Source: alaskawatchman.com 7/20/23 In an effort to protect children from sex crimes, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly approved a new ordinance that prohibits sex offenders from taking up permanent residence within 1,000 feet of any school, daycare facility or public park. Approved at the assembly’s July 18 meeting, the ordinance does not apply to sex offenders who live in a restricted zone prior to the new law. Sex offenders may not, however, purchase or lease a new permanent residence within the restricted areas. Introduced by Assemblyman Ron Bernier, the law is…
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AK: Without guidance, Alaska judges to ‘muddle through’ sex offender registry removal decisions
[ktuu.com – 8/9/19] ANCHORAGE (KTUU) – Without guidance, Alaska Superior Court judges will have to “muddle their way through” decisions over how a person can apply to be removed from the sex offender registry, says John Skidmore, the director of the criminal division with the Department of Law. In June, the Alaska Supreme Court determined that people on the sex offender registry had a right to due process, effectively meaning they could apply to be removed from the registry if they can prove they are no longer dangerous. Currently, there…
Read MoreAK: Supreme Court declares law requiring all sex offenders to register unconstitutional
The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s sex offender registry law violates offenders’ right to due process. In an opinion handed down Friday, the court — voting 3-2 — found the law requiring all offenders to register unconstitutional unless offenders are first given the opportunity to demonstrate they aren’t a danger to the public. Full Article Decision
Read MoreAK: Effort to force out-of-state sex offenders to register excludes juvenile crimes
A sex offender from Iowa said he chose to move to Alaska believing he wouldn’t have to register as a sex offender. He was right — and it’s a reality that would continue, even if the governor’s crime bills become law. Full Article
Read MoreAK: Cyrano’s Theatre Co. will drop an actor who is a registered sex offender after social media backlash
[ktuu.com 12/11/18] A registered sex offender who performs with Cyrano’s Theatre Co. will no longer be acting with the company. Jenson Seifert lists Cyrano’s as his employer on the state’s sex offender registry. He is a former teacher at Birchwood Christian School who was charged, and later served time, for sexually abusing a minor. At the time, police accused him of molesting a 14-year-old boy repeatedly, including while he was a chaperoning a youth outing. Cyrano’s says Seifert has been a performer with the company for about a year and…
Read MoreAK: Court – Some sex offenders don’t have to register
In a decision that combined two cases pending before the court, justices said a strict reading of the 1994 Alaska Sex Offender Registration Act does not grant the Alaska Department of Public Safety leeway when determining whether an out-of-state sex crime matches an illegal act under state law. Until the decision, it was up to DPS to determine whether someone convicted of a sex crime outside Alaska would be required to enter their names into Alaska’s sex offender database if they moved here. Now, it’s not clear what standards will…
Read MoreAK: Anchorage man who attacked sex offenders sentenced to 23 years in prison
At an Anchorage Superior Court hearing for Jason Vukovich, who was sentenced Monday for attacking three registered sex offenders, his older brother Joel Fulton said that despite counseling, he has not yet recovered from what the two men experienced as children. … But the prosecutor, Patrick McKay, argued that there was no excuse for Vukovich to target and attack three strangers, beating one man so badly with a hammer that he fractured his skull and knocked him unconscious. “We’re lucky we’re not dealing with a murder charge,” Assistant District Attorney…
Read MoreAK: Anchorage man who attacked sex offenders hopes his story can be a lesson for others
[adn.com] An Anchorage man who attacked three registered sex offenders last year said he wants his story “to serve as a deterrent” to anyone tempted to turn their pain into violence or take the law into their own hands. That’s what he did in the summer of 2016. He now faces up to 25 years in prison. “If you have already lost your youth, like me, due to a child abuser, please do not throw away your present and your future by committing acts of violence,” Jason Vukovich wrote…
Read MoreAK: Going home – Even sex offenders should get a chance to rejoin society
The good news is that Alaska’s sex offender treatment program works. The bad news is that a shortage of providers creates a many-months-long waiting list that traps sex offenders from rural Alaska in Anchorage, sometimes homeless. With 250 sex offenders coming out of Alaska prisons annually, 45 percent of them Native, this is a public safety threat and a humanitarian fiasco. We must do better. Full Opinion Piece (3rd of 3)
Read MoreAK: Alaska Cops Fight for the Right to Sexually Exploit Prostitution Suspects
Once again, cops are arguing that they need to be allowed to have sex with suspects in order to investigate prostitution allegations. And once again, lawmakers and journalists are acting like exploitation and assault of sex workers by law enforcement is a rare occurrence, rather than a national epidemic. Full Article
Read MoreAK: Anchorage man says an attacker who called himself the ‘avenging angel’ broke into his home and assaulted him with a hammer
Jason Vukovich, 41, waived his appearance at a court hearing Thursday in an unusual criminal case: the hammer attack he’s charged with carrying out against a man on a sex-offender list. While police and prosecutors won’t go into details, the victim of the attack, ____ ____, said Vukovich is the man who broke into his Anchorage home in late June and, wielding a hammer, called himself the “avenging angel” for hurting children. Full Article
Read MoreAK: Alaska Supreme Court overturns 2006 conviction
The Alaska Supreme Court last week overturned the conviction of a 62-year-old Ketchikan man who had been found guilty in 2006 of failure to register as a sex offender. In its April 25th opinion, the court writes that the original offense for which ____ ____ was convicted occurred in the 1980s, before the State of Alaska passed the Alaska Sex Offender Registration Act. That 1994 law required convicted sex offenders to register with the state, even if the offense took place before 1994. Full Article
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