Source: floridatoday.com 4/8/23
Brevard County has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit involving the right of convicted sex offenders to attend County Commission meetings.
As part of the settlement, the county agreed to pay damages of $2,500 each to the plaintiffs ― sex offenders Charles Munsey Jr., Vincent Rinaldi and Charles Violi ― plus pay $150,000 for plaintiffs’ attorney fees.
The lawsuit filed in January 2022 in U.S. District Court was triggered by a 2006 Brevard County ordinance that, with some exceptions, prohibits people on the sex offender registry from being within 1,000 feet of a school, day care center, park or playground. Violators are subject to up to 60 days in jail and up to a $500 fine.
Because the Brevard County Government Center in Viera is within 1,000 feet of a school — and the ordinance had no exceptions for attending public meetings — sex offenders were prohibited from attending County Commission meetings.
Legal action filed:3 Brevard County registered sex offenders file federal lawsuit against county
The lawsuit alleged that, because of this, the county violated the First Amendment and Florida’s Government in the Sunshine Law.
After the lawsuit was filed, the County Commission changed the rule to allow an exception for attending commission meetings. But the lawsuit continued, until the plaintiffs and the county agreed to the settlement.
I believe residents are still barred from driving down certain roads if it’s 1,000 feet of a place children gather but that is also being litigated.
Gung ho! Capt. Munsey.
Pay up suckers.
Nothing to see here. Just more garbage criminals running a garbage criminal regime, harassing people and burning limited resources. All governments that have Registries are criminal regimes. All should be sued incessantly, in every area possible. I pay people just to look for ways to sue them.
A huge problem with these types of settlements however is that the attorneys get a huge pile of money while the plaintiffs, who are the people harmed, get too little. That should be fixed somehow. Maybe these criminal regimes could do something actually useful and fix that.
When I read this kind of criminal nonsense I’m so glad that I ensure the Registries are much worse than worthless. I spent this entire, long weekend interacting and being among hundreds of people who have no idea that I am a PFR. I spent so much time with children that I actually got tired of it. I reached my limit by early afternoon today, lol. Yet it continued past 10 PM. I’ve structured my life so I don’t have to sacrifice often, but sometimes I will.
It is ‘geographical incarceration’ or the same principle as an invisible fence that is used on dogs. When the dog goes beyond the boundary it receives an electrical shock in the collar. However, if you go beyond the boundary you receive a long and lengthy prison sentence.
Physical fences are used to geographically incarcerate you while you are in jail and prevent you from going into society.
This is no different than a dog’s invisible fence except they are doing it geographically by schools, daycare’s, parks, etc. and not giving you a shock collar, but a jail sentence if you violate the boundaries.