Legal showdown in store for sex offender placements

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4-14-15 Wisconsin:

A dispute over whether a sex offender can move into Milwaukee has moved closer to an impending legal showdown that could affect dozens of similar cases in the coming months.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Dennis Moroney last week denied requests from Milwaukee and other municipalities in Milwaukee County that he withdraw a March 26 order that state law pre-empts the collective impact of local ordinances designed to limit where offenders can live.

That decision sent tremors through communities loath to see convicted sex offenders residing within their borders and sent municipal attorneys scrambling.

In a letter to Moroney, Milwaukee City Attorney Grant Langley argued that his order was based on an erroneous belief that local ordinances banned sex offenders, when they all just restrict where they may live to certain distances from areas were children gather, and some have other exceptions.

Langley also cited Court of Appeals decisions that such restrictions are not pre-empted by state law.

Town approves child safety zone ordinance

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4-9-15 Wisconsin:

The Cottage Grove Town Board approved a child safety zone ordinance Monday, following a public hearing regarding the ordinance. The law will preclude sex offenders who committed a crime against children from being present in areas where children congregate.

“We’re just really thrilled that this ordinance was passed so quickly,” said Carol Klubertanz, a resident of the Gaston Circle neighborhood. “The town board really worked hard on getting this written up and allowing us to have our meetings with them, and we are very pleased with that.”

Many audience members present at the Monday night hearing went on the record as supporting the ordinance and stated their appreciation to town attorney Connie Anderson and the town board members for acting quickly.

The ordinance approved prohibits level three sex offenders from loitering within 250 feet or living within 1,000 feet of any areas where children congregate. These child congregation areas are outlined in the ordinance and include a list of more than a dozen types of no-presence areas.

During the Monday night meeting, the town board added bookmobiles, little free libraries other areas that provide recreational activities for children and playground areas, indoor and outdoor, provided by restaurants.

Political Predators

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4-8-15 Wisconsin:

Ten years ago Kit Murphy McNally, my wife, agreed to serve on a special state committee to carry out one of the most thankless jobs a state could ever assign to a group of citizens—finding an acceptable location in Milwaukee County for a facility to house convicted sex offenders returning to the community.

It was a job a whole lot of folks never wanted them to accomplish and actively worked to sabotage.

But Kit, who’s long advocated for justice in our criminal justice system, and other committee members—including academic experts, law enforcement professionals and city and suburban political leaders—sincerely tried to come up with a solution.

The problem is sex offenders have always been demonized with a broad brush as if slavering hordes of them were hiding behind every bush waiting to leap out on innocent children. Opportunistic politicians have little trouble whipping up frenzies of fear over every release so they can play heroes by passing harsh new laws.

But in a democracy, it really shouldn’t be easy for political demagogues to continue to incarcerate people after they have already served their legal sentences, especially after they successfully complete treatment and experts testify they’re unlikely to reoffend.

People -v- Christman

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9-10-2014 California:

The Sexually Violent Predator Act (SVPA) (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6600 et seq.)1 provides that, under certain circumstances, a person who has been committed as a sexually violent predator (SVP) may thereafter be conditionally released into the community under a program of outpatient supervision and treatment. (See § 6608-6609.3.) The SVPA also provides that certain conditionally released SVPs who have a history of sexual misconduct with children "shall not be placed within one-quarter mile" of a school providing instruction to children from kindergarten to grade 12. (§ 6608.5, subd. (f).)2 However, the statute does not specify the method a court should use to measure the distance between the SVP's placement, or residence, and the school.

In the sole assignment of error, Contra Costa County asserts the trial court incorrectly used the "closest practical walking distance" instead of using a straight line to measure the distance between the residence of Charles Leroy Christman (Christman), an adjudicated SVP who falls within the provisions of section 6608.5, subdivision (f), and a nearby elementary school. Computing the distance between Christman's residence and the school using a pedestrian-route method resulted in the location of Christman's residence being compliant with section 6608.5, subdivision (f), and the trial court approving his residential placement over Contra Costa County's objection.

We hold, as a matter of first impression, that in determining compliance with the residency restriction contained in section 6608.5, subdivision (f), the distance between Christman's residence and the elementary school should have been calculated using the straight-line method rather than a pedestrian-route method. Consequently, we reverse, because calculations using the straight-line method place Christman's residence less than one-quarter mile from the nearby elementary school. ..Continued..

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People -v- Christman

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9-11-2014 California:

The First Appellate District reversed a trial court order. The court held that the distance from a local school to the proposed residence of a sexually violent predator should be calculated using the straight-line method, rather than by reference to the most commonly traveled pedestrian route.

Charles Christman was convicted of multiple sex crimes against young boys. After serving his sentences for those crimes, he was found to be a sexually violent predator and was confined in accordance with the Sexually Violent Predator Act (SVPA).

In 2012, after receiving some 15 years of in-patient treatment, Christman petitioned for condition release under Welf. & Inst. Code §6608, which provides for a committed person’s placement in an “appropriate forensic conditional release program” upon a finding that he or she would no longer be a danger to others while under supervision and treatment in the community.

The trial court granted Christman’s §6608 petition and ordered the Department of State Hospitals to locate housing for him.