3-13-2009 Ohio:
Convicted criminals don’t deserve sympathy often, especially those who held people, including children, hostage.
But Danny Seals and others like him really don’t deserve the stigma attached to them long after they served their time in prison.
Seals won a rare victory this past week in his quest to be removed from Ohio’s sex-offender registry when prosecutors dropped a charge against him for failing to register and notify the local sheriff of his current address.
There’s no doubt Seals failed to do those things, just as it’s clear he does not belong on a sex-offender registry.
He’s never been accused or convicted of a sex crime, and there’s no mention of
the word “sex” in Seals case file from the conviction that landed him in prison for
five years in 1994. But with children involved as his victims, Seals learned in 1999 that he had been classified as a child-victim offender under Megan’s Law, the predecessor of the Adam Walsh Act.
In Ohio, no separate registry exists for child-victim offenders, meaning they
are included in the state sex-offender database and tasked with sex-offender registration requirements — and their notoriety, too.
The glaring unfairness of this approach is apparent to just about everyone, although Ohio lawmakers and law enforcement have done little to correct it for years. We’re hoping a federal judge hearing a lawsuit on the matter will rectify the situation as soon as possible.
Once again, we don’t mean to minimize Seals’ crimes or appear unsupportive of sex offender registration. We firmly believe the public has a right to know a sex offender is living next door.
But the execution of offender registry lists must be perfect and accurate. That’s not the case in Ohio.
For now, Seals has agreed to comply with the registration requirements until 2014, some 20 years after his five-year sentence began.
That’s probably as wise as prosecutors’ decision to dismiss his case before trial and create yet another miscarriage of justice. ..News Source..
March 13, 2009
OH- Registry lists need to label offenders accurately
AL- Sex offender released after complying with address requirement
3-13-2009 Alabama:
A convicted sex offender arrested Tuesday for failing to provide law-enforcement officials with a workable address before being released from Limestone Correctional Facility has since complied with the law and been released, an official said.
Limestone County Sheriff’s Department arrested Tristian Scott Hamilton, 37, of 1857 Deo-Dara Drive at the prison and charged him with violating the Community Notification Act, records show. He was held in the Limestone County Jail until he could comply with the law, which he was able to do Tuesday, said Deputy Mike Gunter, who ensures that Limestone County sex offenders periodically report their addresses and that they actually reside at those addresses.
Under the act, also known as Megan’s Law, a convicted sex offender must report, in a timely manner, the address at which he or she will reside upon release from jail and the name and physical address of his or her employer so they can be verified.
Hamilton is not yet listed on the Alabama Department of Public Safety’s Web site of convicted sex offenders, which lists the crime that required registration. ..News Source.. by Jean Cole
March 11, 2009
MI- Sex offenders arrested in statewide sweep
Nothing like driving up the costs of the criminal justice system for "inconsistencies in addresses" when it is the job of law enforcement to enter those addresses into the computer and likely they typed something wrong. I'd bet some will lose their jobs over these dumb inconsistencies. They should take such care with driver's license addresses, if they did there would be thousands of folks to be arrested.
3-11-2009 Michigan:
The Michigan State Police announced Wednesday the arrest of 150 sex offenders in a statewide sweep called “Operation Verify.”
Officers representing more than 70 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies combed the state last month, making sure 2,200 sex offenders had their current addresses registered with authorities, according to MSP. The sixth sweep in four years, the arrests occurred across the state between Feb. 2 and 13. Investigators are also seeking an additional 405 arrest warrants after the sweep turned up inconsistencies in addresses, according to police.
The Michigan Sex Offenders Registration Act requires offenders to report their address annually. Failure to do so can be punished with between 93 days and four years in jail. ..News Source.. by TAMMY STABLES BATTAGLIA
February 24, 2009
MI- Charge against sex offender dropped
Given there is no clear definition of "loitering" I'm not surprised at this outcome.
2-24-2009 Michigan:
MUSKEGON COUNTY -- A misdemeanor case against a Norton Shores sex offender, charged in November with hanging out near an elementary school, has been dismissed "for further investigation."
The case against Darwin Michael Brown, 44, was dropped Friday. Brown had been scheduled for trial Friday in 60th District Court on a charge of being a sex offender loitering near a school, in this case Churchill Elementary. That's a misdemeanor carrying a penalty of up to a year in jail.
Brown, a registered sex offender, was released from prison last December after serving time for third-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was a part-time firefighter with Norton Shores when the incident with a 14-year-old boy occurred in 1994. Authorities said Brown used his position to lure the boy into several sex acts. ..News Source.. by The Muskegon Chronicle
