Putnam County sex offender residency law struck down

9-12-2010 New York:

MEL - A Putnam County law banning the most serious sex offenders from living near places that children frequent is unconstitutional, a state Supreme Court justice has ruled.

The Aug. 26 decision by Justice Francis A. Nicolai means the county can no longer order Level 2 and 3 sex offenders - considered the most likely to reoffend - to move. It also means that Brian Morrissey, a former Virginia schoolteacher who spent nine years in federal prison on child pornography charges, can continue living in his parents' Southeast home.

Morrissey had challenged the law, amended in 2009 by the Putnam County Legislature, that created child-safety zones within 1,000 feet of schools, child-care facilities, municipal recreation facilities and open-space areas.

Three sex offenders were ordered to move as a result. One was arrested and served a brief stint in the county jail before relocating, while a second also moved, although authorities later determined that he was only Level 1.

The third was Morrissey, 40, who had moved into his parents' Cobb Road home in 2006. He was no longer on parole or probation and had a job, according to court papers. He received a letter in 2009 from the Sheriff's Department telling him to relocate because the house was close to an open-space area. (Unbelievably stupid)

Morrissey's Mahopac attorney, Francis J. O'Reilly, praised the decision Tuesday.

"The Putnam County sex- offender residency law was an ill-conceived reaction by the Putnam County Legislature to the revelation that persons convicted of sex crimes live among us," O'Reilly said in an e-mailed statement. "The attempt to regulate the residence of sex offenders beyond what is already provided in state law, which already provides a comprehensive plan for the management of sex offenders, was clearly an unconstitutional attempt to infringe on the rights afforded citizens under the Constitution by restricting where they can live." ..Source.. Terence Corcoran

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