GRAND RAPIDS, MI — A judge has decided that charges of producing child pornography thrown out by a lower court judge should be reinstated against a 17-year-old Catholic high school honor student. In a hearing Friday, May 29, Kent County Circuit Court Judge Mark Trusock ruled in favor of the prosecution that teen Matthew Herrington potentially violated the law when he allegedly downloaded more than 133 images of child pornography. In a Grand Rapids District Court hearing from March, defense attorney Anthony Greene convinced Judge Jeanine LaVille that because his…
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IN: Campaign for Elkhart 19-year-old underscores broader concerns about sex offender registries
ELKHART — The requirement that 19-year-old ____ ____ register as a sex offender as part of his conviction for involvement with an underage girl isn’t just a concern for him and his parents, Les and Amanda Anderson. It’s part of a larger movement against what some critics see as indiscriminate and unfair placement of certain offenders on such registries. Full Article Related MI: ‘Old-fashioned scarlet letter’: Elkhart 19-year-old fights sex offender status after encounter with Michigan teen
Read MoreUT: Utah sex offender must pay victim for lost wages, appeals court says
A man who sexually exploited a Utah teen will have to reimburse her for the pay she lost when depression caused by the abuse led to problems at work and a reduction in her hours. In a 3-0 decision, the Utah Court of Appeals upheld a 3rd District judge’s order requiring Scott C. Wadsworth to pay restitution of nearly $13,000 in lost wages to his victim, who is now an adult. The ruling said the connection between the sex crimes and the victim’s economic injury is sufficient to support the…
Read MoreNY: Sex offenders want former Gov. Pataki to pay for illegal confinement program
Syracuse, NY — A federal appeals court is considering whether former Gov. George Pataki should be held responsible for an illegal sex offender confinement program that was disbanded in 2006. Full Article
Read MoreHomophobic “Romeo and Juliet” Laws Fail to Decriminalize Queer Youth in Texas. Can It Be Fixed?
Consensual gay sex was a felony in every state until Illinois repealed its sodomy law in 1961. Connecticut, Ohio, California, and other states soon followed. By 2002, thirty-six states either selectively enforced or had overturned their statutes. Lawrence v Texas (2003) marked the federal end of sodomy laws. Even though sodomy statutes are unconstitutional, a handful of states still think sex between same-sex partners is illegal. State Representative Mary Gonzalez of Texas is valiantly attempting to equalize the unfair treatment and criminalization of queer adolescents. Full Article
Read MoreWI: Bill would crack down on homeless sex offenders
MADISON (WITI) — They are tough to track and they’re roaming the streets. The number of homeless sex offenders are on the rise, and there’s a new plan to fix the problem. Full Article
Read MoreSC: Columbia lawmaker pushes for juvenile sex offender registry reform
COLUMBIA — A South Carolina lawmaker is on a mission to change the way the state treats juvenile sex offenders. House Minority Leader Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Columbia, has introduced a bill that would allow teens who have been convicted of any sex offense and have been placed on the offenders registry to petition the courts to remove their names once they turn 21. … “By branding them that early, we have destroyed their lives,” he said. “We’ve got to figure out how to make it better.” He isn’t alone in…
Read MoreNC: Freedom Christian principal ‘exploded’ when told to keep sex offender off campus, documents say
When Joan Dayton, head of Freedom Christian Academy, was told she could not allow a registered sex offender on campus and keep it quiet, a former staff member said she “exploded,” according to court documents. Full Article
Read MoreNY: State Senate Enacts ‘Brittany’s Law’
New York State Senator Mike Nozzolio today announced that the State Senate has taken significant and important action in adopting a tougher stance against violent crime by enacting the “Domestic Violence Prevention Act-Brittany’s Law.” This legislation, Senate Bill 513, sponsored by Nozzolio, will create a publically accessible registry of convicted violent felons. Full Article
Read MoreIL: Granite City to begin collecting $100 fee from sex offenders
Sex offenders in Granite City will soon have to start paying a $100 fee to register with police, as required by law. In 2010, the state increased the annual fee for sex offender registration from $10 to $100 a year. But even before that action, the fee largely wasn’t being collected in the majority of Illinois municipalities, according to news reports, because most of the convicted sex offenders could not afford it. Full Article
Read MoreOUR OPINION: Restricting where sex offenders can live will not stop abuse
Maine – It’s hard to fault the Biddeford City Council for wanting to do something, anything, to help assuage the fears and frustrations related to the sexual abuse allegations that have come to light in recent months. The stories of abuse and the subsequent shame, anger and depression are enough to make your heart ache and blood boil, and to compel you to do whatever you can to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Restricting where child sex offenders can live, as Biddeford councilors did on Tuesday, is the most…
Read MoreMD: Lawsuit – Sex offender requirements applied retroactively
BALTIMORE — A class-action lawsuit claims the rights of at least 800 people listed on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry have been violated. The lawsuit, filed Friday in Baltimore City Circuit Court, says the state retroactively increased the length of time certain sex offenders had to remain on the registry. The Maryland Declaration of Rights prohibits laws that retroactively criminalize an act or impose a more severe penalty than was set when the act was committed. Full Article
Read MoreDo Sex Offender Registration Laws Do Any Good?
Last month a federal judge ruled that certain aspects of Michigan’s Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA) are unconstitutionally vague. Sex offenders, for example, are forbidden to live, work, or “loiter” within 1,000 feet of “school property.” U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland noted that such “school safety zones” are not clearly defined, making it difficult to comply with the law. He said the term loiter is vague as well: Does it apply, say, to people attending their children’s parent-teacher conferences or their grandchildren’s school plays? Cleland said two other rules—requiring registrants…
Read MoreNE: Omaha Church Hires a Formerly Registered Citizen
Here’s a day-brightener: Omaha’s Lifegate Church hired as a pastor a man who used to be on the Iowa sex offender registry. [The pastor] didn’t serve any jail time and his name has been removed from Iowa’s sex offender registry after 10 years. In a news release, Lifegate Church said, “In considering Mike and Sharla for our Lifegate team, we fully informed ourselves through an exhaustive research, interview, prayer and consulting process that lasted several months.” Full Article From Nebraskans Unafraid
Read MoreMI: Does Michigan’s sex offender registry keep us safer?
It has been 10 years since ____ ____, a married father and caretaker at an Oakland County Catholic church, was convicted of groping a teenage girl over her sweater, a claim ____ vehemently denies. ____ , then-37 with a clean criminal record, was convicted of misdemeanor sexual assault and sent to jail for seven months. Though a misdemeanor, state law demanded ____ be listed on the same public sex offender registry as hard-core rapists, pedophiles and other felons. It has meant a decade of poverty, unemployment, harassment and depression for…
Read MoreAL: Charges Dismissed Against Former Child Sex Crimes Prosecutor For Lack Of Actual Minor In FBI Sting
(2012) There is an interesting ruling out of Mobile, Alabama where former child sex crimes prosecutor, ____ ____, was charged with solicitation of a minor over the computer. Special Judge Gaines McCorquodale dismissed the charge on a key missing element under the statute: an actual victim. Since ____ was speaking with an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old girl, McCorquodale ruled that there was no victim as required under the language of the statute for child enticement. Essentially, no child, no enticement, no charge. Full Article
Read MoreMT: New law requires some sex offenders to live and work away from children
HELENA — Certain sex offenders employed near children in Montana must find new jobs, get special permission to work or face arrest. A state law that took effect last week prohibits high-risk sex offenders who victimized a child from residing or working within 300 feet of a facility that primarily serves people under age 18. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Driver’s license mistakenly labeled me a sex offender
ORLANDO, Fla. – A Florida woman who was issued a driver’s license that labeled her a sexual predator — by mistake — says she plans to file a defamation lawsuit against a county tax collector’s office. ____ ____, 42, said Thursday she was denied service when trying to book a room at a hotel, and has endured funny looks from cashiers when cashing checks because of the blue letters in the bottom-right corner of her license that say “SEXUAL PREDATOR.” Full Article
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