[amp.currentargus.com/amp/ – 7/17/20] A Texas man was charged with first degree murder in the March 16 death of an alleged Lea County sex offender living in Eddy County, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Carlsbad Police Department. Rodney Welch, 43, is presumed to have run over Richard Radcliff with a pickup truck. He was also charged with leaving the scene of an accident and knowingly causing death or bodily harm to Radcliff, the criminal complaint indicated. Read the full article
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TX: Unfavorable Decision in the Hearn Case
From TexasVoices: As many of you are aware our constitutional claim rested on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Santobello v. New York. In Santobello the Supreme Court ruled a state violates substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment when it breaches a plea bargain agreement with a criminal defendant. In our case the State of Texas did just that: it changed state law to require Jack, Donnie and Jimmy to register for life, long after they accepted a plea bargain agreement in their criminal cases. The negotiated terms of…
Read MoreTX: Texas church expelled from Southern Baptist Convention for hiring registered sex offender as pastor
[tennessean.com – 2/18/20] The Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee expelled a Texas church Tuesday for employing a pastor who is a registered sex offender. The 80-plus member body, which acts on behalf of the Southern Baptist Convention when it is not in session, took a vote to disfellowship Ranchland Heights Baptist Church in Midland, Texas, during its regularly scheduled meeting in Nashville. Ranchland Heights is “no longer to be considered in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention,” said the Rev. Mike Stone, chairman of the Executive Committee. Read the full article
Read MoreTX: Family says they’re being targeted due to criminal past
[kens5.com – 1/6/20] Obscene symbols and hateful words fill the walls outside a San Antonio home. The messages are directed at the registered sex offender who lives in the house. Watch the video
Read MoreTX: Texas Sex Offender Registry Upheld by Fifth Circuit
[bloomberglaw.com – 12/17/19] The Texas Sex Offender Registration Program, which requires sex offenders to make in person reports and restricts housing options, doesn’t violate the U.S. Constitution by depriving registrants of due process, the Fifth Circuit ruled. An individual convicted of a sex crime in a trial or plea agreement has received the minimum protections required by due process, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said Dec. 16. Secondary harms to registrants, such as finding housing, aren’t direct infringements by the state, the court said. The court…
Read MoreTX: Tejano singer convicted of rape to launch comeback tour
[washingtonpost.com – 12/4/19] HOUSTON — A Tejano singer who was convicted of raping an underage female relative and imprisoned for more than a decade is preparing to relaunch his career with a sold-out show in Houston, despite the original terms of his release barring him from visiting the city and surrounding county because the victim lives there. … “For every one person against him, there are three more who support him,” said Vallejo, who noted that Lopez has been busy rehearsing. Tejano is a style of dance music that mixes…
Read MoreTX: Neighbors: Sex offenders may follow proposed Good Samaritan homeless shelter to area
[caller.com – 11/29/19] There was a time when Abel Palacious found himself homeless. Now, he lives across the street from the old Lamar Elementary School. The school, at the corner of Morris and 19th streets, could be converted into the largest homeless shelter in Corpus Christi. It would house 308 beds as the new location for the Good Samaritan Rescue Mission. The organization served Palacious when he was homeless. Even so, he said he can’t support the shelter’s proposed location because registered sex offenders are allowed to stay at the Good Samaritan. He has…
Read MoreTX: ‘Wept like babies that day’: Man recalls family’s reaction after child sex abuse conviction overturned
[kvue.com – 11/15/19] GEORGETOWN, Texas — For more than 20 years, Troy Mansfield was branded a “registered sex offender,” a shameful asterisk by his name that followed him everywhere. “I took my stepdad’s name and I wanted it to be a good name,” Mansfield said. “And I felt like somehow or another it got trashed by me, and I didn’t mean for it to.” The father of two sons struggled to support his family from a cleaning business, purposely in his wife’s name, Amy Mansfield. “We lived between $16,000 and…
Read MoreTX: Annual Sex Offenders Sweep begins Friday
[kristv.com – 10/24/19] CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Halloween naturally prompts youngsters to visit homes they aren’t familiar with. County law enforcement officials want them to be careful and are taking steps to make it safer for them. The Nueces County Community Supervision and Corrections Department will be conducting its 13th annual Sex Offender Sweep beginning Friday through Halloween Day. In conjunction with the approaching holiday, local law enforcement officials will be conducting home visits on registered sex offenders currently on probation within Nueces County. All District Judges have mandated that…
Read MoreTX: Convicted Arizona sex offender must register in Texas
A three-judge panel with the Texas 14th Court of Appeals determined July 11 that a person must register as a sex offender in Texas if they were convicted of sexual abuse via Arizona law. Full Article
Read MoreThe sex offender registry should assess risk, otherwise it is purely punishment
A not-so-uncommon story: The sexual assault victim — a girl of 16. She’s now 37 years old, happily married to the love of her life, and the mother of three children. That’s right — the victim and her attacker got married soon after the girl’s mother, learning of the couple’s romance, reported the “assault” to prosecutors. Although he has a master’s degree, the attacker couldn’t find a teaching job because he was listed in the sex offender registry for life. His wife had to work multiple jobs to help support the…
Read MoreTX: Judge’s campaign ‘team’ included convicted sex offender
[abc13.com – 3/20/19] HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A convicted sex offender had apparently worked for a newly-elected Harris County judge’s campaign, but wasn’t detected until he was handcuffed in a court room. ______, 36, appeared for an arraignment Wednesday, accused of failing to alert Houston Community College of his sex offender status while enrolled there. Deputies took ______ into custody while working for Harris County 270th Civil Court Judge Dedra Davis. Harris County has no record of ______ as an employee, and neither does the district court administrator. If they…
Read MoreTX: Ex-Baylor frat president indicted on 4 counts of sex assault won’t go to prison
[cnn.com – 12/11/18] Even though Jacob Walter Anderson was indicted on four counts of sexual assault, the ex-fraternity president won’t spend a single day in prison. Instead, a plea agreement allowed the former Baylor University student to plead no contest to a lesser charge of unlawful restraint. That means if the 24-year-old successfully completes three years of deferred probation and pays a $400 fine, his criminal record will be wiped clean of the charge, CNN affiliate KWKT said. Anderson will have to complete alcohol, drug and psychological treatment plans. But…
Read MoreTX: Police, not judges, will decide if sex offender gets exemption
El Paso City Council Tuesday voted to amend the ordinance regarding exemptions issued to sex offenders. Currently, judges provide some sex offenders with an exemption to an ordinance which regulates where they can live. Now, El Paso Police will be responsible for issuing the exemptions. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Inmate claims God, dead mom, gave him ‘go ahead’ to beat sex-offender cellmate to death: report
[foxnews.com – 11/17/18] An inmate who allegedly beat to death his cellmate, an accused child molester, earlier this month in a Texas jail said “God and his mother” told him to do it because the man was “Bin Laden,” authorities said. David Faustino Flores, 42, was charged earlier this month with the murder of 76-year-old kiddie-train operator Clinton Don Simpson. Flores allegedly bashed Simpson’s head with dozens of blows against the cell floor and with his fists, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. “My mom said, ‘That’s Bin Laden, so you…
Read MoreTX: Texas Supreme Court to hear sex offender law challenge
The Texas Supreme Court will consider a challenge to the state’s retroactive sex offender laws that some say unfairly stack new punishments on those convicted in plea deals. Full Article Related TX: For some sex offenders, their deal with the state wasn’t really a deal
Read MoreTX: For some sex offenders, their deal with the state wasn’t really a deal
When the Beaumont police detective called him in 2014, Curtis wondered what the officer might want. His only run-in with the law had been half a lifetime ago. In 1985, he had been charged with indecency with a child, his stepdaughter. Curtis, then 34, struck a deal with prosecutors. He would plead guilty, but if after 10 years he kept out of trouble, the conviction would go away. He paid his fees, performed his community service and attended sex offender counseling. The charge was dismissed in 1996. He kept a…
Read MoreTX: Pastor convicted of child porn gets probation, must post sex offender sign at his home
An associate pastor who told police he kept child porn on his computer as part of research for “a possible lesson involving Cupid, love and human trafficking” has been sentenced to eight years’ probation. ____ ____, 79, also was ordered by Judge Mollee B. Westfall to post a sign at his Hurst home that says, “A person on probation for a child sex offense lives here.” Full Article
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