A federal judge is commanding state authorities to stop enforcing rules under the Michigan Sex Offender Registry Act during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to an interim order U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland issued Monday, officials are “preliminarily enjoined from enforcing registration, verification, school zone, and fee violations of (the act) that occurred or may occur from February 14, 2020, until the current crisis has ended, and thereafter until registrants are notified of what duties they have under SORA going forward.”
On Valentine’s Day, Cleland declared the act unconstitutional and urged the state Legislature to move to bring the law into compliance.
Under the February decision offenders would still have had to report to their local law enforcement agency or state police post through mid-May, while orders encompassing Cleland’s ruling were drafted by the parties. After that, unless the state Legislature acts, the Sex Offender Registry Act would no longer be enforceable against those who offended before 2011.
@Hopeful In Michigan, Thank you for the update. Peace be with all of you.
HB 5679 is in Committee on Tuesday Dec 1 2020 at 9:30 am
Nov 25 at 1:34 PM
PrintRaw message
Intern
To: Intern
Judiciary, Rep. Graham Filler, Chair
DATE: Tuesday, December 1, 2020
TIME: 9:30 AM
PLACE:
Room 519, House Office Building,
Lansing, MI
AGEND
HB 5679 (Rep. Lower)
Criminal procedure; sex offender registration; sex offender registration act; modify.
Well as you can see, they are bringing up the bill again. This is a bad bill, and it will do nothing for us at all. I suggest you pull out your email list that I sent to you before and use it again to send your comments in to all the people on the list. Make sure you send it to the Committee Clerk and ask her to send it to all the members. Even if you sent your comments in last time do it again and you can send the same comments as they have not changed the bill at all. We must work together to try to stop this bill. You may even wish to add a comment that the House and Senatate should be working with all the Stake holders including the MSP, the ACLU, and the Prosecutors Association of Michigan (PAM). If they fail to do so this will cause more problems for every Stake holder. Please us the list we sent out last time to send your emails to and the Governor’s office. I am not sure if they are going to let the public into the room and the way you can watch it is to go to the Michigan Government TV and watch it. This will not be a committee meeting where they are required to take public testimony because the bill has been read two times already and public input was given then. You may recall because we were able to stop the bill with everyone input at that time. To be clear we may be able to stop it again, but I am unsure. However, if the bill is stopped again then the House can bring it up again in the new session in 2021 however as I understand it they will have to take public testimony all over again. So, our goal is to stop it for now and hope they will work with us to make the needed changes. If, however, they bring it up again right away in the new 2021 session we will be looking for people to testify. Again, please use the list of people to email to we sent you last time. Save it always but of course the list will change in the new session 2021 and we will send it out to you when we are able to know who will be on what committee in the New Year.
Respectfully Tim P ACLU of Michigan SOR Specialist
Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. The information in this email is provided for general informational purposes only. No information contained in this email should be construed as legal advice from me or ACLU of Michigan nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter. No reader of this email should act or refrain from acting based on any information included in, or accessible through, this email without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer licensed in the State of Michigan
Update for those who might not get the emails as there were three today.
#1
HB 5679 has passed out of Committee in the House. Now it goes to the Senate Committee. I suggest you now start emailing the people on the list I sent out last week that are on the Senate Committee that we think will be assigned the bill, and again to the Governor’s office. You should add your thoughts on how the bill should be changed such as no lifetime assignments for any one on the SOR and even a lower number of years on the SOR for everyone. Just to be clear just because they are taking away listing tier levels on the public SOR they are not removing the number of years someone must be on the SOR, the number of years on the SOR will remain the same as they are right now. I would also suggest that you say that if the Prosecutor in the County were the offences was prosecuted wants someone on the SOR longer than times assigned that he or she must go to the court at least 1 year before that person’s time is up and file with the court that the prosecutor’s office is asking for an extension of time. That a hearing be held and both sides can present evidence and that the burden of proof that a person’s time must be extended should rest with the prosecutor’s office asking for such extension. I would also suggest that you put in your email that all persons who are convicted in Juvenile court be placed on a non- public SOR, and further that when they reach the age of adult that their information be removed all together or 4 years whatever is sooner. I would suggest that massive changes be made to the in person reporting of changes in a person in person reporting, such as doing so by email. And that every place in the SOR were it says 3 days to report changes, that be changed to 10 business days to report. That a provision be added for people who have a disability, and it can be proven to the court at time of sentencing the person will be exempt from being on the SOR, also anyone who is currently on the SOR who has a proven Disability shall now be removed. I also am suggesting that if an offender was convicted of a SOR registrable offense and they can prove to the court that they had reasonable reason to think the victim was an adult under Michigan law and yet the victim was not an Adult under Michigan law that convicted offender will also not be added to the SOR. I am sure people have other ideas and it is of course ok to submit them.
I want to add that even though we would all like to see the SOR abolished that is not going to happen. If it does stay the and it will we would like to see it used for Law Enforcement only and the public would not be able to have access to it. Well, that is not going to happen but of course you can ask for these things, but it will fall on death ears and they have made that very clear.
In summary this time I would like people not to talk about how the bill will affect them, but instead recommend changes and or additions to the bill that will help everyone. Again, I ask you not to send them to me to check as your thoughts are your thoughts and not mine. I also do not need copies of them at this point but please save them yourself.
Respectfully Tim P ACLU of Michigan SOR Specialist
#2
HB5679 is a completely inadequate bill that does not address the issues raised by the courts when they determined that Michigan’s sex offender registry is unconstitutional in parts, and poor public policy overall. The court pointed out that the registry, despite claims that it serves public safety, is not designed to evaluate whether a registrant is a danger or at a risk for recidivism. Registrants are not evaluated, and are subject to decades on the registry (80% are on for life regardless of their conviction, of their commitment to reform, and of their subsequent years of having a clean record), and the court appropriately questioned how such a registry that lumps everyone into a high-risk category with no credibility, could truly serve in the interest of public safety.
As many of you know, the ACLU has been in court over Michigan’s registry for over eight years. And we have won all along the way. Every time the state appealed, the ACLU prevailed. But the legislature failed to change the law, so we sued again – first the DOE case filed in 2012 and then DOE II in filed in 2018. In the summer of 2018 we worked with a large group of stakeholders, led by then Senator Rick Jones, to finally fix the registry law to comply with the court’s decision. That workgroup made a lot of progress and we were close to agreement on a reformed registry. When that negotiation spilled over to 2019 under a new legislature, there was little interest and no urgency. The legislature failed to fix the law. So, in March 2020 with the court breathing down the state’s back and demanding they make changes, Chairman Filler (House Judiciary Chair) put together a workgroup to continue negotiations. But, instead of starting with the previously negotiated policy developed in 2018, a legislator who was never involved in previous discussions, and who had no knowledge of the evolution of the sex offender registry laws, introduce a bill (HB 5679) that was, and still is, completely inadequate.
Rep. Filler said he would convene meetings to work out the details but only held two very short and uninformed meetings that did not include all the stakeholders, and during which no changes or negotiations were accepted. After being involved in stake holder meetings for three years over the registry, I can tell you that the meetings convened by Chairman Filler were not serious, and they cared not at all about actually fixing the registry and not at all about sound public policy designed to advance pubic safety.
HB5679 is crap. The bill sponsor claimed that it “ conformed with SORNA (federal law)”, but Michigan’s registry law has ALWAYS complied with SORNA. The point of this reform is not about SORNA, it’s about responding to the court’s decision. To be clear, the ACLU does not support HB5679. We have asked for a substitute that we can support but it was not offered as an amendment during the hearing today, and that’s a shame because it is good pubic policy. Please make sure, as you reach out to House members who will be voting on HB5679 as early as today, to tell them they should demand the better substitute. Some of the components include:
15 year maximum with a registrant automatically removed after ten years if no subsequent crimes and completion of certain treatment
Law enforcement only registry – no public registry
Removes HYTA (once successfully completed) and expunged cases
Significantly limits the offenses that result in registration
Ends tier classifications and public posting of them
Juveniles may seek review of registration requirement
Person may petition for removal at any time
Any additional collateral consequences beyond registration must be specifically approved by the court and narrowly drawn
Allows for mail and online reporting
One annual in person verification
School zones only if specifically imposed on an individualized basis and with exceptions for parents/legal guardian activities
As a side note, when a public interest organization sues the government, like we did with DOE and DOE II, the organization is entitled to fees when they win legal cases. The State of Michigan has already paid the ACLU over $1.4 million dollars in legal fees for our six years of work on the first DOE case, and they will likely be forced to pay another large sum for the three years of work on the DOES II case. The longer the legislature fails to fix this law to the court’s satisfaction, the more money it will cost taxpayers. We believe the state has a much better use for this money and it is irresponsible for this legislature to continue to shirk their duty, wasting taxpayer dollars on both a wasteful registry scheme (Michigan’s registry costs the state about $2 million a year to operate) and on legal fees.
In addition to House members who will vote on HB5679 today and tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety committee, Chaired by Senator Lucido, will hear the bill next week. Please start reaching out to the Chair and the committee right away.
Thank you!
Shelli
Shelli Weisberg
Political Director
American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan
2966 Woodward Ave. Detroit MI 48201
#3
Based on the number of questions that I am getting; I am going to make this real clear! Tonight, you should email and call your elected House Representative and ask them to vote no on HB 5679. Call again tomorrow and make sure they know you are a voting member of thier District, and you are asking them to Vote NO on HB 5679. This is how you look up who that person is and when it asks for your address just put in your zip code. Some Zip codes are divided so you may have to put in your address then to find out who it is. They do not know who or how you got thier phone number and email address. https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/?lat=42.64&lon=-84.53&address=48842&state=
Respectfully Tim P ACLU of Michigan SOR Specialist
I would like to get involved some how in this i have been on this registry for 20 years and tired of the hurdles they keep throwing at us and I read the forum and I am disgusted with how they think this is unconstitutional when there no privacy its punishment due process is a jk its about money and the power to dictate your life its like a school yard bully on a power trip I have called my senator of my district I doubt they listen to there messages but did my part hopefully we can get these incompontent state representatives to start following the constitution and stop abusing there power and interpreting the constitution the way they seems to fit sorry about the rant but its time to make them realize that they are not above the constitution
Hello Everyone,
I got this in an email today, and as usual , i don’t understand what it means exactly, except more drag on of Mr. Bett’s case. So for those that are interested here it is, and if some one could explain what it means i would appreciate it. Thank you.
Order
Clerk
September 11, 2020
148981(80)(81)
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
SC: 148981
v COA: 319642
Muskegon CC: 12-062665-FH
PAUL J. BETTS, JR.,
Defendant-Appellant.
______________________________________/
On order of the Chief Justice, the motion of the Gratiot County Prosecutor to file a
response to the brief amicus curiae of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is
GRANTED. The response submitted on October 5, 2020, is accepted for filing. On further
order of the Chief Justice, the motion of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan
to file a supplemental brief amicus curiae is GRANTED. The supplemental amicus brief
submitted on October 6, 2020, is accepted for filing.
It doesn’t really mean much. It’s mostly procedural because these types of requests to file briefs are usually granted and they aren’t new briefs they were previously submitted before the oral arguments on 10/7 but not accepted by the court.
I looked up this case history. The simple explanation is that the ACLU filed a amicus curiae brief (I think this was filed Sep2 and granted Sep 11, 2020 in this and that the Gratiot County Prosecutor felt the need to respond to something mentioned in the brief so felt the need to file a response to it which they filed with their motion to file it on Oct 5. Two days before oral arguments were heard. As such, the ACLU must have felt that they needed to file a rebuttal as a supplemental brief to their original amicus curiae probably to counteract an argument in the Gratiot County Prosecutor response. They requested to do this the day after by motion on Oct 6 and filed with the brief. The court just accepted these briefs into the record yesterday. It should not delay anything.
So since this bill pass threw the house does that mean we have to take it back to court since it pretty much the same thing we’re are ready required to do its seems to me this bill is still unconstitutional I thought the federal judge gets the final say on the bill this is shady politicians at there finest
thank you for the insight on this I feel as if we are looking at a never ending battle i feel like there’s no hope in this situation everytime I think there’s light at the end the switch gets turned off I feel your right they will keep tying this up in court all the registry was created for was to get money and in trape us where they can put you back in jail its nothing but a racket i am sorry but i am just frustrated as many of you are i just wish this nightmare would end
Although this while ordeal has been exhausting and not working in our favor, there was a great article in the Detroit Free Press this morning.
https://all4consolaws.org/2020/12/mi-michigan-poised-to-double-down-on-failed-sex-offender-registry/
well that bill passed threw the senate so what now. Do we go back to court just curious how this is gonna play out
Senate pass the bill so just wonder what the next step gonna be since they passed a unconstitutional bill
well bill SB 5679 pass threw the senate so now I am curious whats gonna take place for us all now
At this point we are getting dragged through the mud the whole expost facto is in my eyes a travesty i was 19 and sentenced during another time… so if they make 3rd drunk driving a life sentence do they go back and say everyone pre 2021 has now a life sentence ? Heck no
Im at the point that if they should of let the proposal prior go through a good chu k of us would of been finally free i understand the law post 11 is messed up but why do we continue to be punished for people who co mited crimes post 11 do it in stages pre 11 fight and post 11 fight not pre 11 espost gettn railroaded for the sake of post 11 when i cught my case this law wasnt even enacted so come on michigan get it together ive called daily always an ansering machine theyll get sick of my calls but deaf ears im sure…….so sick of this shite
And of course we get the broomstick and if being in the mud puddle wasnt bad enough were drug through it as this bill totally and continues to ruin lifes…..aclu should of let last bill go through because us pre11 guys and gals would of been cleared and off ut nooooo everyone gets boned cuz of the post 8 amd 11 pathetic…….
Nick:
The 6th Circuit already ruled that Michigan’s registry is punitive. Michigan cannot take this victory away through any legislation, including the legislation that Whitmer just signed. The die is cast. Either you are covered under these court decisions or you’re not.
There is no doubt that Michigan will be forced to take thousands off of the registry. The big question is how they will be removed. Michigan must make 44,000 individual determinations and this won’t be done in a single day.
You have to remember that we are in uncharted territory. Be patient. Does II most likely will become final in 2021 and things are really going to get interesting after that.
To any and all, any word from the conference that Judge Cleland called for all parties to respond to yesterday? Peace be with you all.
@everyone, So for what @disgused in Michigan, said nothing was said or done at the conference meeting, except for wait for a letter from MSP. Sounds like nothing has changed and Cleland hasn’t decided to do anything. Just the same old run around.
@ David and many. I don’t know why I came back on here again. Seems like you all are so wise or conceited in your own minds or who has denigrated you. You all talk about a death sentence, hardships, slavery. Even some guy on here is LMFAO at underground railroad talk. So actually who is wise on this forum. Who’s consciense is bothering them or is it one wrong move and your back in prison.
Did you know David in the bible was a murderer and also comitted a sex offense and here you people are waiting for a change while some governor makes up his or her mind about this stop/or can’t enforce rules of this registry during this pandemic ordeal. Seems can’t-can’t do anything. Guess one’s best option is to pray than, or would that be a bit to wise for some.
If you look at the subject matter of the issue in a positive way one can do something about it or is their no hope for the sex offender except a lifetime of slavery or bondage. I doubt if that would be everyone’s choice or decision. Yes their are choice and decisions in life and their are also goals. Complaining gets one no where. We all make changes just like Harriet Tubman to help others. Yes she did help free some slaves in her time.
Middle of march his here figured id check in and see if anyone got a letter or any new info last i heard from tim was between march 26and2i i should recieve a letter anyone know anythi g diff?
Michigan is a Joke, I can not even imagine that the Aclu let this slip away, after all the years of waiting & wins , Its a shame they should have just took what we won and stop pushing for stuff we havent . So sad, so many years of pain and suffering after we won every court battle but yet we still loose . I would rather they not have done a class action . The captain of this ship just took everyone on board down with it.
Got an email from Tim:
There has been a lot of confusion about HYTA people because the MSP sent out a internal memo with incorrect information. There is supposed to be a new internal memo coming out. Also, if you are a HYTA you will know that you are. MSP has asked people not to call them asking if they are scheduled to come off when the new law takes place, they are going to send out letters. Only call them if you have moved and have not changed your address so they can tell you how to file a change of address with them so you will get your letter.
You will need to know when your HYTA was adjudicated When were you sentenced and when you completed probation and got discharged. Do not contact us with that information just get that information together now so that when the New Law is put into effect and up until 60 days after that point, if you do not get removed, we can do some checking for you. Only at that point will we be able to check on this for you.
Also, re letters for everyone, I have not heard what the state is planning to do. They may be waiting on sending letters until the judge rules on final judgment because they don’t want to do the notice twice. And at this point we do not know when the Judge will issue a final judgement in our case. Again, you do not need to go in to register until you get a letter from MSP telling you what your duties will be going forward! If you have been going in to register or are about to go in and feel better doing so that is up to you. And yes, we know some Law Enforcement is telling people they must come in to register.
Respectfully Tim P ACLU of Michigan SOR Specialist
This Judge needs too do what is right , as what he did in the does 1# case, he granted relief too those six who came before , How could he not give relief too the rest of us ? Would this be expectable to not ? Also i believe he gave the state every avenue too bring the unconstitutional law into compliance, He is no fool, he sees the B.S i couldnt imagine he would let the state pull this and think the court would fall for it. Not to mention the fact they were already told by the court they couldnt retroactively apply or extend peoples conviction time to life , They been told this already, I think he may have something for them , Lets hope so anyways. Also how does removing a few words and allowing people to live near a school make it ok to apply life sentences lol NOT
This seems too get more twilight zone everyday , It is so unreal to think the state is sending out letters before a judge rules ? How do they seem too keep getting away with retroactively violating thousands of citizens constitutional right we share as Americans who have served their time in many cases years and years before a registry ever even existed ? Its so crazy to think they could get away with this B.S. The ruling was you can not retroactive life sentences or apply all these punishment amendments they retroactively have applied for years and years after the fact that the court ruled are punishment ? How can the court not see the Shit they are pulling ?????? Is this federal judge going too let the state rule his court like this ? Im so sick of this B.S what they are going to do is push 44,000 citizens over the edge , Is this what they want ?????? For real i am about their myself it isnt funny anymore .They have no reason to wonder why all this madness is going on around this country its them that cause it.
@everyone, just curious did anyone else get an email from Tim from the ACLU today? saying letters will be going out soon. Also I checked my profile today, not only is the tier 3 gone, it now says active, instead of LIFE YES. Which is what it said Yesterday or Sunday when I checked it. Now if they would do the right thing and start removing ,pre- 2006 and 2011 people. Wishful thinking I know, but maybe eventually.
R32 Ps….. I can tell you asking Tim anything at the aclu is Useless .. hes as useless as tits on a bull for us.