Good news! The hearing scheduled for July 10 has been canceled because court has ruled on the pending motion. And it is a favorable decision! Click here to read about it: CA: Federal Court Denies Government’s Motion to Dismiss SORNA Claims
Read MoreCategory: National
PARSOL Responds to May 23, 2023 SCOPA Hearing
HARRISBURG, PA – The Pennsylvania Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws (PARSOL) strongly urges the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to uphold Chester County Judge Allison Bell Royer’s finding in the case of Comm. v. George Torsilieri that Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) is unconstitutional. Royer found that “SORNA is unconstitutional both facially and as applied to this Defendant on the bases that it employs an irrebuttable presumption that is not universally applicable and because its punitive nature offends Alleyne and Apprendi; results in a criminal…
Read MoreMI: Plan for sex offender to live and work in Oakland County during parole is too close to Macomb Co. victim, prosecutor says
Source: theoaklandpress.com 5/19/23 An assistant Macomb County prosecutor has asked the state Supreme Court last week to set 100 miles as the standard of a released prisoner to reside away from their victim. … The current parole plan is for McBrayer to live 16 miles away in Auburn Hills and work in landscaping in Waterford Township, both in Oakland County, and be restricted from entering Macomb County. “What irresistibly and keenly grabs our attention is because the Parole Board is proposing to place him 16 miles away when Michigan has…
Read MoreKY: Mixed Messages of Sex offenders in Ashcamp
Source: news-expressky.com 5/19/23 When businesses pick up additional profit centers, it’s called line extension. … The extension of services that WestCare has embarked upon since 2019 is a halfway house for registered sex offenders. In a quick search of sex offenders in the 41512 zip code, which includes Ashcamp, there are 156 registered sex offenders. And over 80 of those have the same address; 10057 Elkhorn Creek Road, which is the same address for WestCare. … The halfway house provides a place for sex offenders who have committed crimes, served…
Read MoreAZ: Data suggest changes for sex offense policies
Source: azcapitoltimes.com 5/18/23 Based on a false premise, Justice Anthony Kennedy asserted in the case of Smith v Doe 538 U.S. 84 (2003) that “the risk of recidivism posed by sex offenders is frightening and high,” as high as 80% for those who are untreated. This, he contended, made it vital that the public be able to identify these individuals in the interest of public safety. Justice Kennedy’s statements were wrong then and they are wrong now. They were based on an article in a lay publication, Psychology Today, not…
Read MoreTX: Council on Sex Offender Treatment (CSOT) Ethics Committee Agenda for June 9
Source: hhs.texas.gov This meeting will be webcast. Members of the public may attend the meeting in person at the address above or access a live stream of the meeting at https://texashhsmeetings.org/HHSWebcast. Select the tab for the Winters Live on the date and time for this meeting. Please e-mail [email protected] you have any problems with the webcasting function. This meeting will be conducted via videoconference call in accordance with the requirements of Texas Government Code Section 551.127. The member of the Ethics Committee presiding over the meeting will be physically present…
Read MoreOR: Kotek wants $6.7M to clear backlog of unclassified sex offenders
Source: katu.com 5/17/23 PORTLAND, Ore. — Gov. Tina Kotek wants lawmakers to spend millions clearing a backlog of unclassified sex offenders. In March, KATU Investigator Wright Gazaway found there are nearly 15,000 unclassified sex offenders who are Oregon residents. That means the state agency that monitors them has no idea how dangerous those people are or their risk to commit another sex crime. The governor’s office called the backlog “clearly unacceptable” when KATU asked her in March if she would address it. On Wednesday, she called on lawmakers to spend…
Read MoreTX: Megan’s Law became law 27 years ago; How it continues to “protect children against predators”
Source: click2houston.com 5/17/23 On May 17, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed legislation requiring law enforcement officials to release information about convicted sex offenders. This became known as Megan’s Law. Several laws, including the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act of 1994 were passed before Megan’s Law was brought to the White House. Read the full article
Read MoreNE: Prison ordered for a man who tried to burn alive a registrant in his house
Source: newschannelnebraska.com 5/15/23 NEBRASKA CITY – A Nebraska City man was sentenced to prison Monday for starting a fire after bragging he would deal with residents on the Nebraska Sex Offender Registration. Otoe County Attorney Jennifer Panko-Rahe said 20-year-old Seth Buller went to a residence listed on the registry with intent to harm whoever was living there. She said when his attempt to gain entrance to the residence failed, he started a fire in a garage. Panko-Rahe said investigators found evidence of fuel spread to a work bench and…
Read MoreTN: Man sentenced to life for sex crimes against child
Source: wate.com 5/15/23 A Tennessee man who is a registered sex offender will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was found guilty of having sex with a minor and taking her across the country. Watch the video
Read MorePA: Megan’s Law hearing canceled
Source: altoonamirror.com 5/12/23 HOLLIDAYSBURG — Blair County Senior Judge Timothy M. Sullivan won’t be hearing arguments today on the constitutionality of the state’s law requiring sex offenders to regularly register their addresses and other information with state police. Because the state Supreme Court is taking up the constitutional issue on May 23 when it reviews a Chester County case, today’s hearing before Sullivan was canceled. Decisions by the state Supreme Court, expected after the May 23 arguments in Commonwealth v. Torsilieri, are likely to be influential on Blair County cases.…
Read MoreOK: Sex offender searches in Oklahoma prove more complicated than one would think
Source: kjrh.com 5/12/23 TULSA, Okla. — The case involving registered sex offender Jesse McFadden has rocked the Henryetta community. Investigators have already taken in mounds of electronic evidence from inside the home that has victims’ families concerned about possible sex ring ties. The case has prompted a lot of you to dig into your own communities and the sex offender registry. One woman alerted 2 News that a simple web search isn’t as easy as it sounds and there could be some serious flaws. “This started by the McFadden case…
Read MoreFL: Orlando man arrested by DeSantis’ election police works to rebuild his life — again
Source: orlandosentinel.com 5/12/23 Peter Washington Jr. had never voted in his life. But, in May 2019, he filled out a voter application so he could join his wife and “do something good.” “We had just gotten married,” he said. “We were doing a lot of things together.” Days after submitting his application, he was cleared by the state and received his voter ID in the mail. In October of the following year, the couple walked into the Hiawassee Library, near their home in Pine Hills. “I was anxious … scared,”…
Read MoreNJ: New Lawsuit Challenges New Jersey’s Lifetime Child Abuse Registry
Source: reason.com 3/7/23 “Lifetime registries are wrong,” said the plaintiff’s attorney. “They’re wrong based on the science and they’re wrong based on the reality that risk is not static. It is dynamic.” In New Jersey, individuals found to have committed any act of child abuse or neglect are placed on the state’s child abuse registry for life—creating a permanent stigma that bars them from a litany of professions. Even though the evidence in favor of such registries is sparse, they continue to be popular across the nation. However, one New…
Read MoreAL: Cullman County man sentenced to 75 years for failure to register as sex offender
Source: cullmantribune.com 5/11/23 CULLMAN, Ala. – Cullman County Circuit Court Judge Greg Nicholas on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, sentenced David Lee ____, of Hanceville, to 75 years in prison. The sentence stems from ____’s March 1 conviction for failing to register as a sex offender with the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office in violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. “As I stated after the trial our sex offender registration laws are tough for good reason and we will not only prosecute those who break them to the fullest,…
Read MoreJohn Legend knows the obstacles of life after prison. He wants you to know them too
Source: npr.org 5/4/23 When incarcerated people leave prison, are they actually free? Turns out, the singer/songwriter John Legend is one of 113 million American adults who has had a family member incarcerated. He tells his family’s story in this 30-minute documentary that asserts people can’t be free unless they have the necessary resources when they leave prison. From the get-go HOME/FREE lists the problems with re-entry into their community. “I have the ability to go where I want. I do. But at what cost?” says Anthony Ray Hinton, one of…
Read MoreFL: Officials: Florida Sex Offender Charged With Illegal Voting
Source: usnews.com 5/10/23 MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) — A registered sex offender in Florida has been arrested on charges that he voted illegally in the November 2020 election. Louis Palmieri, 77, of Melbourne, was charged Tuesday with false affirmation in connection with an election and voting by an unqualified elector, both third-degree felonies, according to Brevard County jail records. Melbourne is on the Atlantic coast, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Orlando. Palmieri voted in the November 2020 election after signing paperwork claiming he was eligible to vote, the Florida…
Read MoreFL: ‘Justice’ reformer, ex-BSO deputy Bleiweiss avoids prison but must submit to sex-offender treatment
Source: floridabulldog.org 5/10/23 Self-appointed justice reformer Jonathan Bleiweiss, credibly accused of molesting 25 men when he was a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy, has shut down an attempt to send him back to prison for a long stretch. Prosecutors wanted substantial prison time to punish Bleiweiss for violating his probation. Under the terms of a generous 2015 plea deal, he served less than four years of a five-year sentence for multiple counts of battery, stalking and armed false imprisonment, at the same time ducking a possible life sentence for multiple sex…
Read More