As we’ve reported, Montrose County, on Colorado’s Western Slope, pulled its sex-offender list offline following a recent court ruling in which U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch found that such registries constituted cruel and unusual punishment in the case of three plaintiffs. The ruling is specific to the complainants in question, rather than everyone on the roster, and Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman has announced her intention to appeal. So why make the move now? According to a representative from the sheriff’s office in Montrose, a fear of lawsuits.
“There are attorneys out there going around and finding people to sue for stuff of this nature,” says Undersheriff Adam Murdie. “We know it’s going to trickle down to the counties eventually, so we’re kind of preempting that.”
It’s starting, guys. This may be only a small step affecting a relatively small number of RCs, but it is yet another chink in the armor of the registry as a whole. This has been a good year, overall, for us. I’m not normally the very optimistic sort, but I do believe this is more evidence that the tide is turning, in the grand scheme of things. Let us become further emboldened to continue the long fight.
It’s happening. This is the way of the future, but keep the pressure up, speak out, write, support, When it is repealed think of the celebration!!!
“Without having enough information to go forward, we made the decision to pull the registry off the sheriff’s office website.”
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Yeah, it’s good to see the other side starting to fret about these laws. Obviously this county’s sheriff sees something wrong with the system, or else he’d stating categorically how it’s enhancing safety, blah, blah, blah. When governmental agencies start preemptively acting to avoid a court challenge…we’re in good shape. They’ve gone from absolutely certain they’re right, to “without enough information….” Umm, what information did you suddenly lose, because all the info you had before was rock solid, or so you claimed and acted.
I live in the LA area… We so need this.
Can someone keep track of all the sex crimes that are bound to happen in this county now that all the “predators” have been set free?
Oh I am sure the numbers will be “frightening and high”. I am hoping all of this has a domino effect towards other jurisdictions across the country.