In Mann v. Georgia Department of Corrections,653 S.E.2d 740 (Ga. 2007), the Georgia Supreme Court held that a state statute prohibiting registered sex offenders from living or working within 1,000 feet of any facility where minors congregate, see Ga. Code Åò42-1-15, constituted a taking of property as applied to a sex offender who was forced to move after a child care center opened a facility within 1,000 feet of his home. … The Seventh Circuit just came to the opposite conclusion in an opinion written by Judge Diane S. Sykes.…
Read MoreTag: Georgia
GA: Convicted sex offenders removed from registry
A little over two decades ago, ____ ____ stood before a judge and pleaded guilty to aggravated sodomy with his 6-year-old daughter. “____ ____ molested his biological daughter,” Chatham County Chief Assistant District Attorney Greg McConnell said. “He admitted that he made her perform oral sex on him but said it was accidental.” ____ , who was 37 at the time, was sentenced to 10 years — two to be served in prison — followed by eight years of probation. ____ served his time. And in 2014 the state of…
Read MoreGA: Can be placed on registry without meaningful due process
[twitter.com – Andrew Fleischman – 6/18/18] Today, the Supreme Court of Georgia held that Georgia could place a man on the child abuse registry without meaningful due process because he had no liberty interest to the contrary. Read more
Read MoreGA: Sex offender registry problems cost the state federal funds
Shortcomings in Georgia’s sex offender registration program are going to cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grant money, according to a letter the U.S. Department of Justice sent to the governor. Full Article
Read MoreGA: Pardon Lifts Requirement to Register as Sex Offender
Georgia’s highest court says a man convicted of sexually abusing a young girl no longer must register as a sex offender after receiving a pardon. Full Article
Read MoreGA: He was arrested for a sex act that’s no longer a crime. Years later, he remains convicted
[washingtonpost.com] Charlton Green was 20 when he was arrested after having oral sex with a 16-year-old male in a Georgia hotel room. He was convicted of a sex crime — not because the act was not consensual (it was), nor because the teen was not within the age of consent (in Georgia, it is 16). He was convicted because the incident happened in 1997, when oral and anal sex between consenting adults was prohibited under Georgia’s sodomy law. The conviction required him to register as a sex offender, a stigmatizing…
Read MoreGA: Can’t pay for a lie detector test? For one man that could mean jail
A North Georgia homeless man may go to prison for 18 months because he cannot come up with $250 to take a court-ordered polygraph test. Such a move would seem to violate a U.S. Supreme Court ruling declaring it unconstitutional to jail someone for failing to pay a fee or fine. But the man’s attorney, McCracken Poston, said the state Department Community of Supervision is nonetheless pushing for the punishment. “It’s crazy,” Poston told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, saying his client, Robert Murphy, has been unable to find a job since…
Read MoreGA: Sex offenders require constant vigilance from law enforcement
When ____ ____ set foot in South Georgia a few years ago, he had just spent 30 years in a Detroit prison for being a serial rapist convicted 10 times over. Because Palmer committed his crimes before June 4, 2003, under Georgia law, he is allowed to settle down anywhere with no restrictions. Yes, that’s right. Anywhere. He can settle in a home next door to a school or day care or playground — anywhere. “____ ____’s crime is so old (he) can live next to whatever he wants to.…
Read MoreGA: Sex offender argues mandatory ankle monitors are unconstitutional
As opposing attorneys argued the constitutionality of the Sex Offender Registry Review Board on Monday, several Georgia Supreme Court justices kept focusing on an aspect of the law that applies to the most dangerous predators: they must wear an ankle monitor for life but face no punishment if they don’t. Full Article
Read MoreGA: Man mistaken for child molester yells during fatal beating, ‘I have kids. It’s not me’
While being beaten to death, mistaken for a man his alleged attackers believed had molested a young girl, ____ ____. screamed, “I didn’t do this. I have kids. It’s not me,” a Bibb County prosecutor said at a Thursday hearing. Full Article
Read MoreGA: Supreme Court Hears Arguments Over Sex Offender Law
The Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments Monday over a state statute that dictates how “sexually dangerous predators” are classified. ____ ____ was designated a “sexually violent predator” in 2013, which is the highest risk designation and requires him to wear an electronic monitor for the rest of his life. ____ was convicted for exposing himself and performing a sexually explicit act via webcam to an individual he believed was a 14-year-old girl, according to court documents. Full Article Case Info
Read MoreGA: Madison County woman fires gun to ‘send message’ to sex offender
Authorities arrested on Saturday a 61-year-old Madison County woman after she allegedly fired two gun shots as a way of sending “a message” to a convicted sex offender she didn’t want on her property. Full Article
Read MoreGeorgia private probation companies expand sex offender industry
In 1994 the Jacob Wetterling Act established the first national sex offender registry law, and Indiana’s “Zachary’s Law” placed their state registry online. In 1996 “Megan’s Law” was passed at the federal level, forcing states to maintain publicly accessible registries and allowing all levels of community notification. In 1997 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld civil commitment in Kansas v. Hendricks, and a year later, Delaware passed the first law requiring registrants to carry a special ID card. In 2005 strict mandatory minimum laws were created with the Jessica Lunsford Act…
Read MoreGA: Moore asks House for second chance
State Rep. Sam Moore (R-Macedonia) has withdrawn his bill lessening restrictions on sex offenders and is asking for a second chance after the proposal caused a public backlash Friday on the floor of the House of Representatives. Moore, who is entering his third week in office, stood before the House on Monday morning and apologized to his fellow lawmakers, the voters in his District 22 and the entire state of Georgia — though he also criticized those who publicly bashed him. Full Article
Read MoreGA: 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 believed that I was fulfilling a campaign promise to hit the ground running.” Moore said he did not intend to enable child molesters with House Bill 1033.…
Read MoreGA: 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 place these restrictions on registrants. Following what research shows, that these restrictions offer no public safety benefit and that community re-entry is the best path to…
Read MoreGA: 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 children gather could go to those places freely. “I am OK with that,” Moore said Thursday, adding that he meant only those who were off…
Read MoreGA: New state law gives ex offenders hope for landing a job
A new state law is a beacon of hope for job seekers with a criminal history. Albany Second Chance hosted workshops for ex-offenders Monday at Albany Technical College and Albany State University. Speakers from the Georgia Justice Project said state is the second worst in the nation for barriers that keep ex-offenders from finding jobs, but they hope the Record Restriction Law will help. Many of the hundreds of people crammed together in the Albany Tech Kirkland Conference Center were seeking a new beginning. “Who doesn’t wish they could go back and…
Read More