SAN ANTONIO — More than 80 parks across San Antonio will turn into restricted zones for registered sex offenders. The new ordinance takes effect Saturday, March 1. City council unanimously approved it in December as the best interest of public safety. Texas Voices, a group which advocates for non-violent offenders, says analysis of similar ordinances in other states suggest restrictions do not create safer environments. The group said some registrants are on the list if they were charged for having a consensual relationship with a minor at 18-years-old. “The hardest part…
Read MoreTag: Presence Restrictions
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 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 MoreD.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 in his petition to the high court. “Cities and counties need to know whether they can act to protect children within their communities from the approximately…
Read MoreCosta 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 in 2012. Full Article
Read MoreCosta Mesa City Council to revisit sex-offender park ban [UPDATED]
UPDATE: Motion to repeal passes 5-0 The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday is scheduled to consider instituting a reward for help in identifying vandals and repealing a law that aims to rein in the movements of sex offenders. The Police Department has recommended that the council consider revoking a 2012 ordinance that bans registered sex offenders from entering city parks and sports facilities without law enforcement permission. Costa Mesa’s ordinance was similar to ones passed by the Orange County Board of Supervisors and Irvine City Council. Two state appellate court decisions, however, have ruled against the legality…
Read MoreIL: Sex Offenders May Be Banned From Illinois County Fairs
A bill under consideration would ban registered sex offenders from going to county fairs. “There is a loophole in the current sex offender law that says you can’t work at the county fairs or you can’t be a vendor at the county fairs, but you can attend them,” Illinois State Representative Mike Smiddy told News 8′s Angie Sharp on Wednesday, February 12th, 2014. State Rep. Smiddy heard about the loophole following the 2013 Whiteside County Fair. The State’s Attorney for Whiteside County called him and explained an instance where a…
Read MoreCITY OF CYPRESS AGREES NOT TO ENFORCE RESIDENCY AND PRESENCE RESTRICTIONS
The City of Cypress, located in Orange County, has agreed not to enforce most of its residency restrictions and all of its presence restrictions as terms of two settlement agreements reached on January 31. The City of Cypress also agreed to pay attorney’s fees and costs for the lawsuits filed against them in federal and state courts. In exchange, the plaintiffs in those cases have agreed to dismiss with prejudice the pending lawsuits. “This is a significant victory for the registered citizens and the family members of registered citizens in…
Read MoreD.A. will take sex-offenders fight to state Supreme Court
[UPDATED 1/14] SANTA ANA The Orange County District Attorney’s Office plans to go to the California Supreme Court to defend local ordinances that ban registered sex offenders from city parks. A state appeals court on Friday struck down an Irvine law that barred registered sex offenders from city parks without written permission from police, a ruling that will become legal precedent. The court also struck down a similar Orange County law. About a dozen other Orange County cities passed similar ordinances banning sex offenders from parks at the urging of District Attorney…
Read MoreAppeals court rules against Orange County on sex offender law
A panel of California appeals court judges found Friday that state law trumps Orange County’s regulations on sex offenders that ban them from parks and beaches. The fourth appellate district decision reverses the conviction of ____ ____, a registered sex offender who was convicted of a misdemeanor for violating the county ordinance after he went to a company picnic at Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley in 2011. ____ had been convicted of misdemeanor sexual battery in 2010. The county’s restrictions on sex offenders, passed in 2011, were among the…
Read MoreEl Dorado County Votes to Repeal Sex Offender Ordinance
The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to repeal its sex offender ordinance which prohibited all registered citizens from visiting county recreational areas and the county library. This vote was taken on January 7 in the absence of Supervisor Norma Santiago. A second and final vote on the repeal is scheduled on January 14 and would become effective 30 days later. “The ultimate repeal of the El Dorado County ordinance is a significant victory for more than 100,000 registered citizens and members of their families,” stated CA…
Read MoreSex offender ordinance inspired by Phillip Garrido expected to be repealed in El Dorado County
PLACERVILLE – The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors is expected to repeal a 2-year-old sex offender ordinance Tuesday to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit. The 2012 ordinance was inspired by Phillip and Nancy Garrido, the county’s most notorious sex offenders, who were convicted the year before of kidnapping Jaycee Dugard and holding her for 18 years. The measure forbids registered sex offenders from coming within 300 feet of parks, schools, libraries, public pools and other places where children congregate. “The ordinance that’s on the books today is, in fact, unconstitutional,”…
Read MoreMO: Missouri Supreme Court rules against sex offenders
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s Supreme Court on Tuesday sided against three men previously convicted of a sex crime and facing a new criminal charge under a law making it illegal for them to be near certain parks. The cases are the most recent to focus on a portion of the Missouri Constitution barring retrospective and ex post facto laws. The high court ruled last month the ban on retrospective laws does not apply to criminal statutes. A divided Missouri Supreme Court concluded Tuesday the parks restriction is a…
Read MoreSierra Madre Stops Enforcement of Sex Offender Ordinance
The City of Sierra Madre has agreed to stop enforcement of its sex offender ordinance, which prohibited all registered sex offenders, from residing in most of the city and from being present in child safety zones that included the city’s schools, parks and public library. The Sierra Madre City Council approved this action on December 10 after being sued in federal district court by one of the city’s four registered citizens. The legal challenge was based upon allegations that the city ordinance violated the 1st, 5th and 14th Amendments of the U.S.…
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