Source: apnews.com 2/3/25 ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld the constitutionality of a state law that ended the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits following a report that exposed widespread wrongdoing within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The court upheld the 2023 law in a 4-3 ruling, saying the Maryland General Assembly had the authority to change the law as it did, after hearing arguments in September. Opposition over the law’s constitutionality focused on an earlier 2017 law that established a cutoff age of 38 for victims…
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NC: North Carolina Supreme Court Upholds Law That Allowed 2 More Years for Child Sex Abuse Suits
Source: usnews.com 1/31/25 North Carolina’s highest court has upheld a law that gave adult victims of child sexual abuse two additional years to seek civil damages RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s highest court upheld on Friday a law that gave adult victims of child sexual abuse two additional years to seek civil damages, rejecting arguments that the temporary window violated constitutional protections for those facing claims that otherwise could no longer be pursued in court. In a case involving a local school board sued by three former students years…
Read MoreME: Maine supreme court strikes down law that allowed civil lawsuits for decades-old sexual abuse claims
Source: mainepublic.org 1/28/25 Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court struck down a recent state law that had eliminated the statute of limitations on civil lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Maine challenged the law after it was sued by dozens of adults who claimed they were abused by clergy members. By removing the statute of limitations, the 2021 law opened the door to civil lawsuits for child sexual abuse no matter how long ago the alleged abuse occurred. But the state’s highest court said Tuesday that once a…
Read MoreNC: Controversy sparked about investigation after Bikers Against Predators come to High Point
Source: yahoo.com 2/10/25 HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — “Why didn’t you do more?” That is the question being asked of the High Point Police Department. It comes after a video online shows a group from Indiana, known as Bikers Against Predators, confronting a man in High Point for allegedly talking with what he thought was an 11-year-old girl online, but it was really a decoy from the organization. The nearly one-and-a-half-hour video was filmed on Facebook Live on Saturday afternoon. It now has over half a million views. Bikers Against…
Read MoreTN: DA Wamp Backs Death Penalty For Those Convicted Of Rape Of A Child; Says More Cases Being Tried
Source: chattanoogan.com 2/7/25 District Attorney Coty Wamp on Thursday told members of the Rotary Club that she supports a challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of the death penalty for aggravated child rape, which is the rape of a child 8 years old or younger. She said the backing of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti would help ensure success. “We will take this all the way up to the Supreme Court again if we have to,” she said. “There is no punishment that is harsh enough.” Read the full…
Read MoreFL: Liking Post That Contains Porn Deepfake Can Lead to Liability, Court Says in Megan Thee Stallion Lawsuit
Source: reason.com 2/7/25 At least this is so when defendant “also … allegedly directed viewers of her post to click on her ‘Likes’ page where the video had been archived” (not clear what the judge would have thought if the case involved solely the “like”). Under Section 836.13, Florida Statutes, a plaintiff may bring a civil action against anyone who “willfully and maliciously promotes” an “altered sexual depiction” of her without her consent. The statute defines “promote” broadly, covering actions like publishing, distributing, exhibiting, or presenting the altered content. ……
Read MoreTN: New bill could require sex offenders to report if they’re members of a church, other religious orgs in TN
Source: wsmv.com 1/30/25 The bill, “Requires sexual and violent sexual offenders to disclose the name, address, and phone number of any church, temple, or other religious group or organization in this state where the offender is a registered member.” NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – A new bill introduced in the Tennessee Senate on Thursday would require sexual offenders to report to authorities their membership in a church or another religious organization. … “As introduced, requires sexual and violent sexual offenders to disclose the name, address, and phone number of any…
Read MoreID: Idaho Supreme Court vacates child porn conviction over unconstitutional search
Source: cdapress.com 2/4/25 COEUR d’ALENE — The Idaho Supreme Court has vacated a Post Falls man’s conviction for possessing child sexual abuse material because police obtained key evidence against him by unconstitutionally impounding his car. A jury convicted Chadlen D. ____, 40, of sexual exploitation of a child by possession of sexually exploitative material, a felony, in 2022. He received a 10-year prison sentence, the maximum possible under the law, with parole eligibility after five years. In a unanimous opinion penned by Justice Cynthia Meyer, the Supreme Court determined that…
Read MoreUT: Bill SB155 proposes to make it easier to be removed from Utah’s sex offender registry
Source: ksltv.com 2/1/25 SALT LAKE CITY — A controversial bill proposing changes to Utah’s sex offender registry was met with both support and criticism on Capitol Hill Friday. When SB155 was first released by Senator Todd Weiler last week it was met with harsh criticism, on Friday a substitute bill was presented in the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee. The original version of SB155 focused on moving certain criminal offenses with a lifetime sex offender registration to the list of offenses only requiring a 10-year registration. But now this substitute bill…
Read MoreFL: Police officers continue to avoid sex offender registry
Source: wtsp.com 1/28/25 Four different charges were dropped against Markanthony ____, meaning he won’t have to register as a sex offender. A former officer with the Bartow Police Department accused of sexually exploiting teen girls has been sentenced to one year in prison, but will not have to register as a sex offender, according to court documents. Markanthony pleaded guilty to four counts of giving alcohol to someone under the age of 21, child abuse and unlawful use of a two-way communication device. However, documents revealed that the following charges…
Read MoreSC: He lost his son to suicide after a ‘sextortion’ scam. The alleged scammer was just extradited to the US
Source: kten.com 2/29/25 South Carolina Rep. Brandon Guffey was overwhelmed with rage when he first saw the man he believes caused his son’s suicide. The suspect was extradited from Nigeria to the US over the weekend on charges that he targeted 17-year-old Gavin Guffey in a sexual extortion, or “sextortion” scheme, that led to the teen’s death. The Nigerian appeared in court in Columbia, South Carolina, on Monday, where Brandon Guffey laid eyes on him after more than two years of fighting for justice for his son. “Rage is…
Read MoreKY: House Bill 206 would create a fund to compensate people who were wrongfully convicted and incarcerated, including sex offenses
Source: legislature.ky.gov Kentucky House Bill 206 would create a fund to compensate people who were wrongfully convicted and incarcerated, including sex offenses Read the text of the bill
Read MoreMS: US Supreme Court rejects challenge to Mississippi lifetime ban on voting by felons
Source: yahoo.com 1/27/25 The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a challenge to Mississippi’s lifetime ban on voting by people convicted of a wide range of felonies, a policy adopted in 1890 during the Jim Crow era that stands as one of the toughest such restrictions in the nation. The justices turned away an appeal of a lower court’s decision rejecting a lawsuit that claimed that the ban – a provision of the Mississippi constitution that applies even after a sentence has been completed – violates the U.S.…
Read MoreVA: Constitutional amendment HJ2; qualifications of voters, right to vote, persons not entitled to vote.
Source: lis.virginia.gov Read the text of the law
Read MoreAR: Arkansas legislators push for SB13 law addressing Boy Scout child sexual abuse victims
Source: kark.com 1/13/25 LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A bill filed by two Arkansas legislators would address settlement with victims of child sexual abuse expecting compensation through the Boy Scouts Bankruptcy Settlement Trust. Senate Bill 13 by Sen. David Wallace (R-19) and Rep. Jim Gazaway (R-31) specifically addresses the needs of the more than 500 Arkansas survivors of child sexual abuse while in scouting. Should it become law, the bill will fill gaps in previous legislation promoting the rights of sexual abuse survivors. Previous legislation was passed in 2021 as the…
Read MoreAmy Fettig: Prosecutors must be allowed to admit they were wrong
Source: post-gazette.com 1/26/25 Daniel Carnevale spent 13 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit — after a devastating fire in Bloomfield that claimed three lives, he was convicted of second-degree murder and arson. He’d been arrested over a decade after the tragedy, when a witness claimed he’d seem him at the building watching the fire, even though the police reports on the night of the fire said the witness had not seen the person’s face. According to the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, though the report from the ATF…
Read MoreTrump floats foreign imprisonment of American criminals who are ‘repeat offenders’
Source: nbcnews.com 1/27/25 President Donald Trump suggested Monday that the United States could pay a “small fee” to foreign countries to imprison Americans who are repeat criminal offenders, floating a kind of modern-day penal colony. Trump billed the idea as a cost-saving measure in remarks at a conference for House Republicans in Miami. “If they’ve been arrested many, many times, they’re repeat offenders by many numbers, I want them out of our country,” he said. “We’re going to get approval, hopefully, to get them the hell out of our country, along with others…
Read MoreOK: Deevers Introduces Slate of Legislation to Restore Moral Sanity in Oklahoma
Source: oksenate.gov 1/22/25 OKLAHOMA CITY — Sen. Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin, announced on Tuesday a bold slate of eight legislative measures aimed at restoring moral sanity in Oklahoma. Together, these bills set a course for pushing back against the moral decay foisted upon Oklahoma by the far-left’s march through our institutions to destroy the moral foundations upon which the United States and Christian Civilization had long rested. “Sadly, the left’s century-long assault on morality and decency has been so successful that some have come to accept as normal a society that is…
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