sessions. Be The Love You Are in Boulder, Colo., offers cuddles with "Snuggle Stars." Cuddle Therapy in San Francisco offers packages that "focus directly with your current needs around connection, intimacy and touch," according to its website. Police in San Francisco and Boulder didn't respond to The AP's inquires about those businesses.
The nonprofit organization Cuddle Party has trained about 100 people across five continents to run group snuggle sessions, said Len Daley, a psychologist who serves as executive director at Cuddle Party headquarters in Montgomery, Ala. Betty Martin, a Seattle-based sex educator who facilities cuddle parties in that city, said she's never had problems with government officials or police. Cuddle Party participants must keep their clothes on and go through a pre-session workshop on how to say "no," she said.
"People think if there's touch happening there must be sex happening. That's not the case at all," Martin said.
Madison might seem like an ideal spot for snuggling. Former Gov. Lee Dreyfus once described the Democratic stronghold as "30 square miles surrounded by reality." The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which advocates for atheists, is based here. Every year UW-Madison students hold a blocks-long party to celebrate the end of the school year and biking enthusiasts pedal through the streets in various stages of undress each spring.
The Snuggle House sits above a bar about a block from the state Capitol. The only indication it's there is a welcome mat that reads "Snuggle House." The business's website features photos of bedrooms with hardwood floors and videos of four snugglers — three women and one man — talking about wanting to help people feel better.
Zilavy, the assistant city attorney, said her first thought when she heard about the Snuggle House was "OK, this is going to be a place of prostitution." She said Hurtado initially had no business plan, no business insurance, no training protocols and no answers when she asked him what he would do if a snuggler was sexually assaulted.
The Snuggle House's opening was delayed about a month as Hurtado — who filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and again in 2009, according to federal court records — worked to satisfy the city's concerns. He said he put security cameras and a panic button in each bedroom, promised to perform background checks on clients and adopted rules prohibiting sex, paying for sex, nudity and drugs and alcohol during a session, Zilavy said.
She said no city ordinances address snuggling businesses. She's drafting regulations that would allow health inspections as well as create licensing requirements. She also planned to take Hurtado up on his offer to watch security footage of a snuggle session and view client rosters.
Police have been keeping an eye on the Snuggle House as well. Lt. David McCaw said police planned to send an officer into the business as a customer "and test the boundaries of what they said they're doing." He likened the operation to routine undercover compliance checks at a bar.
"It's right at the edge, isn't it?" McCaw said. "This business is about personal contact between two people for money. ... People have different opinions of what they think Madison is and sometimes people are shocked by pushback." ..Source.. by Monika Mathur
West Virginia lawmakers seek to combat child sex crimes
Not one word about doing anything differently to reduce alleged crimes; accordingly we see a jobs stimulus request for funding. If they cannot report success with past funding then they do not deserve further funding, the state needs to replace someone!12-16-2013 West Virginia:
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A legislative committee said Tuesday it will seek millions of dollars to combat sex crimes against children by hiring 50 new state troopers, which would more than double the size of this year's class of cadets.
The Select Committee on Crimes Against Children presented a package of proposals aimed at protecting children during a news conference at the Capitol. Despite an austere budget environment, the committee plans to seek $5.7 million in funding for the new troopers and also wants $250,000 in funding for child advocacy centers throughout the state.
"We know this is a difficult budget year. We have a large dollar sign on our Christmas wish list, but we think this issue is critical for our state," said Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer, D-Monongalia.
If approved, the funding would authorize West Virginia State Police to expand its overall ranks to a total of about 750. This year's class of cadets had about 20 people enrolled.
Committee chairwoman Del. Linda Phillips, D-Wyoming, said she's had conversations with House leadership about the budget proposals and that through sharing already appropriated funding, "we can do this."
West Virginia State Police said if it is able to enroll 50 new people into its cadet class, it would be able to reassign more experienced troopers to its Crimes Against Children Unit as soon as the replacement troopers are trained and equipped. Currently, 18 troopers are assigned to the unit, said First Sgt. Daniel Swiger, deputy director of the unit.
By 2018, State Police want to have 85 uniformed members of the crimes against children unit in place.
The unit was formed in 2006. Since then, the number of registered sex offenders has grown from 1,675 to 4,178 in 2012. The number of criminal offenses grew from 193 to 909 in that same period. So far this year, the unit's digital forensic section has logged 391 cases, according to state police.
The committee also wants stiffer penalties for those who repeatedly view child pornography and to prohibit child visitation by those who committed a sexual assault. The committee is also calling for the creation of a misdemeanor child abuse crime for creating a substantial risk of injury to a child.
Under current child abuse law, someone can only be charged with a crime if they seriously injure a child. Lawmakers on the committee said the proposal to add a misdemeanor crime for abuse or neglect that puts a child at risk of harm would give prosecutors better options when reviewing cases.
The Legislature's 2014 session begins in January. ..Source.. by BROCK VERGAKIS
December 15, 2013
Local man illustrates state sex offender trend
On the same day last month that state Attorney General Kamala D. Harris was announcing an initiative designed to stop criminals from re-offending, prosecutors were in Antelope Valley Superior Court for a pretrial hearing in a case filed against Yale Joseph Yurman, 70, a Valencia resident and three-time convicted sex offender.
In the latest case against Yurman due to go to court next year, he’s charged with annoying a girl by following her and videotaping her inside a Valencia retail store.
Although the dates and locations of his prior offenses are not listed, the Meagan’s Law website says he was convicted of three prior lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age, using “force or fear” on two of those occasions.
Santa Clarita Valley sheriff’s detectives searched Yurman’s home on Hickory Court in the Belcaro area shortly after his arrest. Inside they found what they said is evidence he followed young girls and videotaped them on several occasions at two different stores and a church in the Santa Clarita Valley.
Yurman’s case illustrates the challenge of reducing repeated criminal offenses among convicted sexual predators in particular.
California’s recidivism rate — the rate at which criminals re-offend — is among the highest in the country, Harris said during her November news conference in downtown Los Angeles.
Last year, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported a recidivism rate of 64 percent in California, according to a report examining recidivism during the years 2009 to 2011.
The highest rate of re-offending reported in the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation report published last year was for “other sex offenses.” The definition for that category of crime includes failing to register as a sex offender, unlawful sex with a minor and indecent exposure. The rate of re-offense was 73.9 percent likelihood of parolees re-offending.
The generalized category of “other sex offenses” illustrates one of the problems with California’s handling of sex offenders, one expert says.
Dr. Rachyll Dempsey is a forensic neuropsychologist certified by the California Sex Offender Management Board, who works with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
California’s tendency to generalize sex offenders into a single category fails to appreciate the nuances and differences found in people compelled to register as sex offenders, she said in an interview with The Signal.
“We have an inmate in San Quentin who was arrested for urinating on a sidewalk and convicted for indecent exposure, making him a registered sex offender,” she said.
“In California, there is no different degree of registered sex offenders as there is in other states,” she said.
“We’ve got a whole spectrum of offenders,” Dempsey said. “We’ve got the one-time offender who is 18 with his immature girlfriend, and then we have the habitual repeat sex offenders.
“It’s a one-size-fits-all-models approach, with no distinction made between the hardcore offenders and those with some minor offense,” she said.
Dempsey, who spent six years working with offenders at San Quentin, takes many factors into account when she assesses sex offenders on probation or on parole for the California Sex Offender Management Board.
“One of the questions we ask is, ‘Why act out in a sexual way?’ And often we find it involves power and control issues,” she said. “They have feelings of insecurity and a sense of powerlessness.” ..Source.. by Jim Holt
Critics call for Nevada to close legal loophole for school employee sex offenders
The only class of felony sex offenders in Nevada not required to register in a national database are school employees and volunteers convicted of having sexual relations with their students who are younger than age 18.
“I think the penalty should be more substantial,” Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Jim Sweetin said. “There should be at least lifetime registration, possibly lifetime supervision.”
Those offenders won’t always show up on the National Sex Offender Public Registry, because there is no mandatory registration for them required under Nevada law. The age of consent in Nevada is 16. However, the law prohibiting sexual conduct between school employees and students covers students under the age of 18.
Sweetin finds that lack of required registration odd.
“It’s very strange when you look at some laws. You would have to say that a teacher who is in a classroom with children, and who is committing these crimes, would have to fall into this area,” Sweetin said. “A teacher attracted to children, that’s somebody you definitely want to tag.”
From 1994 to 2005, 16 Nevada teachers and other school employees or volunteers were convicted of sexual offenses against students but were not required to register as sex offenders in the national registry.
Those numbers were reported in a 2011 study done for the local nonprofit advocacy group S.E.S.A.M.E., or Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct and Exploitation.
Those 16 teachers were convicted under Nevada Revised Statutes 201.540 or 201.550, the laws prohibiting sexual conduct between a school employee and a student. But the laws, introduced in 1997, do not require those convicted to register as sex offenders.
“Our children spend the largest portion of their day awake at school. That should be the safest place for them,” said Terri Miller, president of S.E.S.A.M.E.
Assembly Bill 265, proposed in the 2013 legislative session, sought to revise the statute to require school employees or volunteers convicted of sexual conduct with a student to register as sex offenders and have lifetime supervision.
The bill was supported by the Clark County School District, the Nevada District Attorneys Association and the Metropolitan Police Department, among others.
The Clark County public defenders office opposed the bill.
“The concern was that it would be a step away from how we typically looked at registration,” Clark County public defender Steve Yeager said Thursday.
Yeager, a representative of government affairs for the public defender’s office during the Legislature, said many of those convicted under the current law were in consensual relationships with students who were 16 or older.
“Traditionally, in these consensual relationships, laws have said that we won’t mandate registration,” Yeager said.
The bill never made it to a hearing for a vote in the Legislature. According to Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Jason Frierson, D-Las Vegas, there was not enough time for a hearing on the bill.
But the law as it stands is “too narrow in scope,” Miller said. “We need to broaden the law or simply raise the age of consent.”
In 2007, the Nevada Legislature approved the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, a federal statute passed in 2006 to enhance the punishments of sex offenders.
The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act is commonly called SORNA. The first section sets stronger guidelines on sex offenses and the punishments that should accompany them.
Since the act was signed into law, the SORNA guidelines have been “substantially implemented” in 17 states, according to the law’s federal website.
A SORNA implementation review of Nevada, done in 2011 by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking, requires any sexual conduct between an employee and student to fall under Tier II sex offender registration requirements. Those convicted under that law would have to register as a sex offender for a minimum 25 years.
Registration requires the person to enter information about their conviction in the national sex offender database. Sweetin said supervision requires a person to check in regularly with a probation officer. If a registered offender moves, they must update their address within 48 hours.
The reasoning behind registration and supervision is to identify those offenders “who are problematic with the chance of possibly re-offending,” according to Sweetin.
“When a teacher offends against a child, I think that’s much more substantial than someone off the street committing the same act,” Sweetin said. “My preference would be to protect the community, to put up all of those roadblocks to re-offending that we possibly can.”
Without those roadblocks, offenders could find themselves working with children shortly after their conviction.
“If they move from state to state, there’s no real structure set up that’s going to require those that they come in contact with to know their history,” Sweetin said. “If you have someone who has to register, then you take care of that problem.”
In many cases, because of issues involving the age of consent in Nevada, uncooperative witnesses, or the victim claiming to be in love with the teacher, the sexual conduct charge is the only tool prosecutors have in their pocket, Sweetin said.
“The statute gives us the ability to go after them, even if (the victims are) 16 or 17,” Sweetin said. ..Source.. by Colton Lochhead
State reluctantly IMPLEMENTS 'harsh' sex offender law
12-15-2013 Nevada:
Full implementation of a 6-year-old Nevada law may soon cause a dramatic increase in the number of registered sex offenders — raising questions about whether the intended punishment fits the crime.
One state lawmaker suggested dumping part of the “terrible, overly harsh law” as it applies to juvenile offenders.
Congress approved the Adam Walsh Act in 2006 as a guideline for state laws on sex crimes. The statute was intended to toughen punishment for sex offenders, including making their photos, names and addresses available to the general public.
Nevada legislators adopted most provisions of the federal law in 2007, reacting in part to concern the state could lose federal grants for law enforcement.
Now, thanks to a Nevada Supreme Court decision in October, the state will likely expand the sex offender roll from the current 3,000 names by requiring anyone convicted of a felony sex crime or crimes involving children since 1956 to register.
No one knows how many more offenders will be added to the list, but the expansion has raised concerns that people who were convicted long ago but who have never re-offended will be publicly humiliated, lumped in with serial rapists.
Of particular concern are people whose youthful indiscretions will suddenly become a scarlet letter haunting their adult lives.
NO PUBLIC DANGER
Experts in and out of Nevada say the law here, and in the 16 other states that adopted similar versions of the Walsh Act, unfairly labels children who messed up as sexual deviants.
For decades Nevada’s approach to dealing with juvenile sex offenders was to treat them more like patients than prisoners, an approach backed by research that shows many children and teens who sexually abuse someone can be treated, and are unlikely to re-offend.
Keeping with that approach, most sex offenders younger than 21 were not required to register as a sex offender. Judges were allowed to determine, after sentencing and monitoring, whether a juvenile offender posed any public danger. A judge could order the offender to register on reaching adulthood.
Clark County Family Court Judge Bill Voy said few juvenile offenders who have appeared before him over the years needed to register.
But the Walsh Act leaves no room for judicial discretion. Sex offenders who are 14 or older at the time of the offense must register under blanket classifications for the crime committed, with no regard for changes in behavior.
Clark County already is seeing effects of the Supreme Court decision. Since October, Voy has ordered four now-adults to register for offenses they committed as juveniles, and for offenses he had previously determined they would not repeat.
Voy said he has to follow the law, even though it doesn’t seem right.
“Now they’re in college; they’re married,” Voy said. “Now they have to register as a sex offender.”
FEW PREDATORY JUVENILES
Most who study and work with young sex offenders see them differently than adults who have preyed on children or committed violent sexual assaults. Most agree the adults should be punished, and that it’s appropriate for the public to know their whereabouts.
But studies show children usually commit an act against someone they know and seldom are repeat offenders, particularly if they get help.
Reasons why children and teens sexually assault vary: Often they have been victims themselves. Many are going through puberty, a confusing time for just about anyone, and act out what they have seen in pornography. Very few cases include predatory juveniles.
Human Rights Watch, a Philadelphia-based advocacy group, reported in May that national recidivism rates for juvenile sex offenders range between 4 percent and 10 percent. In some categories it is as low as 1 percent.
By comparison, the recidivism rate for all crimes regardless of age is about 40 percent.
The report examined more than 500 cases in Nevada and 19 other states.
“Many of the children didn’t really understand what they were doing was a sexual offense; they didn’t understand boundaries,” report author and analyst Nicole Pittman said by phone Friday.
Good public policies should protect the community but also be equitable.
Under the new law, the court system will continue to offer rehabilitation services for juvenile sex offenders, but experts say registries can create precarious situations for registrants and their families, as well as spread unnecessary fear among the public.
REGISTERING CREATES STIGMA
The Human Rights Watch report cites the case of an adult man who was required to register as a sex offender for touching a 12-year-old girl’s chest when he also was 12. The registry in his unidentified state didn’t include a conviction date, and many people assumed his offense was recent, and that he was a child predator. A neighbor once beat the man’s brother because they looked alike.
Registering also creates a stigma that can cause registrants to become a danger to themselves, said Susan Roske, with the juvenile division of the Clark County public defender’s office, which sought to have the juvenile portion of the Walsh Act in Nevada overturned.
“I imagine we will be seeing some suicides,” Roske said.
She is on a committee of lawmakers, advocates and experts that advise the Nevada Legislature about sex offender registration issues. She wants the panel to recommend a bill to eliminate juvenile registration during the 2015 legislative session.
Even the state Supreme Court, in its 4-3 ruling against a lawsuit brought by Roske, said Nevada’s law is constitutional but questioned whether it was best for juveniles.
“It does not appear from the legislative history that the Nevada Legislature ever considered the impact of this bill on juveniles or public safety,” the court majority wrote. “The body’s motivation for passing the bill appears to be compliance with the Walsh Act and avoidance of the reduction in grant monies that would come with noncompliance.”
That got the attention of state Sen. Tick Segerblom, chairman of the committee Roske is on. Segerblom was in the Assembly when both chambers unanimously passed the Walsh Act provisions in 2007. Because state budget cycles last two years, he said, loss of funding forced a too-quick decision.
The state hasn’t lost any federal money because it delayed fully implementing the act for six years, he said.
“It really is a terrible, overly harsh law,” said Segerblom, D-Las Vegas. “We just have to, as legislators, focus on the bigger picture and what’s best for everybody.”
During a meeting Friday, Segerblom and other committee members discussed asking lawmakers to change state law back to the way it was, letting judges decide if a juvenile should register. But with a year until the next legislative session, Segerblom asked committee chairman Keith Munro what could be done to put off implementation of the Walsh Act.
“That’s not really a question I can address,” Munro, who is Nevada’s assistant attorney general, said via a satellite feed in Reno.
In the meantime, it’s unclear when this round of new names might show up on the searchable public website.
Voy is working with John Paglini, a Las Vegas psychologist who often testifies in sex crime cases, on a study aimed at showing how Clark County’s juvenile sex offenders respond to court-ordered treatment. Those numbers haven’t been tracked before now. They will review 1,000 cases dating to 1979 and evaluate what worked, and how often juveniles re-offended.
“It’s a very bold project,” Paglini said. “If we can understand these dynamics and reduce the recidivism rate toward the community, then I think in the end this works out beautifully.”
The results of the study should be complete by the time lawmakers meet in 2015.
ADDED COSTS
In addition to overlooking the impact on juvenile offenders, the Legislature didn’t seem to consider the added cost of getting more offenders registered and compliant with the law.
“They’ve never formally tried to figure out the actual cost,” said Maggie McLetchie, a lawyer who worked for the American Civil Liberties Union when it sued the state over the Walsh Act.
McLetchie’s calculations showed implementation would cost millions. By comparison, losing the federal grant would have been less than $200,000.
The responsibility for getting offenders registered falls to multiple agencies, including local law enforcement and the state Division of Parole and Probation.
Sgt. Brian Zana, of Parole and Probation, said juvenile offenders may not add as much work as some think. Many already register with law enforcement because schools, churches or other organizations where there are other children must know about young offenders nearby. But that registration is not made public on the state website.
Another provision of the Walsh Act taking effect in Nevada bars sex offenders from knowingly being within 1,000 feet of a place designed primarily for children.
That portion of the law won’t be retroactively applied to the new class of offenders who already live near sites such as schools, but it will come into play if the offender moves.
Depending on the crime, offenders must check in with police or probation officers more often and must register for 15 years, 25 years or for life.
In trying to strike a balance between public safety and fairness, Nevadans aren’t alone in questioning some aspects of the Walsh Act.
There’s no national consensus on how state lawmakers should deal with juvenile registration, said Katie Gotch, spokeswoman for the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. But most agree the Walsh Act goes too far, she said.
“A lot of times laws are based on fear and are a knee-jerk reaction to a high-profile case,” Gotch said. ..Source.. by ADAM KEALOHA CAUSEY, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
December 13, 2013
Hundreds of sex offender cases led by former deputy at risk
MADISON COUNTY, AL (WAFF) - The indictment of a former Madison County Sheriff's deputy is putting hundreds of sex offender cases in jeopardy, according to the District Attorney's office.
A Madison County grand jury recently indicted Shawn McClure for theft and receiving stolen property. McClure's job at the Sheriff's Department was to check on all registered sex offenders in the county. Now, the DA's office said his arrest compromises every single one of those cases.
This month, about 20 cases involving sex offender violations were ‘no-billed' by a grand jury. DA Tim Gann said those cases were thrown out because of McClure's arrest and indictment, which could also threaten hundreds of other cases. McClure is the key witness, and often the only witness, in all of his cases.
This poses a problem for prosecutors because they can no longer call him as a witness. Gann said they are now in salvage mode as they try to re-open the cases that were thrown out.
"Some of those cases are gone and that is just the harsh reality when something like this happens. It is something that nobody likes, but it is something we have to deal with. The people investigating the cases now and our office are doing our best to make it right as best we can," Gann said. ..Source.. by Diana Crawford
