The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) is dedicated to protecting the Constitution by restoring the civil rights of registrants and their families. In order to achieve that objective, ACSOL will educate and litigate as well as support or oppose legislation. The ACSOL website and recordings are provided as a service to registrants, registrants’ families, and others for general information only. The information on the website and in the recordings are not designed to provide legal or other advice or to create an attorney-client relationship. You should not take, or refrain from taking, action based on their content. Prior results and case studies do not guarantee a similar outcome in future representations. ACSOL accepts no responsibility for any loss or damages that may result from accessing or reliance on content on the ACSOL website and recordings and disclaim, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any and all liability with respect to acts or omissions made by registrants, registrants’ families and others on the basis of content on the ACSOL website.
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Chelsea’s Law: A Light to Shine On
Today — February 25, 2014 — I want to take a moment to remember the legacy of a girl named Chelsea King. Chelsea was an activist, a runner, a student, a friend, a daughter, and a spunky, charismatic, jovial bubble of joy. This Tuesday marks the fourth anniversary of Chelsea’s disappearance from Poway, Calif., and eventual murder. While she no can longer light up...
GA: Lawmaker apologizes for bill scrapping sex offender loitering statute
A freshman Republican state lawmaker apologized Monday for introducing legislation that would scrap a state ban on registered sex offenders loitering near schools, daycare centers and other places where children gather. “In hindsight, this rookie mistake was silly,” Rep. Sam Moore of Cherokee County said in an extraordinary speech delivered on the House floor. “I am mature enough to admit that. At the time though, I...
Clandestine websites fuel ‘alarming’ increase in child porn
WASHINGTON — Often, as the homemade videos begin streaming across the computer screen, unwitting children appear holding homemade placards bearing the pseudonyms of the macabre films' makers. The makeshift message boards represent claims of credit for the ghastly images that follow: children, some pleading for help, being sexually abused in torturous ways by parents, relatives or others. Among the worst: infants used as toys...
GA: The case of the malicious sheriff
Newbie Georgia Republican legislator Sam Moore has struck a blow--albeit an unpopular one--for constitutional rights, fact-based legislation, and common sense. His bill would remove restrictions on registered citizens, once their sentences are satisfied, that restrict their movements and prohibit their presence in places such as schools and parks. Shocking as it is in Georgia, there are many jurisdictions throughout the U.S. that do not...
Taking a Stand: Women Against Registry responds to our 14 News investigation
EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) -In this week's Taking a Stand, Vicki Henry with Women Against Registry has a response to our 14 News investigation of sex offenders and school bus stops. The Women Against Registry is based out of Washington, D.C., but she e-mailed her response to us; Vicki wrote the following: If we think about registered sex offenders at all, most of us fear...
AZ: Court rules Arizona law bars lawsuits against home sellers who don’t discuss nearby sex offenders
PHOENIX - A state appellate court says Arizona law bars lawsuits against home sellers who don't disclose that a sex offender lives next door, but the ruling also says providing a false reason for selling is another story. The ruling revives a fraud claim against the sellers of a Scottsdale home. The sellers had told the buyers that they were selling because they wanted...
MO: Gladstone woman on a crusade for change following Hailey Owens’ death
GLADSTONE, Mo. — Donna Roesle is a mother of three adult kids. Hours after the murder of Hailey Owens, she organized an online petition in hopes of getting a law passed that will get tougher on criminals who commit crimes against children. “It’s just awful that somebody can go out there and grab an innocent baby and do this,” Roesle said. Roesle has a daughter...
TX: Constitutional or not, court allows registration requirement for sex-offenses predating registry law
The Texas District and County Attorneys Association's weekly case summaries last week described a new Court of Criminal Appeals decision which required sex-offender registration for offenses committed before the creation of the registry. The decision, though, failed to address the question of whether the underlying statute is constitutional, an issue dissenters said they should have confronted. Full Article
GA: Bill would allow sex offenders at schools
CANTON — Brand new state Rep. Sam Moore (R-Macedonia) is pushing a sweeping law that would allow registered sex offenders to go anywhere they want — even to schools.Moore, in his first week in office, has turned in a bill that would overturn the crime of loitering and make it so registered sex offenders who aren’t otherwise barred from going to schools or places...
NH: House Votes 231-97 To Prohibit Sex Offender Restrictions
Twelve towns have passed ordinances to limit where sex offenders can live -- barring offenders from living near schools, or child-care centers. But law enforcement oppose such bans. Renny Cushing of Hampton, a Democrat, told House colleagues that police know restrictions make monitoring offenders harder. "The chiefs of police do not want to have a situation where you take away one of the tools they...
MN: Judge lets Minnesota sex offender suit proceed
A federal judge allowed a constitutional challenge to Minnesota's sex-offender program to proceed Thursday and issued a strongly worded challenge to the Legislature to step in and fix "a system that is clearly broken." U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank didn't rule on the merits of the constitutional claims brought by participants in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program, but he ordered a panel of court-appointed...
WI: Scott Walker’s administration fires new sex offender administrator
Madison — Gov. Scott Walker's administration Wednesday dropped a controversial new hire charged with evaluating sex offenders for release back into Wisconsin communities, a move that came only hours after Walker said he opposed the psychologist. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported on the hire of Daniel Montaldi as "evaluation director" at the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center, a state facility for sex predators. Montaldi,...
IL: Reflections on the Campaign to Stop Jail Construction
When we began our campaign to stop jail construction in Champaign County in early 2012, I thought we were doomed. The grand plan to spend $20 million on this project seemed like a done deaI. The Sheriff was driving the initiative; the leading lights in the County Board seemed to think jail construction was the only prudent course. Yet, nearly two years later we have...
Capitol Punishment: The Troubling Consequences of Federal Child Pornography Laws
Until Dec. 11, 2013, Jesse Ryan Loskarn was a popular chief of staff for a Tennessee senator. But on that winter day, police broke down the door of his rowhouse in southeast Washington, D.C., and searched for the illegal digital items that had led them there: explicit videos of boys posing nude and engaging in sexual acts. On Thursday, Jan. 23, 2014, Ryan was...
MO: Sex offender from Ballwin area faces legal limbo
STE. GENEVIEVE COUNTY • There is a special wing here at the county jail that holds nine detainees who were convicted long ago for sex crimes. They already served their time in prison. Still, they wear bright orange jumpsuits as they await another kind of trial. Flagged as possible sexually violent predators, the Missouri attorney general’s office wants them held indefinitely at a secure state mental institution...
OK: Convicted sex offender sues to stay in his home
PRYOR, OK — A convicted sex offender has sued the district attorney and city of Pryor over housing dispute. ____ ____ bought a home near Jefferson Elementary School in Pryor before the sex offender law was passed which would prevent him from living within 2,000 feet of the school.He was convicted of a child sexual offense in 2008. When he was released from prison in...
D.A. Wants Top Court to Review Rulings Overturning Ban on Sex Offenders in Parks
Orange County prosecutors petitioned the state Supreme Court to review two appellate court rulings striking down a ban on registered sex offenders in the county's parks and in more than a dozen of its cities. “The people of the state of California respectfully petition this court to grant review of an important issue affecting every city and county in California,” Deputy District Attorney Brian Fitzpatrick wrote...
Costa Mesa repeals law banning sex offenders from public parks
The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday night agreed to repeal an ordinance that banned registered sex offenders from entering city parks without permission from law enforcement. The council's unanimous vote comes after state appellate court rulings against similar ordinances adopted by the Irvine City Council and the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Costa Mesa is facing its own lawsuit, John Doe vs. City of Costa Mesa, filed...
Task Force on Restoration of Rights and Status after Conviction (Survey)
NACDL (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) is in the midst of a major study that will lead to a report issued in 2014 on the countless ways in which a person’s rights, ability to work, and the like, are affected by a criminal conviction. As part of this effort, NACDL needs your help. If you are interested in sharing your story of lost...
Sex Offender’s Case Won’t Face En Banc Rehearing
PASADENA, Calif. (CN) - The full 9th Circuit should have been called to consider whether to let a sex offender challenge his parole conditions, as the question imperils "our constitutional system's respect for state sovereignty," five judges said Tuesday. ____ ____ alleges that California prison officials violated his civil rights by imposing residency and GPS monitoring restrictions typically reserved for sex offenders, even though...