Carson City, CA councilwoman Lula Davis-Holmes deserts her post as her "war on sex offenders" ends in defeat

How's that war coming along, Lula-Davis Holmes? What? Over already? Lula-Davis Holmes already went AWOL while her squad threw up the white flag? I think the voters should give our not-so-brave soldier a dishonorable discharge by voting her out of office next time her seat is up for election.

She didn't even have the guts to attend the meeting in Carson City to overturn the park bans.

http://www.dailybreeze.com/government-and-politics/20151202/carson-backs-off-war-against-sex-offenders

Carson backs off ‘war’ against sex offenders
By Sandy Mazza, Daily Breeze
POSTED: 12/02/15, 8:03 PM PST | UPDATED: 5 HRS AGO 4 COMMENTS

A year after Carson officials vowed to “go to war” to maintain stricter local laws than those imposed by the state to keep sex offenders away from places where children gather, they backed off this week to defuse civil rights lawsuits.

The City Council voted 3-0 Tuesday night to revoke its law prohibiting convicted sex offenders from loitering within 300 feet of places where children congregate.

Instead, Carson will join all other California cities by following the state decisions on matters such as where to house and how to regulate paroled sex offenders.

Sex offenders and their advocates have protested in Carson since the city refused to rescind its ordinance in August 2014, after a state court ruled that municipalities must follow the state’s less restrictive Jessica’s Law. Under that law, registered sex offenders cannot live within 2,000 feet of schools and parks.

“We have to go to war,” Councilwoman Lula-Davis Holmes said in September 2014, when the council voted 5-0 to maintain its strict prohibitions. “This is going to be a big fight. We want to keep this at the forefront.”

On Tuesday, Davis-Holmes abstained from voting to rescind that policy and Councilman Elito Santarina was absent from the discussion. The rest of the council voted to annul the laws after City Attorney Sunny Soltani explained that there has been no movement from other cities to back Carson’s stance.

“It’s time for the city to look at what it wants to do with its ordinance,” Soltani told council members. “Other cities put their hands up and rescinded their ordinances but you are still dealing with it. You have two pending lawsuits and we’re trying to make (city law) more consistent with state law.”

Since last year, California Reform Sex Offender Laws sued Carson on behalf of two sex-offender registrants, claiming the city violated their constitutional rights by refusing to let them near its parks and other public places.

At public protests in March and July near Carson City Hall, sex-offender registrants held signs reading: “Carson Law Hurts Families” and “Protect the U.S. Constitution.”

Protestors said they served their time and shouldn’t be further persecuted by having their rights restricted by cities, along with the state and federal rules that already govern their behavior.

“We should not be making law out of emotion or just for politicians to get votes,” said Frank Lindsay, who was convicted in 1979 for lewd and lascivious acts with a minor.

Janice Bellucci, the attorney who sued Carson on behalf of Lindsay and another sex-offender registrant, said she will drop the suits as long as the city agrees to settle for attorneys’ fees and other costs. They tried to settle with Carson in July 2014, but the city instead chose to fight the matter.

“We are pleased that the Carson City Council has decided at long last to comply with state law by significantly modifying its sex offender ordinance,” Bellucci said in an e-mail. “The language in the modified ordinance is also consistent with terms of the (proposed July 2014 settlement), which the City Council has refused to honor.”

----------

TIMELINE

July 2014: Attorney Janice Bellucci, who represents two registered sex offenders, sought a settlement with Carson over its sex offender law. Carson city leaders instead chose to fight Bellucci’s complaint in court.

August 2014: A state court ruled that California’s cities must comply with the state’s Jessica’s Law, which bans registered sex offenders from going 2,000 feet near schools and parks.

September 2014: The Carson City Council voted 5-0 to maintain a law that requires sex offenders to stay at least 2,000 feet away from schools and parks and not loiter within 300 feet of places where children gather.

Tuesday: The Carson City Council voted 3-0 to revoke its policy. Councilwoman Lula Davis-Holmes abstained and Councilman Elito Santarina was absent.

John Walsh found a new patsy in D'OHio senator Rob Portman

It seems my senator, Rob Portman, has been playing the patsy to John Walsh as of late. Last month, John Walsh has stated publicly that he was going to lobby Congress for the A-damned Walsh Act

So now John Walsh is getting involved with the human trafficking panic, and he was found the perfect patsy in Ohio Senator Rob Portman. Portman has obvious drank the Kool-Aid, inviting Walsh to this subcommittee. (On a related note, pronouncing the NCMEC as 'Nick-Mick" is extremely annoying.) Lets listen to Portman mention he "invited" Walsh to the subcommittee meeting (at the 48 second mark):

What I find interesting is by Portman's own Twitter page, the issue of sex trafficking in America's seventh most-populous state (Ohio's population is currently estimated at 11.5 Million) is very, very, VERY small:

So they had 13 "reported cases" in 4 years? That's 3.3 cases a year. That is a ridiculously small number. There were more people who won $1 Million or more in the Ohio lottery scratch-off ticket program (there were six of those for 2015 so far).

Did anyone notice that John Walsh had a front row seat? This was completely intentional.

So a few of you may be wondering why i'm even making a big deal of this, besides the presence of fading star John Walsh. Well, consider the fact that the "sex trafficking scare" is impacting laws against registered citizens. there are TWO "sex trafficking" bills in Congress directly impacting registered citizens:

H.R. 515 ("International Megan’s Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders") Chris Smith (R-NJ)
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr515

S.1867 ("International Megan’s Law to Prevent Child Exploitation Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders") Sponsor: U.S. Richard Shelby (R-AL)
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/s1867

This panic is going to be a way to keep Walsh relevant, seeing as how America's most Wanted is no more and The hunt is getting less than stellar reviews. Walsh still gets a share of the NCMEC's cash prize each year.

One last thing before I add a news article, Because John Walsh is such a fading star, we at the Shiitake Awards have determined that Walsh is only worthy of an Everyday Zeroes Award.

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/Theyre-gonna-pay-Lawmakers-target-backpagecom-sex-ads-351871951.html

They’re gonna pay': Lawmakers target backpage.com sex ads

Updated: Fri 10:59 AM, Nov 20, 2015
By: Jacqueline Policastro - Email

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Lawmakers are going after the CEO of backpage.com, the website known to accept online ads from pimps who are selling children for sex.

CEO Carl Ferrer failed to show up as a witness at a Congressional Hearing by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

His lawyers told Committee Chairman, Ohio Senator Rob Portman, that he was on international business travel.

“This subcommittee would respect any valid assertion of 5th amendment privileges but there is no privilege not to show up,” Portman said.

Frustrated lawmakers say they plan to refer Ferrer to the Department of Justice for criminal contempt. It’s a step the Senate committee hasn’t taken in more than thirty years.

The backpage.com website is a known hub for human trafficking, especially sex trafficking of children.

Senators said the rules of the website make it easier to post an ad to sell a child than to sell a motorcycle or boat. Lawmakers believe the fair market value of backpage.com is $430 million.

In an effort to bring more attention to the issue of sex trafficking John Walsh, creator of America’s Most Wanted, came to the hearing with a message for the CEO of backpage.com.

“You’re a coward, it’s all about money,” Walsh said.

Walsh told us backpage.com screens the ads they receive and actually changes them to make it harder for law enforcement to catch pimps.

“The buyers of sex with children are the number one offenders, they should be in jail. And the pimp that trafficked the child should be in jail. And facilitator of that ad to put that pimp and that child together with that pervert – that’s a crime,” said Walsh.

Walsh calls the website a shopping mall for people who want to exploit children saying he’s been trying for 3 years to help backpage.com flag and report posts advertising children for sex.

“They’re making a joke out of this committee and they are gonna pay,” said Walsh.

FloriDUH state senator Dorothy Hukill is "droning" on and on with her perverted thoughts

I can't help but wonder how perverted this woman really is. after all, if she spends this much time thinking perverted ideas like using drones to spy on naked kids, then it is she has some issues and is in need of therapy.

http://bbn.frn.com/fis/storydisplay.asp?site=wbob&storyID=24526

Unmanned Drones and Sex Offenders

by Rick Flagg and Alan McBride

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. -- A state lawmaker from Central Florida has filed a bill that would make it a crime for registered sex offenders to use a remote control drone to spy on kids or take their pictures. 

Senator Dorothy Hukill of Port Orange says predators are required to stay away from schools, playgrounds and other places where children gather... but there's nothing in the law about drones.

"What they can't do personally, they can do with a drone," she said. "They can do it pretty unobtrusively without people being aware or knowing what they're doing."

Hukill admits she's never heard of a case where a sex offender used a drone to stalk a child, but she contends it's bound to happen eventually.

She says her bill is all about prevention.

Judge Dennis "The Menace" Wiley proves Sen. Rick Jones lied when he claimed R&J cases aren't prosecuted in Michigan

This is Dennis "The Menace" Wiley, judge in Berrien Co., MI. He is not exactly an ethical judge, and is apparently no stranger to controversy, including being censured by the Michigan Bar. Now, he has ruined the life of a 19-year-old just because he can.

This is a rather long read, but is a very comprehensive article on this case. So much for Sen. Rick Jones's bogus claim that Romeo and Juliet cases don't get registry time in Michigan.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/was-justice-served-after-teen-s-encounter-with-girl/article_bede1df7-505d-5d39-b9d8-256719f553d9.htm

Was justice served after teen's encounter with girl?

Posted: Wednesday, May 20, 2015 9:30 am | Updated: 5:04 pm, Tue May 26, 2015.
By Virginia Black South Bend Tribune

When the Niles girl came down the stairs early one December evening all made up and her hair looking especially nice, her mother said, "Dang! Where are you going?"
The girl, who struggles with epilepsy, didn't answer. Her mother assumed she was merely heading down the street, so the mother decided to give her daughter space.
Outside the house, the girl climbed into a car with 19-year-old Zachery Anderson.
The two first met on the Facebook-hosted Hot or Not website, in the over-18 section. When they were communicating online and in text messages, she told him she was 17. They went to a nearby school and talked a while before having sex. Zach recalls dropping her back at home later, where he gave her a hug before he drove back to his parents' Elkhart home.
But the girl was only 14, on the cusp of 15.
After she had not quickly returned, her mother worried about her daughter missing a dose of her medicine and possibly having a seizure, so she called police. Officers were at the house when the girl returned, not even an hour after the girl left.
The next time the teens would see each other was in a Niles courtroom, where Zach would ultimately be ordered to spend 90 days in the county jail, five years on probation and 25 years on Michigan's sex offender registry. He would lose the work he'd completed toward a computer-related degree this semester and be forced to give up his field of study — and, as part of his sentence, even the use of a smartphone or being around anyone else with one.
A longtime Michigan law often applies in cases like Zach's, calling for lenient sentences and, perhaps more importantly, allowing first-time offenders to avoid the sex offender registry. The victim and her mother even pleaded for leniency. But the judge in Zach's case chose to not give the first offender a break, even after false information about the 19-year-old in a pre-sentence report was flagged. The judge's sentence came with a lecture about the dangers of the Internet.
And, critics say, cases like Zach's raise questions about sex-offender laws that are meant to protect the public but sometimes have unintended consequences.

'How old are you really?'

Zach Anderson is wearing dark green scrubs now, in a dorm of the Berrien County Jail in St. Joseph.
The girl was the first he met in person through Hot or Not, he said. The Tribune is not identifying the girl or her mother to protect the girl's identity as a sex crime victim.
Anderson doesn't remember which of them proposed sex, although he said he wasn't pressing the girl. She also had not mentioned having epilepsy, he said.
Shortly after their Dec. 19 meeting, he traveled with his family to Florida and, he said, the first he knew trouble was brewing was when the girl sent him a message saying "something like, 'Oh, we're in a lot of trouble.' "
Why, he asked?
"I asked, 'How old are you really?' and then she told me," Anderson said.
In early January, two detectives visited him while he was working as a lube tech at Auto Village Service Center in Goshen. He cooperated. They confiscated his phone.
He turned himself in Feb. 24, posted bond and was released on house arrest, living in his parents' home. Anderson began to work for their small business as he attended his first semester on scholarship at Ivy Tech Community College in Elkhart.
He was aiming for a computer-related degree, because "I've been building computers and stuff since I was 12," he said. "I'm a technology-type guy."
His defense attorney, John Gardiner, had advised that if he pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct 4th degree — a "high-court misdemeanor," according to Michigan law — he would be a suitable candidate for Holmes Youthful Trainee Act status. HYTA is meant for first-time offenders older than 17 but not yet 21. It allows a defendant to avoid harsher penalties and, in the case of more minor sex crimes, not be subject to a state-mandated 25-year listing on the sex offender registry.
But Berrien County District Court Judge Dennis Wiley decided against leniency.

'Out of whole cloth?'

At Anderson's original sentencing hearing on April 13, the girl and her mother pleaded with Wiley in his Niles courtroom.
"I feel that nothing should happen to Zach," the girl said, according to transcripts of the hearing.
Her mother elaborated, telling the judge the girl's emotional state over her epilepsy "plays a role in what she has done, and she feels guilty about what happened and she says, 'Why can't I be in trouble for what happened?' ... I hope you'll really consider the fact of just dropping the case."
Gardiner took issue in open court with the pre-sentence investigation, which a document a judge considers when issuing a sentence. Gardiner pointed out what he called incorrect information that was not attributed to any source.
The April 7 report describes, for instance, a police investigation about a suspect named Zach who had been targeting underage girls on the site.
"Zach was asking victims sexual questions, asking if they were virgins, asking for them to show him pictures of their private parts and indicating to them if they don't play his games or show him naked pictures of themselves, he will send naked pictures of them to all of his contacts," wrote the pre-sentence investigator, Joseph Tourangeau, recommending against HYTA consideration. "This information strongly suggests that this defendant has engaged in pre-offense, predatory conduct."
Police later said they determined Zach Anderson was not that perpetrator.
Tourangeau also wrote that Anderson had mental health and substance abuse problems and recommended a long list of suggested sentencing conditions "to punish the defendant, deter others from committing like offenses and for the protection of the community."
When Gardiner, the defense attorney, challenged the accuracy of the report on April 13, Wiley responded, "You mean what you're saying is that Mr. Tourangeau created this out of whole cloth?"
The investigator was summoned to the courtroom, and, according to the transcript of the hearing, Wiley postponed the sentencing "until we get additional information."
On April 27, Tourangeau did not attend the rescheduled hearing, nor had Gardiner or Assistant Prosecutor Jerry Vigansky received a new or amended report.
"Apparently the DOC (Department of Corrections) is not prepared to meet that challenge, so it'll be stricken," Wiley said, according to a video recording of the hearing. "Apparently there was some report somewhere that (the investigator) received, but apparently it has disappeared from the face of the earth, so ..." The judge did not finish the thought.
Vigansky clarified during the hearing that police told him Anderson was not a suspect in any other crimes.
Officials in Berrien County's probation office did not respond to requests for comment last week, but DOC spokesman Chris Gautz acknowledged a section of the pre-sentence report — particularly the part about Zach Anderson having a history of seeking out 10- to 14-year-olds and threatening them — came from an incorrect reference to another case in a police report.
Gautz said a regional administrator will meet with the judge as soon as Monday, to see what, if anything, a corrected pre-sentence report would have on his decisions in the case.
The DOC spokesman also said he was told the information in the report was "upheld by the prosecutor and the judge" during the April 27 hearing. Yet the court recording of that hearing shows differently.

'No excuse for this, whatsoever'

Gardiner recommended the judge grant his client "youthful training" status under HYTA, citing Anderson's clean record, the fact the girl had lied about her age and even that the girl and her mother had asked for leniency. The young man had cooperated with authorities and had been engaging in weekly counseling with a pastor of Granger Community Church, where the family attends.
Gardiner pointed out the 4th degree offense to which he pleaded guilty is not eligible for expungement should the court deny his recommendation for leniency.
Vigansky did not recommend against using HYTA but reminded the judge of other cases just this year with the same factors in play, and that Anderson's sentence should be similar.
Those "two or three" other cases, Vigansky told a reporter later, also involved men between 17 and 21 who met younger girls who had lied about their ages on Hot or Not, also had sex with them and and also had previously clean records.
"I apologize sincerely and this won't happen again," Anderson told the judge. "In the last couple of months, I've changed a lot."
But Wiley, without giving a reason, said, "I'm not going to place you on Holmes Youthful Training status...And Mr. Gardiner, contrary to your belief, it is an expungeable conviction..So we shall see how he does."
But the judge was apparently wrong. Michigan lawmakers recently passed legislation that, as of Jan. 12, now includes Anderson's offense among those that are never expungeable.
The judge did not respond to a request for comment.
"The Internet's wonderful, thank you, Al Gore. But it also is a danger," Wiley told Anderson, according to the recording of the sentencing. "You went online, to use a fisherman's expression, trolling for women to meet and have sex with. That seems to be part of our culture now: meet, hook up, have sex, sayonara. Totally inappropriate behavior. There is no excuse for this, whatsoever."
Then the judge, despite having thrown out the earlier pre-sentence report, read his sentencing conditions, which appeared to be the same as those recommended by the pre-sentence investigator.
Despite Gardiner's appeal, Wiley refused to reconsider the ban on computer usage. Anderson was two weeks away from finals for his semester's classwork at Ivy Tech, but the judge ordered him to serve his 90 days immediately.
As deputies escorted Anderson out of the courtroom, the girl wiped tears from her eyes, and her mother gasped and was so overcome with emotion she left the courtroom.

'I don't think they're pedophiles'

Anderson's parents say they will appeal the case.
"I can't think of a better case for (HYTA) than Zach's," Gardiner, the defense attorney, said last week. "He will forever in current Michigan law have this on his record, the rest of his life."
The attorney said most pre-sentence reports he has seen include a victim impact statement or information from an interview with a victim, and refer to specific police reports.
And Gardiner is still puzzled by some of the terms, such as forcing Anderson to change his college major: "What did happen was the punishment so grossly outweighed the crime."
Miriam Aukerman, an attorney with ACLU Michigan, said legislators have reacted out of "fear and not facts" when it comes to sex-offender laws. She is involved with a case where a federal judge recently ruled that many of the stringent requirements for those on the state's sex offender registry are unconstitutional.
"Whenever we make legislation in response to horrible crimes, we run the risk of making bad law," Aukerman said of increasing requirements for listing offenders on the registry, which is now the fourth-largest in the country and includes nearly 42,000 offenders. "We don't think about all of the other people who are caught up in these laws."
That includes cases like Zach Anderson's, she said.
"HYTA recognizes you don't want to tar somebody for life because of the stupid things we do at that age," Aukerman said.
Legislators have argued that stringent sex-offender laws and registries are meant to protect children and the community. After the recent ruling on Michigan's sex offender registry, State Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was quoted in the Detroit Free Press last month saying, "This is one judge's ruling and the law will soon be changed." He told the newspaper he is already drafting a legislative fix to "protect our children from sex predators."
Vigansky, the assistant prosecutor, was involved in all three recent Berrien County cases involving young men meeting underage girls on Hot or Not. He said HYTA was not invoked in any of them, all plea agreements, although he did not recommend one way or the other.
He wouldn't comment specifically on the cases or the judge's decision, although when pressed a bit, he acknowledged, "I don't think they're pedophiles."

'It's hurt our families greatly'

Zach's parents, Lester and Amanda Anderson, acknowledge their son made a mistake. They recalled always teaching their four boys that sex is for marriage.
"But he's only been on earth 19 years, and his punishment is longer than he's been alive," his father said.
Amanda called the judge's comments in court "vicious."
" 'Learn from it' — that's what he should have said. Is the law supposed to cripple people, or is it supposed to correct people and rehabilitate their lives?" she said. "This really did no justice to anybody."
The girl's mother is still distraught over the ruling and says her whole family has sought counseling.
Anderson, the mother has learned, is "very nice. He's concerned about you. He's just different. He's not a jerk."
She's still outraged that neither the prosecutor nor judge took into account her daughter's wishes in pressing forward with the case. "It's hurt our families greatly," she said.
Meanwhile, Anderson is spending his time in jail sleeping, playing cards or watching TV. He's hoping for a successful appeal.
He says he's grown closer to God in the last few months and is grateful for his family's support.
"I wouldn't use any of those different apps at all," he would tell other young people. "They're not safe."

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval proves he has sand for brains by vetoing juvenile registry relief bill

Nevada has a lot of sand- so much so, in fact, that you will find sand even in the head of the Governor of Nevada, apply-named Brian SANDoval.

Sand-for-brains vetoed a bill that would have granted some juveniles relief from the social death of the registry. Sand-for-brains claims that this bill would have undermined the CONTROVERSIAL Adam Walsh Act, something Sand-for-brains actually believes works.

Once again, hysteria trumps sound research and facts. Whoever voted for this idiot obvious has sand in their brains as well.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/politics/government/veto-juvenile-sex-offender-law-changes-shocks-advocates

Posted June 11, 2015 - 7:20pmUpdated June 12, 2015 - 9:20am
Veto of juvenile sex offender law changes shocks advocates

By YESENIA AMARO
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Juvenile justice advocates sounded an alarm Thursday after Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed a bill that would have revised the state’s controversial sex offender registration law regarding juveniles.

The changes would have granted courts wider discretion in deciding whether registration and community notification were necessary in cases of young sex offenders.

“This is horrific. I’m just devastated,” said Susan Roske, an attorney with Clark County’s juvenile public defender’s office. “I just pray that Gov. Sandoval holds a special session to fix this.”

Sandoval vetoed Senate Bill 99 Wednesday, citing concerns that the legislation would remove a prohibition in the state’s version of the federal Adam Walsh Act that states Tier III sex offenders cannot be within 500 feet of a place where children are.

“While Senate Bill 99 proposes amendments to the Adam Walsh Act, which have merit, the removal of this important prohibition undermines confidence that this legislation will ensure greater protection of Nevada’s children,” Sandoval said in his veto letter to the Nevada secretary of state’s office.

The measure would have revised provisions governing registration and community notification of juveniles who commit sex offenses. It would give courts the option to decide on a case-by-case basis if registration and community notification are appropriate for juveniles, said Nevada Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, the bill’s main sponsor.

The changes also would have given the courts discretion to relieve the obligation of registration and community notification when juveniles reach the age of 21 and can prove to the satisfaction of the court that they have been rehabilitated.

Other changes would have addressed the supervision of adult offenders released from prison.

“This was a well-thought-out proposal and this is very disconcerting,” Segerblom said of Sandoval’s decision to veto the bill. “It really was just a shocker.”

Donna Coleman, a member of the committee that has been evaluating the law for the past eight years for the state attorney general’s office, was shocked when she learned of the veto through a reporter.

“Obviously, he didn’t understand what he did,” she said. “He just condemned juveniles who are low-level sex offenders with a ‘Scarlet Letter’ on their head.”

The existing law, which hasn’t been enforced, would require many offenders judges have deemed not dangerous — including some as young as 14 when they committed a sex crime — to make their names, photos and addresses available to the public. Since Nevada legislators approved the law in 2007, pieces of it have gone before courts from the district to federal levels.

The measure was to take effect Feb. 1, 2014, but the Nevada Supreme Court put a temporary stop to it after a lawsuit filed by Las Vegas firm Langford McLetchie on behalf of 24 unnamed clients. The suit was filed Jan. 16, 2014 in Clark County District Court to stop enforcement of the law, but the request was rejected 12 days later by Judge Douglas Smith. So the matter went to the state’s high court.

Maggie McLetchie, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, said they are waiting for an oral argument to be scheduled. It’s unknown when that could be scheduled. The the court would then issue a decision. McLetchie also represents the Review-Journal in public records issues.

Among the questions to be considered are whether it is constitutional for sex offenders who already have served their court-ordered time to have the rules changed retroactively and whether Nevada legislators overlooked public safety in passing this law.

The law applies to anyone convicted of a felony sex crime or crimes involving children since 1956.

“The state of Nevada is in a terrible position,” she said Thursday. “If the state of Nevada has to enforce this, the real loss is going to be for the public at large because they are not going to be safer.”

Denial 101 starring Michigan State Senator Rick Jones

Rick Jones has outdone himself this time. Who cares about the facts when you have an idiot with 31 years as a career politician to tell you what to think.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/05/16/sex-offender-registries-fire-michigan/27453025/

I agree. MI shelter pets deserve better than to be
held by Rick Jones. 

But some legislators and law enforcement officials say registries are useful because they help keep track of potentially dangerous people. The supporters also dismiss the research, saying it's impossible to determine who might re-offend.

They caution against narrowing the definition in Michigan's law of who should be listed and are against adopting a new recommendation by some that defendants should be judged case by case by who is most likely to re-offend.

"The problem I have is should we go back and say only pedophiles have to register?" said state Sen. Rick Jones, a former sheriff who helped draft some of Michigan's sex offender registry laws. "Do we want violent sex offenders on the school grounds? Do we want public masturbators on the school grounds? I'm not prepared to change the way the list operates."

Michigan legislators are reviewing Cleland's ruling and considering reforming the laws to make them compliant. Some, though, think tougher laws are in order. And they dismiss critics who say the registries cause unnecessary misery to those who have already served their sentences.

"I say if you do the horrible rape, or if you have sex with a child, you deserve the consequences," said state Sen. Rick Jones, who helped draft some of Michigan's sex offender registry laws.

Jones questions the research that shows sex offenders are much less likely to re-offend and that the majority of those on the registry pose no threat.

"I have 31 years of experience in police work, and as a retired sheriff in Eaton County I formed some very strong opinions that the science is still not clear for pedophiles. I believe it is society's duty to keep pedophiles from children so that the temptation isn't there. So I say you need to stay a thousand feet from schools."

Jones also discounts the idea that offenders should be treated differently, depending on their likelihood of re-offending. Minnesota, for instance, places offenders on its registry based on extensive risk assessment and psychological testing, not the crimes they committed.

You can watch Senator Rick Jones make a complete ass of himself by clicking the link below:

http://www.wxyz.com/news/interview-are-there-problems-with-michigans-sex-offender-registry#Judge%20strikes%20down%20parts%20of%20sex%20offender%20law

If at first you don't succeed, find a better internet meme to pimp your bad law

US Representative Chris Smith has been trying to PIMP this so-called "International Megan's Law idea for many years-- in fact, it has reared its ugly head many times on this very awards show over the years (International Megan's Law was voted dumbest law of 2010, and Chris Smith was a nominee for the 2013 awards but was not in the finals).

Well, Chris Smith has found a new way to PROSTITUTE his stupid bill. "Human Trafficking" (or "sex trafficking" or simply "trafficking") is becoming the new buzzword, and it is quickly becoming the new wave of Predator Panic. So now Chris is SOLICITING support for International Megan's Law by using hashtags. Really? A stinking hashtag? (It is a pound sign or a tic-tac-toe board, by the way).

Well I have a hashtag for you, Chris. #KissMyAss

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2015/01/house_passes_international_megans_law_notifies_for.html

House passes International Megan's Law, notifies foreign countries of traveling sex offenders
By Mike Davis
on January 27, 2015 at 6:24 PM, updated January 27, 2015 at 8:07 PM

HAMILTON — A version of the sex offender registration and notification laws rooted in the murder of a 7-year-old Hamilton girl could soon be implemented across global borders.

The House on Monday night passed “International Megan’s Law,” a bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.) that would “take away the secrecy” and notify law enforcement agencies in other countries about the travel plans of convicted and registered sex offenders.

About 4,500 U.S. passports were issued to registered sex offenders in 2008, according to the Government Accountability Office, which Smith said was a sign that many sex offenders look to prey on victims in foreign countries.

“It’s all about very good vigilance,” Smith said in an interview on Tuesday. “It’s secrecy that enables all of this. Secrecy is how these people exploit and, unfortunately, we’re seeing a growing amount of sex tourism. They hop on planes and go to places for a week or two and abuse little children.”

The bill strengthens “Operation Angel Watch,” an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, and authorizes it to create a communications strategy with other countries.

Smith said the bill urges the president to reach bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding with other nations on training and procedures upon notification, including the denial of a visa.

The new “Angel Watch Center” would focus on sex offenders who are likely to commit another sex crime, usually those ranked as second- or third-tier offenders, Smith said.

“If you do a data dump, nothing gets done. You want people to say, ‘he’s not coming in,’” Smith said. “We’re talking about people who have a likely propensity to recommit these crimes.”

Smith began trying to apply Megan’s Law across international boundaries in 2008 he met with a group from Thailand on human trafficking, an issue he has tried to combat throughout his time in Congress.

“If we told you a convicted pedophile was coming to Bangkok, what would you do,” Smith asked them.

“We wouldn't let them in,” the Thailand activists responded, and Smith realized that such a framework needed to exist.

“The idea behind this is to get Megan’s Law stirred up in countries around the world,” Smith said. “A few have something close to it, but most do not.

"Pedophiles from the U.S. can travel to those countries and pedophiles from those countries can come to the U.S. and abuse our children,” he said.

The bill is modeled after Megan’s Law legislation already in place throughout the United States, which requires convicted sex offenders to register in national and statewide databases and notify law enforcement of any changes in residence or employment.

The laws were passed in reaction to the 1994 rape and murder of 7-year-old Megan Nicole Kanka of Hamilton, who was lured in by neighbor Jesse Timmendequas, a twice-convicted sex offender whose past the Kankas were unaware of. Timmendequas was convicted in 1997 and sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole after the state abolished the death penalty in 2007. 

New Jersey was the first state to pass Megan’s Law, which requires convicted sex offenders to notify law enforcement agencies of any change in residence or employment upon their release from prison.

Two years later, former President Bill Clinton signed into law the first nationwide Megan’s Law, an amendment to the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act.

“Had the Kankas known the guy living across the street, who had been to their home many times, there would have been a different outcome,” Smith said.

Maureen and Richard Kanka, a Hamilton school board member, were on hand when Smith introduced an earlier version of the International Megan’s Law later that year but the Senate never voted on the bill.

The House also passed the bill last year but the Senate did not vote on it.

“This could be exploited by all kinds of people. We want to make sure we keep out of this country those who would exploit it,” Smith said.

International Megan's Law was one of Smith's two human trafficking bills passed by the House on Monday. The other bill, the Human Trafficking Prioritization Act, would ramp up American anti-trafficking efforts by creating the "Bureau to Combat Trafficking in Persons" within the State Department.

By turning the State Department's human trafficking office into a bureau, it ensures an equal voice in any discussions — a direct line to the Secretary of State, instead of going through intermediaries.

"They get to be at the table and fight inside those important conferences," Smith said. "They have diplomatic capabilities within the State Department to fight for an honest appraisal of a country's human trafficking network as well as what the penalties should be for egregious behavior."

Despite being cleared of wrongdoing, NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand still calls an innocent man a "rapist."

"I will accept a lie this big so long as it gets me re-elected."

It is no secret that in our culture, an accusation often equals a conviction, at least in the court of public opinion. That is a fact regardless of whether or not his accuser drags a filthy mattress around campus, looking for publicity and granting media interviews while claiming the media is "triggering rape memories." Of course, there were never any charges filed, and in spite of our tendency to condemn those accused of rape without the benefit of the doubt, a man was found not guilty by a college ethics committee, which has a lower burden of proof. But even that isn't enough to satisfy NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

Hell, I'll go so far as to say I think Emma's story is so full of shit, she should have opted to drag a porta-potty around Columbia University instead of a mattress. 

Gillibrand sticks by a story proven to be lacking in fact, and takes it two steps further. First, she writes an article for the Huffington Post referring to the exonerated man as a "rapist" (while also using the opportunity to promote a "tough on sex crime" bill:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-kirsten-gillibrand/carrying-their-weight-giv_b_6516630.html

Last night at the President's State of the Union Address, I was honored to invite as my guest Emma Sulkowicz, the Columbia University student who has inspired us all with her performance art piece "Carry That Weight" in which she carries her mattress everywhere she goes to symbolize the burden she carries every single day as long as her rapist is still on campus...

In July of last year, I stood alongside survivors, advocates and a bipartisan coalition of senate supporters including Senators McCaskill, Collins, Blumenthal, Grassley, Warner, Heller, Rubio and Ayotte to announce the introduction of the Campus Accountability and Safety Act. Our bill, which will be re-introduced this Congress, will compel colleges and universities across the country to finally face this problem head-on, aggressively, with the goal of making safe campuses for America's students a reality.

Under the Campus Accountability And Safety Act:

- underreporting will have stiff fines with real teeth;

- students will have a place to confidentially access the services they deserve; 

- survivors will work with advisors who have proper training; and 

- high school students across the country will have a new criterion to consider as they sit with their families and decide where to attend college.

Gillibrand invited the false accuser to the State of the Union address, dirty mattress and all. On the upside, when the President starts boring the audience to sleep, Emma didn't have to sleep in a chair, she brought her own mattress. (Of course, seeing as how Barack Hussein Obama is also full of shit, my porta-potty idea would have benefited both the President AND Emma whats-her-face at the State of the Union.) 

At the least, Gillibrand should have used the word "alleged." After all, the story has not been proven to be true, either by the police or by Columbia University; in fact, they found the opposite. But don't confuse her with the facts, she's made up her mind. 

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/man-found-not-responsible-for-rape-blasts-sen.-kirsten-gillibrand-for-harassment-campaign/article/2559037

Man found not responsible for rape blasts Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for 'harassment campaign'

BY ASHE SCHOW | JANUARY 21, 2015 | 12:53 PM 

Paul Nungesser was found “not responsible” for sexually assaulting another student at Columbia University. The student who accused him, Emma Sulkowicz, has since began carrying a mattress around the university as part of an art project to protest a finding she claims was unfair.

Sulkowicz’s activism earned her an invitation to President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. When Nungesser heard of the invitation, he blasted the senator for rewarding Sulkowicz’s attacks against him.

“I am shocked to learn that Sen. Gillibrand is actively supporting Ms. Sulkowicz’s defamation campaign against me by providing her with a public forum in which to broadcast her grave allegation,” Nungesser told New York Magazine on Tuesday. “By doing so, Sen. Gillibrand is participating in a harassment campaign against someone, who, for good reason, has been found innocent by all investigating bodies.”

Nungesser reminded people that the university, after a seven-month long investigation, found him not responsible in 2013 — even in the current atmosphere where colleges are encouraged to find students guilty to appease political interests. Nungesser also pointed out that he cooperated with police after Sulkowicz filed a report (after the university found him not responsible) and that prosecutors declined to pursue the case.

Alderman Michael R. Zalewski is Chicago's door-to-door snake oil salesman

If I opened the door and saw this grinning idiot at my door, I'd slam the door and cal the cops. He just looks like the stereotypical shady salesman, all the way down to his cheap suit. It isn't often you see politicians going door-to-door but this guy is, so it makes me wonder what he's hiding. 

By the way, you can always e-mail Alderman Michael R. Zalewski at mzalewski@cityofchicago.org with any concerns you may have.

http://www.citynewshound.today/ald-zalewski-working-community-prohibit-sex-offenders-libraries/

LIBRARY, POLITICS

Ald. Zalewski working with community to prohibit sex offenders from libraries

January 15, 2015 • 15 Comments

Ald Zalewski Library Sex Offenders

Alderman Michael R. Zalewski (23) is sponsoring a new city ordinance to ban convicted sex offenders from public libraries while children are present, and has gathered 2,000 names from 23rd Ward residents in support of this measure. “Criminals who attempt to prey on our kids will not be tolerated,” Alderman Zalewski said. “As a father and grandfather, my commitment to public safety is stronger than ever, and I want to thank so many community members for joining me in support of this new public safety proposal to help keep our children safe where they learn and study.”

Zalewski will continue gathering support on this issue over the next few weeks, before it comes up for a vote. He encourages community members to add their name to his petition to ban sexual predators from public libraries by calling his office at 773-575-3545.

Pictured: Zalewski with petition sheets containing names of supporters of his new public safety proposal.

Texas District Judge Michael Seiler abused his position for years, and only now is he "coming under fire"

How this judge remains on the bench is beyond me. He's obviously biased and has been reprimanded numerous times. Yet, this judge is still allowed to sit on the bench.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Judge-in-controversial-sex-offender-program-under-5986273.php

Judge in controversial sex offender program under fire

Critics say Montgomery County jurist's version of Texas justice crosses the line

By Anita Hassan and Mike WardDecember 30, 2014 Updated: December 31, 2014 6:43pm

CONROE - Sixteen times in the past four months, defense attorneys have petitioned to have him removed from hearing cases because of perceived bias. Eight times he has gotten the boot. Seven times in six years, appeals courts have found he abused his discretion in rulings.

But state District Judge Michael Seiler, who campaigned as "a prosecutor to judge the predators," remains the chief enforcer in Texas' troubled civil-commitment program, a treatment program designed to keep dangerous sex predators off the streets and from which no one has ever graduated.

Now, the jurist who has publicly described the offenders who face him in court as "psychopaths" and once suggested treating sex offenders with castration from the neck up, has become a flashpoint for criticism over whether his version of Texas justice has crossed the line.

Some attorneys and legislative leaders are suggesting that Seiler should be stripped of his role as sole arbiter of the sex-offender cases and are calling for sweeping reforms that could redefine the entire program.

"The statute needs to be changed so that all the cases do not happen in Montgomery County," said Barbara Corley, who retired last month from the State Counsel for Offenders, the state-funded office that represents convicts in court, where she once supervised civil-commitment hearings. "Everything shouldn't be concentrated in one judge."

Seiler refused repeated requests to explain his position. A court aide said he would not discuss his courtroom business.

For a program already facing state audits and investigations over contract irregularities and operational mistakes, the controversy over how Seiler dispenses justice in his Montgomery County courtroom has become the newest legal challenge amid numerous pending federal lawsuits that are questioning its constitutionality.

Key issues include why is it officially deemed an "outpatient" program, when all of the offenders in it are confined in jails and halfway houses, and whether officials have systematically sent offenders back to prison for minor violations of rules as a way to ensure that no one ever graduates...

Program started in 1999

Texas' civil-commitment program was created in 1999 as a way to keep sexually violent predators in state custody and was part of a national movement designed to prevent new victims.

In order to be committed, an offender must have committed at least two violent offenses and be deemed to have a "behavioral abnormality."

But because the offenders had already served their prison sentences and paid their debt to society, civil-commitment programs nationally have faced continuing legal challenges over whether states can deny those offenders their freedom.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the programs are constitutional because they serve as treatment programs.

Since he was appointed to the court in 2008 by Gov. Rick Perry, Seiler, a former Montgomery County assistant district attorney, has signed more than 200 civil-commitment orders and holds about 50 new trials a year, records show. Under a state law approved in 2007, Seiler's is essentially the only court in Texas designated to officiate over the civil-commitment cases.

In all, more than 360 men are currently in the program, more than half of them in prison or jail for violating the treatment-program rules.

In addition to signing the original commitment orders, Seiler also ultimately decides who gets out of the program. In addition he presides over trials that determine who goes back to prison for violating program rules.

Texas is the only state in the nation to make those violations - which range from yelling, to being late for appointments and not taking medication - a felony crime.

Facing the jury

In a mid-November trial, Andre Vittroni Johnson, who was nearing the end of his 24-year sentence in prison for raping four women in Houston, sat in Seiler's Conroe courtroom as a jury considered whether he should be placed in the civil-commitment program.

He had already spent more than half of his life behind bars.

State prosecutors argued that he posed a continuing danger to society, and was likely to re-offend. As in all civil-commitment cases, Johnson, 40, had been brought to court by the state's Special Prosecutions Unit that handles prison crimes after he was screened for inclusion into the program by a so-called MDT - short for Multi-Disciplinary Team - made up of prison officials, state police and treatment professionals, among others.

Johnson's attorneys disputed their determination, offering the testimony of an expert witness who insisted he posed no continuing threat.

As that testimony began, Seiler leaned back in his large, leather chair and swiveled 180 degrees to the left, facing the jury with his eyes closed. Johnson's sister, Nicoya Waits of Houston, watched the crucial testimony that would determine whether her brother would ever see freedom again.

By the end of the day, the jury had decided that Johnson was a sexually violent predator. Seiler ordered him into civil commitment.

While higher courts have repeatedly upheld the legality of civil commitments, defense attorneys complain that Seiler's actions in and out of court are improper. And they have made that clear by filing in increasing numbers to have him removed from hearing those cases.

Chief among the complaints against Seiler is that his court has a predisposition against convicted sex offenders.

"Judge Seiler makes apparent that he views his position as prosecutorial rather than impartial," attorney Zachary Lee, with the State Counsel for Offenders, wrote in a motion for Seiler's recusal in the case of convicted sex-offender Troy Plaisance. "Judge Seiler's labeling of all sex offenders before him as 'predators,' before they are adjudicated as such connotes a bias."

That motion, and five others for recusal, were granted on Dec. 11.

Since September, attorneys have filed at least 16 motions calling for Seiler to be recused. Eight have been granted so far, by three different judges.

Those motions cite Seiler's 2008 election campaign slogan that claimed he was a "prosecutor to judge the predators," as well as a March 2013 speech to a Woodlands tea party organization in which he referred to offenders in the civil commitment program as "psychopaths."

In that same speech, a video of which was posted on YouTube, he suggested juries take a long time deliberating cases in his court because "they just want to make it look official."

The video was removed from YouTube in November, after several recusal petitions were filed.

Attorneys also referenced a news article about an appearance Seiler made to a Montgomery County Republican Women meeting in 2011 where, in response to a question about whether castration is successful in stopping predators, Seiler said it would be ineffective because sexual offending is a mental illness.

"The castration would have to kind of occur at neck level," he was quoted as saying.

Slippery slope for attorneys

Nancy Bunin, a Houston attorney who successfully had Seiler removed from hearing the cases of two of her clients, said filing for a removal is a slippery slope for attorneys, because if they lose, they may still have to try cases before that same judge. But she felt she had to take the step because "I just didn't feel he could be fair," she said

Of the 16 who filed recusals, eight were denied by two judges, with one of them saying during a hearing he felt Seiler's campaign slogan was not showing bias, but was merely referencing his résumé as a prosecutor.

An attempt in 2013 to remove Seiler from a civil commitment case was denied on appeal by judges on 9th Court of Appeals in Beaumont, who nevertheless found that Seiler's campaign slogan and reported comments "may raise a serious question about his fairness as a judicial officer."

Seiler's courtroom demeanor and decisions also have drawn scrutiny.

At Johnson's trial, for instance, Seiler repeatedly overruled his attorneys' objections, sometimes before they had even stated the grounds of the objection. Seiler also berated Johnson's attorney when he objected in the middle of a prosecutor's closing argument.

"He didn't treat the prosecution that way," said Nicoya Waits, Johnson's sister. "It all seemed really unfair."

During a 2012 hearing on housing options for about 40 men in the program, Seiler blocked the offenders from speaking and told Barbara Corley, their attorney, to "be quiet" when she tried to object and threatened to "throw her out of the courtroom," according to a transcript.

"He effectively denied me the right to represent my clients," Corley said.

Seiler has also come under fire by attorneys for his casual conversations with prospective jurors, particularly about his love for his 10-year-old daughter, Rachael, who suffers from Rett syndrome, an incurable genetic neurological disorder that causes difficulty with speech and muscle control.

Curtis Barton, an attorney with the Harris County Public Defender's Office who formerly tried civil-commitment cases in Seiler's court, said although the judge's conversations with jurors appear casual, he finds them troubling, because many of the defendants have been convicted of sex crimes involving children.

"When he gets up there and just starts pontificating to the jury about his daughter who has a disability, it might make them feel even more bad about something the person might have done in the past, and could influence their decision, " Barton said. "It's just an improper conversation to be having with people who could be on the jury."

A series of problems

The questions about Seiler's court represent just the latest in a series of issues that surfaced during a Chronicle investigation into contract and operational irregularities in the Office of Violent Sex Offender Management, the tiny agency that supervises offenders in civil commitment.

Those issues range from a botched attempt to secretly place offenders in residential neighborhoods in Houston and Austin, to a lack of treatment programs for mentally ill and disabled offenders.

Two separate investigations and a state audit are currently underway. Most of the top officials at the agency have resigned under fire.

Marsha McLane, a veteran parole and prison official who took over as executive director of the troubled agency in May, has initiated a series of policy changes to correct many of the problems.

When she introduced herself to Seiler for the first time in July, the meeting did not occur, as she expected, at his office, but in the courtroom - with him sitting on the bench and a court reporter making an official transcript of the proceedings.

According to the transcript obtained by the Chronicle, when McLane asked if Seiler would consider requiring some offenders to spend at least some time in a state hospital, where their needs might be better met, he declined, saying their mental health could be determined at a criminal trial after they violated program rules.

"Once they hit the criminal part of it, then they can be - have a mental competency evaluation and be sent off to the state hospital, where they are then kept there with the charge pending," Seiler said.

Attorney Barbara Corley said this was tantamount to criminalizing disability.

Decisions reversed

In at least seven cases, appellate courts have sided with defense attorneys, reversed Seiler's decisions in civil commitment cases and ordered new trials. Almost all civil-commitment cases are sent for appeal.

In four of those reversed cases, court records show, Seiler granted prosecutors' motions to exclude testimony of the defense's expert witness, who are the only witnesses in those trials who could dispute prosecutors' claims.

In a 2012 appellate opinion reversing Seiler's judgment in the civil commitment of Lester Winkle, Justice Charles Kreger wrote that by excluding the defense's expert testimony, Seiler blocked the only evidence the defendant had favoring a finding that he would not, beyond a reasonable doubt, likely re-offend. But in a dissenting opinion, now-retired Justice David Gaultney stated that the expert's opinion lacked sufficient evidence and his testimony would not have changed the trial's outcome.

In addition, jurors are often not advised what civil commitment is, attorneys said.

They also contend Seiler routinely does not allow the words "civil commitment" to be used in the courtroom. When that has happened, he has excused the jury from the room and reprimanded whoever used the phrase.

That is what happened to Carolyn Esparza, a 73-year-old social worker, when she testified during Johnson's trial and made a reference to his civil-commitment petition. Seiler's actions left her confused and angry, she said.

"Doesn't the jury have a right to know what the consequences of what they are doing?" she said later. "They should know that they are sending someone into a treatment program that no one has been released from in 15 years. That's 100 percent failure."

Echoing the opinion of other legal experts, Melissa Hamilton, a visiting criminal-law scholar at the University of Houston Law Center who specializes in the civil commitments, said an explanation of the program is not specifically prohibited and could be allowed by a judge.

Not doing so, she said, could be "about crafting a message."