Posted on 09/01/2006 11:13:40 AM PDT by Theophilus
No one in attendance voiced opposition to rules submitted by Attorney General Jim Petro's office to the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, consisting of members of the Ohio House and Senate.
The committee's decision not to interfere with the rules puts Ohio in a position to become the first state to test a "civil registry."
(Excerpt) Read more at toledoblade.com ...
And the way the laws are written today, they're probably right correct. That, however doesn't show that the public is lawless, but that many of the laws don't have the overwhelming support of the public. Take a look at the history of why there are 12 members on a jury.
Those that said this will never pass the Constitutional test are correct.
I also agree w/ execution of real child pervs. I used the word real b/c like the scenario of an 18 yr old & 16 yr old VOLUNTARY sexual relationship I do NOT find to be in a perv category & I don't think should even be prosecuted let alone have the 18 on some registry list. Don't forget that would be the same as a Sophomore & a Junior in HS having sex which is not considered a perv activity. And usually, when it is an 18 & 16 it IS b/c they started dating in HS.
I would like the execution sentence of rapists in @ LEAST the cases where there is DNA evidence of rape of children OR of adults. Not that I think you have to have DNA to convict but @ least that version of a proposed law has a better chance of passage & meeting Constitutional muster.
Unfortunately, this proposed thing in OH may sound good but it will W/O a doubt be mis-used by folks wanting to ruin some innocent person for reasons other than protecting children.
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On the "stupid to put on the list" scenario. I remember reading somewhere that a mother got convicted b/c she didn't PREVENT her daughter from getting pregnant. Now mind you, this was not a case of a mom LETTING her daughter get raped by say the mom's boyfriend or anything like that - it's just that her daughter voluntarily had sex, got pregnant & later MARRIED THE FATHER. 1st off I think it's ridiculous that she was even tried & convicted but even WORSE she is on the state's sex offender registry list for Pete's sake.
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I have no problem w/ children testifying via closed-circuit video as long as the lawyer for the defendant is in the same rm as the child when asking questions & hence the lawyer for the accused will be face-to-face & the accused will see the child. The "right to face one's accuser" was/is meant to prevent "anonymous" accusers/court witnesses & if the accused, their lawyer(s) & court officials know the name of the child & it is in the record then IMHO Constitutional muster has been passed.
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BTW folks, don't forget that the "innocent until proven guilty" isn't really for prosecutors - just the judges & juries. B/C IMHO, if a prosecutor DOESN'T believe the defendant is guilty then they have NO BUSINESS prosecuting them @ all. Also, the general public does NOT have to give the benefit of the doubt to defendants/accused UNLESS they are on the jury - it's called the 1st Amendment Freedom of Speech - @ least as long as the person says something like "IMHO", "AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED", "I BELIEVE" or some such it is perfectly OK for folks to say that they "think" someone is guilty regardless of the results of a trial (possible examps OJ/Yates) or EVEN IF a trial even happens @ ALL (possible examp Ramsey's).
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This also reminds me that if a convicted child perv (or any convicted criminal) dies before all appeals are exhausted their conviction can be erased if requested by lawyers/family. Examp, remember that priest convicted of child molestation that got killed (note I didn't say murdered) in prison, well, technically his "record" DID have his conviction erased b/c he died. The same thing has been requested in re Ken Lay but I haven't heard if that has been granted yet . I believe this is the case regardless of if an appeal is even ACTUALLY in the works/on-going process/been granted but not finished. I don't believe in this. The closest I come to possibly saying "ok" is ONLY IF an appeal has been granted by a court but after the granting of permission to appeal the appeal is left unfinished b/c of the death. But @ the very least, if the latest appeal request has been denied or not even submitted in court yet, IMHO, the conviction should stand.
I have tried to talk to a prosecutor, but what happens when the prosecutor's political agenda protects the sex offender and leaves the sexually abused child to rot? The fool only received 2 years in prison for his crime and the poor dear doesn't have to be on the sex offender list at ALL.
That being said, what about the sexual offenders who commit crimes against our kids, go to prison but are NOT put onto the sex offender registry? Legally!
Wyoming has this sort of backwards law and our politicians mis-use and mis-handle it frequently. Our VOTED IN politicians and it will only be through the public, the parents that it stops. We stop voting in District Attorneys and Judges who accept this sort of garbage and demand...DEMAND that these people account for their crimes..perhaps our kids will be safer.
When a 9 year old girl is molested in Wyoming by a FORTY year old man and that man goes to Prison for 2 years at Rawlins penitentiary, then is released this January onto an unsuspecting public..something is WRONG in our system. He is NOT on the sex offender registry..Why? I asked that of the Casper, Wyoming District Attorneys office and I was told that the District Attorney "has the choice on whom to put on the list and he didn't put this man on there because it was *ONLY* 4th degree sexual assault".
"Only 4th degree sexual assault". On a 9 year old CHILD...by a 40 year old man. Yet the DA in all his wisdom didn't find this frightening or important enough to feel this man was a THREAT to any other children in Natrona County.
This man has traumatized the child by showing up at her school...to "pick up" his girlfriends kid. He is free to troll the Casper schools, hang out wherever he likes, because in spite of being a CONVICTED sex offender...the Politician running the Prosecutorial Arena in Casper decided he was A-OK in his book.
Time to vote someone else into that office me-thinks. Then update the sex offender list. I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall while someone goes through his files to see just HOW many sex offenders slid through the cracks and are walking around free in Wyoming. This is also happening in Cheyenne, and God knows where else. Wyoming law leaves it up to the politicians to decide who is a danger.
Our childrens safety is left up to people with political agenda's, do YOU feel comfortable with this? Do you feel comfortable knowing that the DA is letting sex offenders walk around without being on the sex offender list?
You might ask how I know this. I know this because the 9 year girl is my daughter and the 40 year old scum is walking around Casper, Wyoming today freely having served only 2 years in prison for his crime against a child and the Casper DA still refuses to put this waste on the sex offender list even though he was convicted of a sex crime against a little girl.
He could be YOUR neighbor.
He could be having YOUR kids over for sleep-overs with his girlfriends kid as the shield.
He could be hanging with YOUR child as a "neighborly" friend.
He could be offering to "babysit" YOUR kids.
Sleep well tonight and check your daughters window's.
Don't forget to thank the Casper Wyoming District Attorney for all his hard work in keeping the child molester's off the streets and listed on the Sex Offender Registry accurate and current.
We need to get this law changed ..FAST before other children get hurt. It's not very comforting to know that you could have a child molester next door and not know it because the DA didn't think it was important enough to put him on the list.
What if some little ditz decides she doesn't like you because you looked at her while entering a room? or she's jealous of your wife? What if your own kid has a problem with not being allowed to have the car? Out comes the "sex offender" label. It's not fair to either party--the accused OR the accuser.
By Sharon Coolidge, USA TODAY CINCINNATI — People who have never been convicted of a sex offense still could end up on a public registry in Ohio. A law that went into effect in August targets alleged sex offenders who can no longer face charges or be sued because the time allowed for either action — the statute of limitations — has expired.
The new law allows prosecutors, the state's attorney general or alleged victims to seek to put a person on the registry.
Whoever makes the request must try to present enough evidence to convince a judge that the crime was more likely than not to have occurred. If a judge, after hearing testimony and reviewing evidence from both sides, determines that the abuse is likely to have taken place, then the alleged offender must register with the Ohio Attorney General's Internet Civil Registry.
No other state has a civil registry or is even considering one, said Blake Harrison, a policy analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The law creating the registry was a substitute for a proposed law that would have allowed people to file lawsuits in old cases that otherwise would have been barred by the two-year statute of limitations.
Hamilton County, Ohio, prosecutor Joe Deters is the first to test the new law.
In September, he filed a motion in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court asking that David Kelley, a priest who served at St. Therese the Little Flower in Mount Airy Ohio, be ordered to register with the state's civil registry.
Kelley, who lives in Nashville, is accused of sexually abusing a student at the Ohio church's elementary school in the early 1980s, according to court documents.
"People deserve to know if they live near sexual offenders," Deters said. "The statute of limitations may have expired, but this allows for notification."
A hearing is set for Dec. 6. Kelley, who is on administrative leave from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, could not be reached for comment.
"This raises a lot of questions for me," said Jonathan Entin, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University who specializes in constitutional law and civil rights issues. "At least in criminal registries, there is some sort of formal determination a person committed a sex offense."
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a group that lobbies for abuse victims' rights, supported the bill that would have extended the statute of limitations because hundreds of people who have claimed priests abused them as children are unable to file lawsuits or pursue criminal charges.
"I don't think it will work, and it won't deter the abuse," Christy Miller, SNAP's Cincinnati co-leader, said of the new law. "These people won't be financially responsible, and they're not criminally responsible. All that will happen is their name will go on a list that nobody will see because nobody knows about it."
The registry's creator, state Rep. Bill Seitz, said he knows it is controversial but said it accomplishes the same goal as retroactively extending the statute of limitations.
The Ohio ACLU's legal director, Jeff Gamso, called the civil registry troubling.
"It is a dangerous, troublesome law," Gamso said. "This is punishment without the protection of a criminal proceeding."
Coolidge reports daily for The (Cincinnati) Enquirer
"It is a dangerous, troublesome law," Gamso said. "This is punishment without the protection of a criminal proceeding."
For once I agree with the ACLU. It's a modern day witch hunt to get men in trouble for breathing. I can also see this would really come in handy for a woman fighting for custody of her kids. What a crock!
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