Governor appoints sex offender advisory board

Fairly balanced -or- fairly unbalanced? When the issue is -it sounds good- you need someone from the opposite side of the issue/s.

2-1-2010 Maryland:

Gov. Martin O'Malley announced today the appointment of six members to the newly revived Sexual Offender Advisory Board, which had lain dormant since being established by law in 2006. Last week, he tapped former Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. as the board chairman. Curran, who is O'Malley's father-in-law, has studied sex offender reforms for years and favors civil commitments for certain predators.

From O'Malley's statement on the appointees:

"The new members of the Board announced today have one thing in common: a strong desire to protect our most vulnerable citizens – our children," said Governor O’Malley. “I am confident that their combined knowledge, background and expertise, and their advocacy of our legislation to impose the strictest standards of supervision of sex offenders will help strengthen our efforts to ensure that Maryland’s children are protected.”

The six are (with brief bios from governor's office):

Michele J. Hughes, Victims Advocacy Group – Ms. Hughes serves as the Executive Director of the Life Crisis Center, a non-profit, 24-hour facility which provides comprehensive support services to victims and child victims of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault on Maryland’s lower Eastern Shore.

Annette L. Hanson, M.D., Mental Disorders Expert– Dr. Hanson is a Board Certified psychiatrist at the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center, where she has worked since 1989.

Karla N. Smith, State’s Attorney – Ms. Smith is the Chief Attorney for the Family Violence Division of the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office, where she is responsible for the prosecution of all child abuse, domestic violence, vulnerable adult abuse, and physical elder abuse cases.

David Walsh-Little, Esquire, Criminal Defense – Mr. Walsh-Little is an Assistant Public Defender in the Felony Trial Division of Baltimore City.

Laura Estupian-Kane, Ph.D., Sex Offender Treatment Provider – Dr. Estupian-Kane, a licensed psychologist, holds her own private psychology practice focusing on the assessment of adolescents who have committed sexual offenses and/or are involved with the juvenile court system.

J. Patricia Wilson Smoot, Citizen – Ms. Smoot is currently the Deputy State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County and has served in that role since December 2002. ..Source..

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

MA- Sex Offender Registry Board Workers Questioned Over Facebook Use

These workers (article shows plural) should be fired and replaced by folks who are professionals and take their jobs seriously!

5-20-2009 Massachusetts:

Team 5 Investigates Uncovers Bias

BOSTON -- For Tyson Lynch, Facebook is as much about social networking as it is a way to tell friends about his confidential state job deciding who is a threat to you and your children. Lynch is a hearing examiner at the Sex Offender Registry Board in Salem, a job that's considered crucial to public safety.

"They're instrumental," said attorney Terrence Noonan. "Those are the people who are making the final assessment of dangerousness. And if they get it wrong, either way we all suffer."

Lynch has a reputation among some defense attorneys of not being fair.

"He's expressing opinions about how these hearings have been conducted, essentially showing that he's made up his mind before they're finished," said attorney Eric Tennen.

For example, Lynch wrote on his Facebook account how he gets "great satisfaction" out of denying motions and that: "It's always a mistake when people testify because they get destroyed in cross examination." Fellow hearing examiner Mel Maisel used her Facebook account to comment, "But it's so entertaining."

"This is not entertaining," said Tennen. "These are people's lives we're talking about."

Team 5 Investigates counted dozens and dozens of status updates, quizzes and other posts since the day Lynch wrote about his hiring last October.

This raises questions from defense attorneys.

"If he misses something, then it may very be that a high level offender gets a low level classification that the public never knows and maybe vice versa," Tennen said.

On one workday at 3:47 in the afternoon Lynch turned to quizzes like which Supreme Court justice is he? Answer: Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Here's something lawyers and witnesses should know: He hates the word "lascivious" and you better not type in Arial font. He won't trust you.

"Have you ever personally drafted something in Arial font?" reporter Sean Kelly asked Tennen. "I haven't so I guess I'm safe when it comes to Tyson Lynch."

Not entirely. Once he bragged about "putting the smack-down on some crazy attorney." Without naming anyone he called others "incompetent." One morning he wrote: "It's always awkward when I see one of my pervs in the parking lot after a hearing."

He encountered Team 5 Investigates there as well. "Can I ask you a few questions about your Facebook use?" Kelly asked Lynch outside the Sex Offender Registry Board offices. "Is there a reason why you're spending so much time on Facebook? Don't you take your job seriously?" asked Kelly but Lynch said nothing.

He finally made his account private months after posting that his agency "has been the subject of too many news exposes" while wondering if he should "seek alternate career plans."

"Every single one of his decisions has to be redone and looked at," Noonan said.

"Every case that he's heard has to be re-examined to determine whether or not he was biased, whether or not he was fair and whether or not he gave the person a legitimate hearing and classification," Tennen said.

The head of the Sex Offender Registry Board refused our request for an interview and refused to tell us what, if any, disciplinary action Lynch and his fellow hearing examiners will face. A Board spokesman also refused to tell us whether or not Lynch's decisions will be reviewed. The agency claims it has taken firm steps to make sure that this will not happen again. ..News Source.. by TheBostonChannel.com

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...