Fairfield Apartments sits in a quiet neighborhood in south Fort Myers. On a recent afternoon, children played on well-groomed lawns as a boy rode his bicycle down a winding street dotted with palm trees. But Julie Evans has a message for her neighbors in the apartment complex down the street. “I got a gun,” she said. “And I will use that gun.” There are 22 registered sex offenders living at Fairfield Apartments and 12 in surrounding homes. Despite hostility from neighbors such as Evans, this neighborhood has offered the warmest…
Read MoreMonth: September 2012
September 15 Meeting Recap
California RSOL met in Los Angeles with about 45 registrants, family members and supporters at the ACLU building in Los Angeles on September 15. The focus of the meeting was issues involving registrants such as residency restrictions, city and county ordinances, and future litigation. Information was shared during the meeting regarding the recent decision of a California appellate court that a blanket restriction prohibiting sex offenders from living hear places where children congregate is unconstitutional. “This court decision has a broad and positive effect upon registrants on parole,” stated state…
Read MoreCA RSOL Meeting in Los Angeles – Nov 10
California RSOL will return to Los Angeles on November 10 at 10 am and will meet at the same location, the ACLU building at 1313 W. 8th Street. Meetings are open to registrants, family members, and supporters but closed to media and government officials. There is free parking and privacy. As always, we will share information about recent laws, court decisions, etc. Admin Note: the comments from previous meetings are below, as they might answer some questions re. the meetings.
Read MoreNH: Sex offender residency case dropped
The city of Franklin has dropped its legal fight to overturn a January court decision that found its ordinance restricting the residency of sex offenders unconstitutional. But the city will try other ways to keep sex offenders from living near schools, parks and other places children congregate, Mayor Ken Merrifield said. The city’s appeal was scheduled to be heard by the state Supreme Court next week. “We have conferred with our legal counsel, and we really had only filed the appeal to keep that door open,” Merrifield said. “It really…
Read MoreME: Suit says Maine’s sex offender registry is unfair
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Fifteen people challenging the constitutionality of the retroactive nature of Maine’s sex offender registry have gone before the state’s highest court. A lawyer for most of the men listed as John Doe in court papers told the Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday they were required to register long after they had served time and gone years without any new offenses. He says they weren’t given hearings or allowed to argue that they were no longer dangerous. He said some of them went decades with no new offenses. Full Article…
Read MoreSex Offenders React To Tougher Residency Restrictions
Local sex offenders said they are fed up with yet another round of proposed restrictions on where they can live. The ordinance being drafted by the Kern County Board of Supervisors would enhance Jessica’s Law, passed in 2006, and would limit newly paroled sex offenders from living near school bus stops, churches, day care facilities, and other places where children gather. The ordinance would apply to all offenders regardless of whether they committed crimes against children. Full Article
Read MoreSex offender residential requirements unconstitutional, court rules [updated with Court Decision]
A blanket restriction prohibiting sex offenders from living near places where children congregate is unconstitutional, a state appellate court ruled Wednesday, throwing a surprising wrench into a popular law. The decision by Division 1 of the 4th District Court of Appeal concerns the 2006 ballot measure known as Jessica’s Law, which barred registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park. The court said the across-the-board enforcement of that restriction as a condition of parole violates offenders’ constitutional rights. While the decision applies specifically to San…
Read MoreA Letter to the Lancaster City Council
This was sent to the Lancaster City Council before the City Council Meeting on September 11: It has recently come to my attention that the city of Lancaster wishes to prohibit registered sex offenders from entering their town. It seems that excluding registered sex offenders is one of those bipartisan issues that everyone can agree on. I frankly don’t understand why. Liberals and progressives who are worth their salt have at least heard of Immanuel Kant. Kant is widely considered the forerunner of any serious liberal system of ethics. A…
Read More“Gary Blanton Jr. – Beyond The Label” Sneak Preview
Sneak Preview of the upcoming independent film project tentatively titled “Gary Blanton Jr.- Beyond The Label.” On June 2, 2012, a career criminal named Patrick Drum killed two people and planned to kill a third along the Washington state peninsula. Because his victims were listed on the state’s public “sex offender” registry, Drum was labeled a “hero” by many in the community. But they judged the victims on the label alone. Link
Read MoreLancaster furthers restrictions on registered sex offenders [with Video]
LANCASTER – The Lancaster City Council Tuesday approved an ordinance that imposes restrictions and regulations upon registered sex offenders in addition to those imposed under state law. Specifically, the new ordinance prohibits registered sex offenders: From living within 2,000 feet of any school, park or day care center. From living at a residence or hotel/motel/inn where another registered sex offender already lives (with a few exceptions). From being within 300 feet of a school, day care, park or bus stop near a park, playground, public library, public museum, crisis center…
Read MoreSex offender arrested in attempt to meet girl, 13
Agents with the Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force arrested a registered sex offender suspected of arranging a meeting at the Huntington Beach Pier with an undercover officer he believed to be a minor, authorities said Monday. The arrest came after an investigation into a teen chat room that allows users to have private webcam chats, according to a written release from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Full Article
Read MoreSimi Valley becomes first city in county to pass Halloween sex offender law
Simi Valley on Monday night became the first city in Ventura County to pass a law that aims to prevent sex offenders from having contact with trick-or-treating children on Halloween. The ordinance, adopted by the City Council on a 4-1 vote, applies to the several dozen convicted child sex offenders who live in Simi Valley and are on the Megan’s Law website. Championed by Mayor Bob Huber, who is seeking re-election in November, the new law requires such offenders to post signs on their front doors saying, “No candy or…
Read MoreCouncil Focuses On Child-Related Issues
LANCASTER – On Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 5, a teenage girl was walking home from school in Palmdale when she was confronted by a man grabbed her and tore her blouse as she struggled to get away. The man was later found and arrested for attempted rape and assault to commit rape. The city council will decide Tuesday whether to approve an addition to Lancaster’s municipal code relating to registered sex offenders that would help prevent another young woman from being assaulted like the teenager in Palmdale. The addition to the…
Read MoreIN: Court rules state sex offender registry unconstitutional
INDIANAPOLIS — A federal court appeals ruling may push state legislators into finding a fix for some long-standing problems with Indiana’s sex and violent offender registry. On Tuesday, a federal appeals court ruled the state’s registry was unconstitutional because it violated the due process rights of ex-offenders in the registry who have no way to correct mistaken information. The registry is a publicly accessible database that contains personal information, including the photographs and addresses of sex and violent offenders who live in Indiana. Full Article
Read MoreCommentary: The Mayor’s Two Hats: Hysteria In Lancaster?
From Norm Pattis Blog: The general counsel of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College has some explaining to do. As general counsel and board member of the college, R. Rex Parris professes a dedication to the college’s mission statement. That statement pledges a commitment to seeking justice for “the poor, the injured, the forgotten, the voiceless, the defenseless and the damned.” It is hard to find a class of people who better fit that classification than the 700,000-plus souls on the nation’s sex offender registries. While some registrants are no doubt…
Read MoreChild porn evidence unreliable: study of Playboy
A commonly used method of judging a woman’s sexual maturation may not be good enough in child pornography prosecutions. That, at least, is what a group of pediatric endocrinologists concluded from a study of more than 500 Playboy centerfolds. “So often these people get convicted on what I refer to as felonious bad taste,” said Dr. Arlan Rosenbloom, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. “They’re downloading stuff that isn’t very nice, but isn’t illegal.” Full Article
Read MoreSimi Valley City Council Meeting – 9/10 [Halloween Ordinance]
City Council meetings are held on Mondays at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road, Simi Valley, California 93063 (map). September 10, 2012 6D. Second reading of Ordinance No. 1201 adding Title 5, Chapter 43, to the Simi Valley Municipal Code establishing restrictions on registered sex offenders on October 31 of each year (Baxter) (CC) Staff Report
Read MoreTX: Texas Students Revolt Against Mandatory RFID Tracking Chips
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (NBC) — Students and parents are rallying against new ID badges that track student movement on the campuses of two San Antonio, Texas schools. Father Steven Hernandez does not agree with the district’s new pilot program called Radio Frequency Identification System, or RFID. The new identification tags are designed to help the district improve safety by locating students at any time, while on campus, at John Jay High School and Anson Jones Middle School. RFID tags are also supposed to help with attendance by counting students more…
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