[daltontomich.com – 7/10/20] Written by Emily on July 10, 2020 Category: Firm News, Land Use and Zoning, RLUIPA, RLUIPA Cases Court order allows City Walk to continue transition home ministry in Wakulla County. A federal court in Tallahassee has entered a preliminary injunction against Wakulla County, Florida, protecting the religious exercise of Dalton & Tomich client City Walk – Urban Mission. The order comes just two months after we filed suit under the Religious Land Use & Institutionalized Persons Act—a federal law that protects the land use rights of religious…
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GA: Hundreds of Georgia sex offenders off ankle monitors as lawmakers seek legal fix
[tribuneledgernews.com – 7/11/20] A landmark court ruling has led to nearly half of Georgia’s most high-risk sex offenders being released from their ankle monitors over the past year, marking a legal quandary that state lawmakers fell short in addressing during the 2020 legislative session. State officials tasked with recommending how to monitor sex offenders in Georgia say legislation filed in the 2020 session would address the problem going forward by handing final authority to judges, rather than a state-run review board. But criminal defense attorneys argue the proposal does not…
Read More9th Circuit Invalidates Employment Parole Condition
[ACSOL] 9th Circuit Invalidates Employment Parole Condition The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently invalidated a condition of parole which restricted a registrant from “engaging in any occupation, business, volunteer activity or profession” that had “the potential to be alone with children.” In its ruling, the Court agreed with the registrant that the parole condition at issue was overbroad. The Court noted in its decision that the condition “would leave only professions in industries that rigidly prohibit the presence of minors, such as a bar, casino, or adult-entertainment venue. The…
Read MoreNM: Massive COVID-19 outbreak at a southern NM prison hits just one type of inmates — sex offenders. That’s by design.
[http://nmindepth.com – 6/27/20] As the coronavirus established a foothold in southern New Mexico’s Otero County Prison Facility in mid-May, state officials quietly moved 39 inmates out of the massive complex near the Texas border to another prison near Santa Fe. The inmates shared something in common: None was a sex offender. In the days before the 39 departed the massive correctional complex where New Mexico’s only sex offender treatment program is housed, officials were still transferring sex offenders from other state prisons into Otero. It was a routine practice they…
Read MoreNC: Guilford County investigating jail inmate’s in-custody death
[wxii12.com – 6/25/20] GREENSBORO, N.C. —A Greensboro man’s death is under investigation after he died in custody at the Guilford County Detention Center Tuesday morning. Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers said Jeffery Johnson, 61, died as the result of a lengthy and chronic medical condition at the Greensboro facility at about 10:20 a.m. Johnson was arrested by the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office on May 14 and charged with two counts of failure to register as a sex offender. Authorities said Johnson was processed and then taken to the Greensboro Detention…
Read MoreIL: High court upholds ban on sex offenders in parks
The state’s criminal code completely bars child sex offenders from entering public parks, despite an exception written into a similar but separate part of the law, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled last week. The 5-2 majority held that the exception in Section 11-9.3(a-10) of the Illinois Criminal Code of 2012, which allows child sex offenders to visit public parks with their minor children when other minor children are present, cannot be read into Section 11-9.4-1(b), which prohibits a child sex offender from “knowingly be[ing] present in any public park.” Full…
Read MoreFL: Cyberstalking injunction obtained by Sen. Lauren Book overturned by appeals court
[sun-sentinel.com – 6/24/20] TALLAHASSEE — Citing First Amendment rights, an appeals court Wednesday overturned an injunction that state Sen. Lauren Book obtained because of alleged cyberstalking and harassment by an activist who opposes laws dealing with sex-offender registries. The full 4th District Court of Appeal, in an 8-3 ruling, said a Broward County circuit judge improperly granted an injunction that, in part, was designed to prevent Derek Warren Logue from having contact with Book and from publishing any statement threatening her. Book, who was sexually abused as a child by…
Read MoreMO: Sheriff’s office turns registrants into social media companies
[chillicothenews.com – 6/23/20] Missouri Revised Statutes Chapter 589 covers issues with Sex Offender Registration requirements. By statute, the sheriff is the Chief Law Enforcement Officer for each 3rd class county and one of the sheriff’s duties is to oversee sex offender registration. At the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office we strive to make this task as easy and routine as possible for both our staff and those who must register. The registration laws are strict and we expect those who register to be open and honest in their disclosures to us…
Read MorePA: Commonwealth v. Torsilieri
Nature of Case: Mr. Torsilieri — the Appellee in this case — was convicted of a sex offense and, as such, was required to register as a sex offender under Pennsylvania’s sex offense registration scheme. He brought a post-conviction challenge alleging that, because Pennsylvania’s sex offense registration law essentially used an irrebutable presumption of dangerousness that if violated several constitutional provisions related to punishment as well as state constitutional provisions protecting reputation. The trial court agreed, and and held that based on expert evidence adducing that re-offense rates were lower,…
Read MoreUT: Supreme Court strikes down law allowing sex abuse lawsuits
The Utah Supreme Court has struck down a state law that allowed victims of sexual abuse to sue decades later, siding against a woman who alleged a former federal judge raped her when she was a teenage witness and he an attorney prosecuting a white supremacist serial killer. The state’s high court ruled the 2016 law unconstitutional, finding the Utah Legislature did not have the authority to effectively erase statutes of limitation after they already timed out. “The problems presented in a case like this one are heart-wrenching. We have…
Read MoreFL: Divided Florida Court Revokes Sex Offender’s Probation After Bizarre Feud With Neighbors
[law.com – 7/17/20] A peculiar dispute between two South Florida neighbors came before the Fourth District Court of Appeal on Wednesday when it found that a registered sex offender’s three-year “campaign of harassment” against the couple next door violated his probation and warranted a prison sentence. Read the full article (must sign up)
Read MoreVA: Shipyard superintendent, porn convict, seeks online access at work
[dailypress.com – 6/16/20] A superintendent at a local shipyard wants access to the internet at work despite being convicted of a child pornography charge 12 years ago. Willoughby Warren “Billy” Colonna IV, of Colonna’s shipyard in Norfolk, is asking that his prison release terms be amended to allow him to use the internet at his family’s Norfolk ship repair business. The Virginian-Pilot reported in 2008 that Colonna, now 40, is the grandson of the shipyard’s owner and an heir apparent at the company. “His responsibilities are limited because of the…
Read MoreFL: Tampa Bay Times Nixes Mugshot Gallery
[newsmax.com – 6/16/20] The Tampa Bay Times will stop publishing its online mugshot gallery, which features people who have been arrested in the newspaper’s coverage area. The Times made the announcement on Monday. “The galleries lack context and further negative stereotypes,” said Tampa Bay Times Executive Editor Mark Katches. “We think the data is an important resource that our newsroom will continue to analyze and watch carefully, but the galleries alone serve little journalistic purpose.” Katches added that the newspaper will still publish individual mugshots with stories when arrests have been…
Read MoreFL: CrimeNews Ocala sex offender arrested for failing to update license
[ocala-news.com – 6/8/20] An Ocala sex offender who recently got out of prison was arrested after he failed to update his driver’s license information within 48 hours of registering his new address. .. On May 26, ___ reported to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and updated his registration after being released from the Department of Corrections and said he would be living at 10685 W. Hwy. 326 in Ocala. He was reminded of the registration requirements, which include reporting to a Division of Motor Vehicles office within 48 hours to…
Read MoreFL: Ruling allows Tampa man to avoid sex offender registration until he pays $10K fine
[tampabay.com – 6/9/20] A Tampa man who spent 12 years in prison for molesting two young girls at a community pool does not have to register as a sexual offender until he pays a $10,000 fine, two Florida courts have ruled. A judge in the Hillsborough Circuit Court and a panel of three judges in Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeal in April said ___ has not been released from the sanctions imposed in 2004, and he does not fit the definition of a sexual offender until the fine is…
Read MoreNJ: Obscure New Jersey ‘Treatment’ Facility Has A Higher COVID-19 Death Rate Than Any Prison In The Country
[theappeal.org – 6/4/20] With its innocuous name, the Special Treatment Unit (STU) sounds like a hospital. It’s a building in Avenel, New Jersey, housing 441 “residents,” as it calls them. It has what state officials have described as a “comprehensive treatment program” with cognitive behavioral therapy delivered by mental health experts. But the STU is actually a prison in all but name—it’s run by the state’s Department of Corrections and located on the grounds of the East Jersey State Prison. So-called residents live there involuntarily, often for decades on end,…
Read MoreMI: Lawmakers debate changes to states sex offender registry law after court ruling
Michigan lawmakers are debating how to overhaul the state’s sex offender registry after a federal appeals court ruled sections of the law are unconstitutional, but Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is contending the proposed fixes don’t repair the law’s flaws. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Ocala sex offender jailed after registering a day late
[ocala-news.com – 6/4/20] An Ocala man was arrested Monday after he showed up a day late to update his registration as a sex offender. Shaun David Killie, 33, of 4055 NW 63rd St., was supposed to re-register during the month of May. He was reminded when he updated his vehicle information in December 2019 and again in February, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office report. Killie reported Monday to the sheriff’s office sexual offender unit and completed a late registration for May 2020. He had no excuse for not…
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