[3newsnow.com – 6/2/20] OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — — The attorney for James Fairbanks says there’s a lot more to him allegedly murdering a twice convicted sex offender. Fairbanks, 43, is being held without bond at the Douglas County Jail on 1st Degree Murder in the death of Mattieo Condoluci. He was found dead inside his home on May 16. His attorney, Steve Lefler, says he can’t give specifics, but say when Fairbanks first encountered Condoluci he didn’t intend to kill him. Read the full article
Read MoreCategory: National
Millions of Lives Ruined by Sex Offender Registry, Says Top Anti-Registry Advocate
[frankreport.com – 6/1/20] by Vicki Henry Women Against Registry advocates for the families who have loved ones required to register as sexual offenders. According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s [NCMEC] last published figures, there are over 912,000 men, women and children (as young as 8 and 10 in some states) required to register. The NCMEC has ceased publishing the number of registered citizens as it will soon top 1,000,000. The “crimes” range from urinating in public (indecent exposure), sexting, incest, mooning, exposure, false accusations by a…
Read MorePA cannot require registration of juvenile offenders rules PA Supreme Court
[narsol.org – 5/28/20] In 2006, Defendant Zeno committed two delinquent acts that occurred when he was age 14 and 16. Because of the nature of the two acts, his case was transferred from juvenile court to adult criminal court where he pled guilty to rape of a child, sexual assault, criminal attempt (rape), criminal attempt (incest), and indecent assault. The trial court sentenced him to an aggregate sentence of four to eight years’ incarceration followed by five years’ probation, and informed him that he would be required to register as…
Read MoreBooker calls for national police misconduct registry
[cnn.com – 5/31/20] New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker tells CNN’s Jake Tapper he’s drafting legislation to create a national police registry for misconduct after the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minnesota. Watch the video
Read MoreTX: Unfavorable Decision in the Hearn Case
From TexasVoices: As many of you are aware our constitutional claim rested on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Santobello v. New York. In Santobello the Supreme Court ruled a state violates substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment when it breaches a plea bargain agreement with a criminal defendant. In our case the State of Texas did just that: it changed state law to require Jack, Donnie and Jimmy to register for life, long after they accepted a plea bargain agreement in their criminal cases. The negotiated terms of…
Read MoreIN: COA – Removal from sex offender registry makes man’s case moot
A man whose name was removed from Indiana’s Sex and Violent Offender Registry on the state’s volition has successfully sought rehearing at the Indiana Court of Appeals, which has now deemed his case moot. Full Article
Read MoreNE: Sex offenders concerned about public registry, safety
[3newsnow.com – 5/26/20] The alleged actions by James Fairbanks has registered sex offenders concerned for their safety. Police say Fairbanks murdered registered sex offender Mattieo Condoluci on May 14 at his home. Prosecutors say he sent an email to media outlets saying he saw his sex offender registry information, and couldn’t let him hurt any other children. In 2011, “Jay” was convicted of sexual assault of a child when he says he got into an online relationship with a girl he didn’t know was underage. He didn’t want to use…
Read MoreNE: Advocates call for an end to the public sex offender registry
[fox42kptm.com – 5/20/20] A shooting in North Omaha has sparked concerns over the state sex offender registry. Following the death of Mattieo Condoluci, members of the National Association of Rational Sexual Offense Laws (NARSOL) are calling for the state to remove the public state sex offender registry. “If he was not on the registry I have no doubt he would be alive,” NARSOL Vice Chair Robin Vander Wall said. Vander Wall said the current system requiring sex offenders to register and make their address public is not effective in keeping…
Read MoreNE: ‘We’re sitting ducks’: Concerns of copycat attacks following sex offender’s killing
[ketv.com – 5/19/20] OMAHA, Neb. —When “Jay” first heard the motive behind Mattieo Condoluci’s death, he immediately feared for the safety of his family. “We’re sitting ducks,” he said. Prosecutors believe James Fairbanks sent KETV Newswatch 7 an anonymous email about killing Condoluci. The sender said he had been looking for an apartment in the area when he discovered Condoluci on the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry. The sender described Condoluci as standing in his driveway pretending to wash his truck while staring at a group of children playing in the…
Read MoreCO: Divided state Supreme Court ruling allows convicted man to terminate sex offender registration
[coloradopolitics.com – 5/19/20] In a 4-3 decision, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that a criminal defendant was entitled to his request to de-register as a sex offender because he completed the terms of his probationary sentence and therefore no longer had a conviction under the law. Brian Keith McCulley pleaded guilty in 2000 to two counts of sexual assault. One of the charges, a misdemeanor, resulted in 60 days in jail while the other, a felony, carried a deferred judgment. In Colorado, deferred judgments allow for completion of probation lasting…
Read MoreHow the “Stranger Danger” Panic of the 1980s Helped Give Rise to Mass Incarceration
[jacobinmag.com – 5/18/20] The missing-child panic began with Etan Patz. Plenty of kids had gone missing before, but Etan’s case seemed specially designed to provoke a mass hysteria. In 1979, the six-year-old boy’s mother arranged for him to walk to the school bus stop on his own. She watched him depart from her Manhattan fire escape. Another mother was waiting two blocks away in an apartment overlooking the bus stop site, but Etan never arrived. The tragedy was and remains impossible to comprehend. His first time walking to the bus…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Wakulla County, Florida Discrimination Case
This news out of Florida is one of those David and Goliath type lawsuits, the little guy against the giant. City Walk Urban Mission in Wakulla County, Crawfordville, Florida, a small faith-based ministry whose motto is “every saint has a past, every sinner has a future” has come under fire by some of the town’s folk and law enforcement. Since 2013, this tiny non-profit ministry has worked to help rehabilitate ex-offenders, provided food and shelter, assistance in procuring employment and for some, reconnection with their families. The ministry’s address, a…
Read MoreNE: Suspend In-person Reporting During the Pandemic
[nebraskansunafraid.org – 5/14/20] he Nebraska Criminal Defense Attorneys Association (NCDAA) and ReConnect, Inc., have teamed with Nebraskans Unafraid (NU) to call on Gov. Ricketts to temporarily suspend in-person reporting requirements for registered people during the pandemic. The request was made in a May 11, 2020 letter to the governor. The letter was signed by Joseph L. Howard, president of the NCDAA Executive Board; Jeanie Mezger, NU Board member; and LaVon Stennis-Williams, Executive Director of ReConnect, Inc. ‘By mandating in person registration during this pandemic, the State forces its citizens to…
Read MoreNC: Registrants Win in North Carolina Court
[ACSOL] A federal trial court in North Carolina has ruled in favor of registrants whose out-of-state convictions were determined by law enforcement to be “substantially similar” to sex offenses in North Carolina. As a result of this decision, registrants who were convicted of an out-of-state sex offense prior to December 1, 2006, and who also moved to North Carolina prior to that date are no longer required to register. The foundation of the Court’s decision was a violation of the substantive due process provision of the 14th Amendment. Specifically, the court…
Read MorePA: Court Determines Annual Registration, Internet Publication Punishment
[ACSOL] The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania issued an important decision on May 11, 2020, in which it determined that annual registration as well as publication of a registrant’s personal information on the internet constitutes punishment. The petition in this case committed a sex offense prior to the effective date of these requirements. According to the Court, annual in-person registration “imposes affirmative restraints and probation-like conditions.” The Court determined that the annual registration requirement was excessive. The Court also ruled that the state law requiring the posting a registrant’s personal information…
Read MoreOH: Coronavirus In Ohio: People With Sex Offenses Risk Health For In-Person Registration
[radio.wosu.org – 5/7/20] Even as most Ohioans are encouraged to stay home during the coronavirus pandemic, people convicted of sexual offenses are still required to register in person. Some Ohio counties and even nearby states have waived that in-person requirement, but most, including Franklin County, have not. “So we are crossing over to the records department here in Franklin County where they make everyone start their registration journey,” says Zach Ruppel. Ruppel is familiar with this journey: He often walks people through the sex offender registration process for their first…
Read MoreFL: Court: Miami jail can’t be forced to give inmates soap, tests during coronavirus outbreak
[miamiherald.com – 5/5/20] A federal appeals court has blocked, for now, a judge’s order forcing Miami-Dade County to give masks, soap and cleaning supplies to inmates at a jail wracked by the novel coronavirus. The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday said that Miami District Court Judge Kathleen Williams overstepped the law when she ruled that inmates at the Metro West Detention Center must get the supplies — and also be tested for COVID-19, as well as people who have been in contact with them. “To avoid contempt,…
Read MoreNE: Scammers targeting Madison County sex offenders
[kearneyhub.com – 4/20/20] The Madison County Sheriff’s Department has received complaints about unknown callers claiming to be representatives of the department. The calls specifically target registered sex offenders and make various threats or demands of money, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff’s department. The callers identify themselves as either Sgt. Downs or Sgt. Lyle, neither of whom work for the Madison County Sheriff’s Department. Read the full article Past quotes from Janice: “If you receive a call that demands immediate payment for a failure to register, be on…
Read More