Source: eastidahonews.com 8/8/24 [ACSOL note: this article makes an important point about the lack of relevance about a persons religion] CASCADE (Idaho Statesman) — The Valley County Sheriff’s Office included an intriguing detail recently when it announced that a suspect pleaded guilty to possessing or accessing sexually exploitative material of a child. The result was a lot of online chatter and controversy. In a Facebook post, the Sheriff’s Office wrote that the 22-year-old man was “a member of the Idaho chapter of The Satanic Temple.” … Groups such as the…
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ID: Idaho bill to extend death penalty unconstitutional, aims for US Supreme Court review
Source: idahostatesman.com 2/13/24 The Idaho House overwhelmingly passed a bill that would allow the death penalty for anyone convicted of certain sex crimes against preteen children Tuesday, even as its sponsor acknowledged that such a law would be unconstitutional. House Bill 515 is designed to challenge decades of U.S. Supreme Court precedent that limited death sentences to defendants who commit murder, said Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, who co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Josh Tanner, R-Eagle. With the current supermajority of conservative-leaning justices on the nation’s highest court, the hope is…
Read MoreID: Predictable hysteria when three registered sex offenders are given permission to drop off and pick up their own children
Source: magicvalley.com 9/19/23 The Cassia County School District amended a 15-year-old board policy over the summer to create a ‘community’ committee with an eye on opening its governing process to parents, among others. It didn’t last the summer, and here’s why. The Cassia County School District, following a 15-year-old board policy and Idaho Code, voted last month to approve applications from three registered sex offenders who requested permission to drop off and pick up their own children, and attend academic conferences and extracurricular activities involving their own children. It’s a…
Read MoreID: State ordered to pay more than $319,000 to wrongfully incarcerated Idaho man forced to register
Source: idahocapitalsun.com 9/8/23 The state of Idaho must pay more than $319,000 to an innocent man who was wrongfully incarcerated for five years and nine months. The funding is made possible through the Wrongful Conviction Act, which the Legislature passed in 2021. Compensation only goes to people who were incarcerated and later are found factually innocent. Joseph LaCroix was wrongfully convicted on Oct. 3, 2017, in Bonneville County of failing to register as a sex offender, a felony crime. On March 8, the District Court found that LaCroix was innocent,…
Read MoreID: Idaho federal judge declined to dismiss six convicted sex offenders’ challenge
Source: courthousenews.com 7/3/23 BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho federal judge declined to dismiss six convicted sex offenders’ challenge to a state law allegedly unfairly applied to them even though they were convicted prior to the enactment of portions of the law. The offenders would have been eligible to petition for removal from the sex offender registry after 10 years, but amendments retroactively subjected them to lifetime registration. The individuals have plausibly alleged the law is punitive in effect as it significantly restricts where they may legally live and work. Read…
Read MoreID: The Idaho Children’s Trust Fund says prevention is more important than focusing on penalties for offenders
Source: idahonews.com 4/3/23 BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — Many children in Idaho will be the victims of abuse and/or neglect. The Idaho Children’s Trust Fund says one in eight Idaho children will be the victim of sex abuse. Rather than focusing on penalties for offenders, Idaho Children’s Trust Fund Executive Director Roger Sherman says the focus should be on prevention. He says, “we as a community need to get behind all of the parents to provide positive work to provide the kind of skills folks need to give people the kind…
Read MoreID: Idaho settles lawsuit over antiquated anti-sodomy law
Source: whec.com 11/10/22 BOISE, Idaho (AP) — People who were convicted of having oral or anal sex under an antiquated Idaho law will be allowed to be removed from the state’s sex offender list, according to a settlement Idaho has reached to resolve a two-year-old lawsuit. The Idaho State Police will also pay the legal fees of the men who sued over the law, according to the settlement filed in Idaho’s U.S. District Court on Thursday. “There’s no reason in 2022 that anybody should be on the sex offender list…
Read MoreID: Sex offender freed after appeal
Source: cdapress.com 1/4/22 COEUR d’ALENE — A man previously convicted of sexually abusing two children is free after the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that he was deprived of his right to a fair trial. A jury convicted 39-year-old Robert J. Farrell-Quigle in 2018 of two counts of lewd conduct with a minor under the age of 16, a felony punishable by up to life in prison. First District Judge John Luster sentenced Farrell-Quigle to 25 years in prison, with 12 years fixed and 13 years indeterminate. That meant Farrell-Quigle would…
Read MoreID: Judge Says Idaho Can’t Force 2 Men To Register As Sex Offenders For ‘Crimes Against Nature’
Source: boisestatepublicradio.org 9/9/21 A federal judge said the state of Idaho has “no legitimate interest” in forcing two men to register as sex offenders for life due to the state’s “crime against nature” law and will bar officials from doing so. Idaho District Court Judge Lynn Winmill issued a preliminary injunction against the state Wednesday to prevent Randall Menges and an unnamed man identified only as John Doe from having to register. “Doe and Menges are harmed daily by being required to register as sex offenders and the violation of…
Read MoreMT: Former Missoula man sues over ‘outdated’ sodomy convictions, sex offender requirement
[kpvi.com – 3/25/21] A man is taking Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen to federal court Tuesday for requiring people to register as sex offenders for past sodomy convictions. Randall _____ , 45, was convicted when he was 19 years old under an Idaho law that criminalized sex acts associated with homosexuality, according to the lawsuit he filed in December in U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. Because of that conviction, Randall was required to register as a sex offender with the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office. “This case involves…
Read MoreID: 9th Circuit Reverses Trial Court Rulings Regarding Ex Post Facto, Religious Freedom
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that a federal trial court erred when it dismissed a case involving 134 registrants in Idaho who claimed that the state’s sex offender laws violated their civil rights. In its ruling today, the Court opened up the possibility that the Idaho laws at issue violated both the federal and state constitutions. One of the claims in the case is that the state’s sex offender laws violate the ex post facto provision of the U. S. Constitution. Many of the state laws at…
Read MoreID: Sex offenders ask court to revive Idaho registry lawsuit
[washingtontimes.com – 5/6/19] A group of 134 sex offenders have asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court to revive their lawsuit against the state of Idaho because they say they were denied their constitutional rights when they were forced to register as sex offenders. The group, referred to only as John Does 1 through 134 in the lawsuit, notified U.S. District Judge David Nye on Sunday that they would ask the appellate panel to review Nye’s ruling dismissing the lawsuit. The group originally filed the lawsuit in 2016, contending that Idaho…
Read MoreID: Judge Rejects Idaho Sex Offender Registration Lawsuit
A federal judge has rejected a lawsuit challenging Idaho’s sex offender registration laws, but the 134 anonymous sex offenders who brought the lawsuit have the option to refile the case if they can show the current laws caused them actual harm. Full Article
Read MoreID: Sex Offender Registry SNAFU
____ ____ wears a small camera pinned to his shirt. He wants his activities recorded because he is unsure what hairpin turn he may come up against next. There have been a lot of switchbacks and bumps over the past 13 years, and the latest one, what he calls a false accusation coupled with threats from Idaho State Police, is taking a toll on his health. ____, 54, accuses Idaho State Police of coercing him into registering as a sex offender although he has never had to register anywhere else,…
Read MoreID: Idaho Senate panel introduces bill to broaden sex crime laws
[idahostatesman.com] An Idaho Senate committee has introduced two bills that would broaden the definition of some sex crimes to include crimes committed with the intent of degrading or humiliating someone. Idaho Deputy Attorney General Paul Panther told the Senate Judiciary and Rules committee on Monday that both the state’s current statute on sexual battery and the statue on forcible penetration with a foreign object define the crimes as having been done with the intent of sexual gratification or arousal. But Panther said those statutes currently don’t cover situations like severe…
Read MoreID: Lawsuit over Idaho’s sex-offender registry laws expands to 134 plaintiffs
A lawsuit filed last year by 104 sex offenders challenging Idaho’s laws that require registration and community notification of sex offenders has been expanded to 134 sex offenders. They say the laws violate an array of constitutional rights, from the prohibition on double jeopardy to freedom of religion. Full Article
Read More“One strike for sex offenders should be enough” – change.org Petition
“The system failed me and my family and I’m going to do whatever it takes to put an end to the psychos running the streets.” – Shasta Groene For anyone living in the Pacific Northwest in May of 2005, the survival story of Shasta Groene is one you could not turn away from. It has now been almost 11 1/2 years since ____ ____ , a sex offender with a long record of assaults on children, abducted Shasta and her brother Dylan from their Idaho home where another brother, Slade,…
Read MoreID: 104 sex offenders sue Idaho over its registry laws
A lawsuit challenging Idaho’s laws governing registration and community notification of sex offenders seeks a permanent injunction to stop the state and counties from enforcing portions of the law. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Boise federal court on behalf of 104 unnamed sexual offenders, identified as Does 1-104, argues that Idaho’s sex offender registry laws violate the U.S. and Idaho constitutions. Full Article Lawsuit
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