Tag: Michigan

MI: Washtenaw County’s sheriff criticizes those attacking former felons program

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Source: wemu.org 11/7/22 Washtenaw County Sheriff Jerry Clayton is calling out some people with political interests who are questioning county-funded programs that use former criminals to help prevent future crimes. One group in particular called “Supreme Felons” was targeted by some for having a registered child sex offender in the group, even though records show that individual was eliminated from the program before the partnership with the county began. In a recorded video, Washtenaw County Sheriff Jerry Clayton questioned these individuals’ commitment to restorative justice and to proven crime intervention…

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MI: Jury Convicts Man For Vile Act With Elmo Doll

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Source: thesmokinggun.com 10/12/22 A jury yesterday convicted a Michigan man of aggravated indecent exposure for using a Tickle Me Elmo doll to masturbate while he was inspecting a residence on behalf of a potential purchaser. Kevin ____, 60, was found guilty of the misdemeanor following a one-day trial in Oakland County Circuit Court. The jury acquitted ____  of malicious destruction of property, also a misdemeanor. Judge Phyllis McMillen scheduled ____’s sentencing for December 2. The indecent exposure count carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $2000…

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MI: Ex-MI GOP House Speaker says sex with a minor was not assault because she consented

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Source: dailykos.com 9/26/22 The Michigan State Police (MSP) began investigating Lee Chatfield, 34, for sexual assault after Rebekah Chatfield, 27, filed a complaint with the Lansing Police Department on December 21, 2021. Rebekah accused Lee of sexually assaulting her starting when she was 14 or 15 (in 2009 or 2010) — and ending in July 2021 when she was 26. The MSP has completed its investigation and has handed over its discoveries to MI’s Attorney General Dana Nessel. The MSP made no public recommendation. But the duration of the investigation, plus…

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MI: Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate calls for tougher sentences for convicted sex offenders

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Source: michiganradio.org 9/16/22 Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon says if she’s elected governor in November she’ll push for stronger penalties for convicted sex offenders. Dixon is spending this week outlining her public safety plan. In a Thursday speech, Dixon laid out a plan that would, among other things, create mandatory minimum sentences for sex crimes, though the state does already have mandatory minimums for some sexual offenses. “Make no mistake sexual predators are going to prison and we aren’t going to think twice about that,” Dixon told supporters in Pontiac.…

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MI: ACLU Sues State Officials for the Fourth Time over Unconstitutional Michigan Sex Offender Registration Act

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Source: aclumich.org 2/2/22 Civil rights organization says it’s unconstitutional to label people for life without individual review  DETROIT – Today the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan (ACLU), on behalf of 10 people who all previously won federal court rulings that Michigan’s Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA) is unconstitutional, filed a federal class action lawsuit against state officials over the latest version of the law. It is the fourth federal lawsuit the civil rights organization has filed challenging SORA in the past decade. The federal courts and the Michigan Supreme…

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MI: Trial in double murder of sex offenders in Adrian delayed until May

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Source: lenconnect.com 1/14/22 ADRIAN — A trial in the case of a Morenci man who is accused of shooting to death two registered sex offenders and committing other crimes almost a year ago has been delayed again.  This time, it is rising COVID-19 case numbers and his attorney’s health that are causing Christopher Lee-Ryan Carden to have to wait to go on trial in Lenawee County Circuit Court. The trial’s new start date is May 17.  … Carden is charged with open murder in the deaths of Samuel Compton, 82, and Robert Braman Sr., 67, both of…

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MI: Former Detroit City Council president just before prison release: ‘What I did was wrong’

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Source: freep.com 12/24/21 Clouds hovered overhead on the morning Charles Pugh, 50, took his first steps to freedom outside the doors of the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility into the brisk December air. Pugh was met by his friends and family who were waiting to pick him up in Ionia from the place where he had spent the last 5½ years following his 2016 convictions on two felony counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child under 16. “What I did was wrong,” Pugh admitted to the Detroit Free Press…

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MI: Changes to sex offender list cause confusion

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Source: upmatters.com 9/14/21 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Nearly nine months after the state made court-ordered changes to the sex offender registry, there’s still a lot of confusion and questions about enforcement. Michigan State Police say they are not enforcing violations of the law, which is meant to track offenders, while other agencies are. The registry includes more than 40,000 names. The confusion started a few years back when a federal judge, in response to a lawsuit filed by the University of Michigan Law Clinical Program and the American Civil…

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Michigan Supreme Court Declares Sex Offender Laws Are Punitive

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Source: ACSOL The Michigan Supreme Court today issued a decision declaring that the state’s sex offender law adopted in 2011 cannot retroactively be applied to a registrant convicted two years earlier.  The Court based its decision upon the ex post facto clauses of both the Michigan and the U.S. Constitutions. “Today’s decision is a significant victory not only for the registrant involved in this case, but also for all Michigan registrants convicted prior to 2011,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci.  “This decision can and should be used as a…

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MI: Lawsuit against state’s Sex Offense Registry Act enters final judgment

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Source: wnem.com 6/21/21 A federal judge has granted a motion for litigation about the state’s sex offense act to enter final judgment. Parts of Michigan’s Sex Offense Registration Act (SORA) were ruled unconstitutional by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Cleland on Feb. 14, 2020. The litigation has been ongoing for nine years. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the court delayed the final judgment in April 2020. The court held a retroactive punishment of the 2011 amendments to SORA can not be served. Several other SORA provisions were found unconstitutional for…

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MI: Bill to create child abuse offenders registry heads to the Michigan House [Updated 4/29/22]

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4/29/22 UPDATE: Child Abuse registry bill awaits action from Governor Whitmer [fox47news.com – 5/11/21] Parents don’t always know just who is caring for or spending time with their children. … “I believe strongly that parents have a right to know if someone who is living with their children or if someone’s taking care of their children that they’ve had a history of child abuse,” said State Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. (D-East Lansing) who created new legislation called Wyatt’s Law alongside his brother Rep. Kevin Hertel (D-18). The law which passed…

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MI: ACLU calls for Whitmer veto on Legislature-approved changes to Sex Offender Registration Act

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[mlive.com – 12/20/20] DETROIT – Approved changes to Michigan’s Sex Offender Registration Act are unconstitutional and ineffective at stopping offenders, argues the state’s ACLU chapter in an appeal for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to veto. State lawmakers approved altering registration protocols for sex offenders during the Legislature’s Wednesday, Dec. 16 session, fulfilling a 4-year-old mandate from the U.S. Court of Appeals. The federal court ruled in 2016 that it was unconstitutional to impose new restrictions on people convicted before the state’s Sex Offender Registration Act was updated with added rules in…

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MI: Michigan Senate approves tightened restrictions in Sex Offender Registration Act

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[mlive.com – 12/16/20] The proposed amendments to SORA in House Bill 5679 are: Giving sex offenders no more than three days to register or report status changes in person with local law enforcement. Requiring offenders to report all email addresses, social media names or other forms of “internet identifiers.” That would not apply retroactively to offenders prior to July 1, 2011, but anyone required to register after that date must comply. Requiring all telephone numbers and vehicles used by the offender to be reported. Previously, they didn’t need to report…

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MI: Feds sued over prison attack that killed sex offender, hurt 2 others

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[detroitnews.com – 12/11/20] Detroit — Two federal prison inmates and the estate of a third are suing the government, claiming officials at a Monroe County lockup failed to prevent a 2019 attack on the sex offenders, one of whom was stomped and stabbed to death. Christian Maire, Michal Figura and Craig Evans were attacked in January 2019 in the East Unit of The Federal Correctional Institution, Milan. Maire was stomped and stabbed repeatedly with a shank before being thrown down a flight of stairs, prosecutors said. Figura and Evans survived the attack, although…

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MI: Michigan poised to double down on failed sex offender registry

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[freep.com – 2020-12-10] In early 2012, more than eight years ago, five people challenged Michigan’s Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA) in court, arguing that the registry branded them as dangerous “sex offenders” without any individual review. One was a man — we’ll call him John — who met a woman at a club open only to those 18 and older. They slept together and only later did he learn that she was actually 15. They fell in love, eventually married, and now have three kids. But due to her age, John…

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FAC: MI: Sex offender registry months out-of-date, but little action from lawmakers… so what?

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[floridaactioncommittee.org – 9/14/20] A local Michigan news paper ran this story yesterday, which spoke about the state of Michigan’s sex offender registry and how out of date and inaccurate it is. Essentially, since U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland declared parts of the State’s registry unconstitutional, Michigan has not been enforcing it. That means information on 44,000 people on their list has not been updated in months. Old information still appears online, new information has not been added. And things appear to be in limbo until their legislature can pass a…

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6th Circuit Decision Requires Registration Even When State No Longer Does

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The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a decision, that if left unchallenged, will require some individuals convicted of a sex offense to continue to register for life even if the state in which he resides no longer does. “This decision is shocking and could reverse the benefits of every state’s Tiered Registry laws as well as other post conviction relief,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “The Court has literally ruled that once a sex offender, always a sex offender.” The petitioner in this case, Mr. Willman, was…

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