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CA: Lakeside neighbors furious over home housing sex offenders

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SAN DIEGO — Frustration and worry have grown in Lakeside over a home that is housing a group of registered sex offenders in a family neighborhood. Neighbors say they checked the California Megan’s Law website, and were surprised to learn five sex offenders were living in the home.  Some reached out to CBS 8 for answers as to why they weren’t notified. “I’m so angry about this, it’s not fair,” said Jeanette. Lakeside neighbors are fuming after learning five registered sex offenders are living under this roof on Sesi Lane…

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Court to Rule on SORNA Regulations Motion Without Hearing

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The Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) decided today to waive oral argument regarding its pending Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed in the SORNA regulations challenge.  The decision to waive oral argument was made by PLF after the court delayed six times the date of the hearing on that motion.   In the absence of oral argument regarding the motion, the court will make its decision based upon the extensive written record provided by both parties.  The court does not have a deadline by which to make its decision, which could affect the…

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Uncivil Commitment: How The DOC Can Keep You Past Your Sentence

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By Matthew Feeley, One of the foundations of a civilized society is the concept that people who do wrong need to be held accountable for their crimes. What naturally follows from that precept is that once a person has successfully paid society back by serving their prison sentence, they have earned the right to be free and return home. What would you think about a slick scam that legally circumvented such justice? A system where, after serving years in prison and mere days before being released, the state went back to…

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Compelling Law Review Article Provides New Tool for Challenging Sex Offender Laws

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There is a new and compelling law review article that provides a new tool for anyone who is considering a challenge to a sex offender law.  That article, Panicked Legislation, is written by law professor and ACSOL vice president Catherine Carpenter who will speak about the article on October 1 during ACSOL’s annual conference. The tool described in the law review article is the Irrebuttable Presumption Doctrine which can be used “to combat false presumptions in legislation that masquerade as universal truths.”  For example, many courts have falsely stated that…

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WI: 7th Circuit Rules Residency Restriction is Retroactive

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The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision today in which it declared retroactive a law in The Village of Hartland, Wisconsin, that severely limits the number of registrants who can reside in that town.  Today’s decision signaled a reversal of that Court’s prior decisions which held that a new law can be applied to individuals convicted of a sex offense prior to the passage of that law. The Court noted that its ruling today meets the requirements of only one of the two requirements necessary to determine that…

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ACSOL Conference to Feature Distinguished Speakers, Important Panels

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The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) will conduct its annual conference on Saturday, October 1.  The cost is just $25. The conference will be virtual on Zoom and feature distinguished speakers including attorney Caleb Kruckenberg of the Pacific Legal Foundation, Ilan Meyer of UCLA, criminal defense attorneys Chance Oberstein and Alex Landon as well as civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci. Mr. Kruckenberg is the lead attorney in the case challenging the SORNA regulations.  At the conference, he will make a presentation about the ongoing litigation and its potential…

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ACSOL Board Votes to Discontinue Support for March 2023 Conference

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The board of directors for the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) unanimously voted yesterday to discontinue its support for the March 2023 conference in Washington, D.C.  Prior to that vote, ACSOL had donated $5,000 to the Women Against Registry foundation for that conference. The ACSOL board’s decision yesterday followed a decision made a few weeks ago to withdraw its support for the vigil planned to be held in March 2023 near the U.S. Supreme Court.  The purpose of the vigil was to educate the U.S. Supreme Court regarding…

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This Doctor Helped Send Ramiro Gonzales to Death Row. Now He’s Changed His Mind.

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Last September, a psychiatrist named Edward Gripon traveled to Texas’ death row to meet a man he helped put there. He had testified at the 2006 trial of Ramiro Gonzales, who was facing a death sentence for kidnapping, raping and killing Bridget Townsend when they both were 18 years old. “This is a man who has demonstrated a tendency to want to control, to manipulate, and to take advantage of certain other individuals,” Gripon told the jury at the time, predicting that Gonzales would pose a risk of harming more…

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SC: Sex offenders begin applying to get off South Carolina registry

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WBTW) — Sex offenders have begun petitioning the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to be removed from the state sex offender registry, according to a spokesperson with the department. Offenders are now able to apply to be removed from the registry after legislation signed by Gov. Henry McMaster in late May set up parameters to do so. The bill was in response to a South Carolina Supreme Court ruling that said it was unconstitutional for the state not to have a process that allows sex offenders to be removed from the registry.…

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Janice’s Journal: 7th Circuit Court of Appeals: Don’t Bother Us With the Facts

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The requirement to wear a GPS device is often levied upon individuals required to register.  That requirement, however, is usually temporary and lasts no longer than the time in which a registrant is supervised under parole. The duration of that requirement was dramatically changed, however, in a recent decision issued by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals regarding a Wisconsin law that requires individuals convicted of a sex offense on two or more separate occasions to wear a GPS for life.  In that decision, the Court approved this Draconian requirement. …

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Vandenberg SFB commander sued for denying retired veteran access over molestation conviction

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(Tribune News Service) — A retired Air Force veteran in Santa Barbara County has filed a lawsuit against Vandenberg Space Force Base, accusing its commander of denying him access to the installation last year over a 30-year-old child molestation conviction, according to federal court documents. In a lawsuit filed May 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 75-year-old plaintiff Joseph Simonson accused Col. Robert A. Long, commanding officer of Vandenberg SFB, for denying access over the 1992 conviction. Additionally, Simonson said Long denied access to “constitutionally” protected retirement benefits by preventing physical access to the…

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Preliminary Injunction Motion Sought in SORNA Regulations Challenge

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A motion for preliminary injunction has been filed in the pending challenge to SORNA regulations that became effective in January 2022.   The motion was filed on June 3 by the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) in federal district court.  The motion requests a hearing date of July 18.  If that request is granted, the hearing will take place in Riverside county. “The Pacific Legal Foundation is to be commended for filing this important motion,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci.  “If the motion is granted, it could stop the enforcement of…

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Bahamas may change legislation after sex offender dies days after being released from prison

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NASSAU, Bahamas, Jun 1, CMC – The Bahamas government says it is likely to re-examine the measures under which sex offenders are publicly released from prison after one man died in hospital a few days after his release. The authorities said that Alden Scott was found unresponsive on a dirt road while bleeding through the nose, but it is not known if he was attacked or the origin of his injuries. Scott was released last Friday after being added to the sex offender registry. He served nine years in prison…

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NC: Petition started to ban musician, registered sex offender from headlining Burke Co. festival

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BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — Organizers of the largest festival in Burke County are responding Tuesday after allowing the Artimus Pyle Band to headline one of the nights. Channel 9 spoke with Pyle who denies the allegations. The Historic Morganton Festival in September attracts tens of thousands of people each year, filling the streets of downtown Morganton. This year, an online petition is trying to keep the band from performing because Pyle is a registered sex offender in North Carolina. He’s also a former drummer for the band Lynyrd Skynyrd. According…

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