August, 2006 News, Page 1
Jones case puts focus on sex offender laws
Stephanie Desmon and Sara Neufeld
03 Aug 2006 12:00 am
A state law passed in June makes it a crime for registered sex offenders to set foot on school grounds, as Melvin L. Jones Jr. did last year when he visited the 11-year-old he is charged with killing.
Had the law been in place a year ago, the principal of Collington Square School - who banned Jones from the campus and called the boy's mother when he learned of the man's history as a sex offender - would have been compelled to notify the police.
Six weeks after Maryland legislators passed a sexual predator law giving convicted sex offenders longer prison sentences, increasing supervision once they are released and expanding the avenues by which communities learn that predators have moved into their neighborhoods, several lawmakers said yesterday the tools were already in place to deal with repeat offenders.
But a series of missteps and mistakes in judgment by family members, school officials and other caretakers appears to have allowed Jones to befriend Irvin, baby-sit the boy without his mother's supervision and even accompany him to school - despite being registered as a child sex offender and being ordered to stay away from children.
Toni Chance, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Maryland, said people who have contact with sexual predators need to think of them in the same way they think of alcoholics - they might be in recovery, but they are still alcoholics.
"You can be a sex offender who has had treatment and is really working hard to keep control, but you're still a sex offender," she said. "Our legal system has to take that into account. Parents need to take that into account, too."
Women Gain When Men Wrongly Accused of Rape Are Freed
Mattie Delone
03 Aug 2006 12:00 am
Last month, Alan Newton walked out of a Bronx courtroom a free man. Twenty-two years after he was convicted for a brutal rape that he didn't commit, he was finally exonerated. For the first time since 1984, he decided what he would wear and what he would do.
One of the first things he did was approach several dozen reporters to talk about the rape survivor who mistakenly identified him as the perpetrator, leading to his conviction. Before addressing his own wrongful conviction and his new freedom, he said his thoughts were with the rape survivor.
His voice chocked with emotion, he expressed compassion and sympathy for her.
Records sought in rape case
Jim Collar
03 Aug 2006 12:00 am
A Winnebago County judge will review the local records of a runaway teen to determine if they're relevant as evidence in the case of a man accused of raping and torturing her.
Defense lawyer Timothy Blank is seeking human services records dealing with the teen's return from the area to Indiana. Blank noted that the teen claimed she wasn't a drug user to local hospital nurses before drug tests showed the contrary.
"I think there are other activities she wanted to hide in addition to that," he said.
In addition to local records, Blank sought the teen's juvenile records from Indiana. He questioned the teen's drug history and whether she had a history of prostitution.
Deputy District Attorney John Jorgensen characterized the records request as a "fishing expedition."
Judge Thomas Gritton denied the request to review the records from Indiana.
"You're trying to beat up on this victim," he said.
Airman bound over in molestation case
Tom Blakey
03 Aug 2006 12:00 am
A staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force has been bound over for trial in Cleveland County District Court on two counts of lewd molestation of a minor.
According to court documents, the girl’s mother contacted police, and said her daughter had told her about being sexually abused by the man on two occasions. Once, the girl said she was fondled after being picked up from school. The next time was when she was kneeling in front of the couch, doing her homework, and she said the man kneeled behind her, unzipped his flight suit and molested her.
Also Monday, an Oklahoma City man was bound over on a charge of first-degree rape by instrumentation.
Son of Famous Polygamist Faces Child Rape Charges
03 Aug 2006 12:00 am
The son of polygamist Tom Green is in jail Thursday night, facing two counts of child rape charges.
Draper, Utah, police are saying 18-year-old William John Aldrich Green was having sex with a 13-year-old girl he met on the Internet. They add because the girl is under 14, the case is being investigated as rape of a child.
William Green was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail. His father, Tom Green, is one of Utah's best known polygamists. He was convicted of bigamy in 2001 for having five wives. He is also serving time for child rape because he had sex with his first wife, a 13-year-old-girl.
Halbach kin: Keep trial local
Kevin Braley
03 Aug 2006 12:00 am
Moving the Steven Avery trial to a remote Wisconsin county, as proposed by his attorneys, will create an undue hardship for Teresa Halbach's family, her brother said.
Tim Halbach said in an affidavit filed in Manitowoc County Circuit Court on Monday that the family prefers a jury be brought to Manitowoc rather than moving the entire trial.
Avery, 44, is accused with his nephew of sexually assaulting, torturing and killing Teresa Halbach last Oct. 31. Teresa Halbach, 25, of St. John, went to the Avery property just west of Mishicot to take pictures for Auto Trader Magazine of a car Avery was selling.
Avery spent 18 years in prison for a sexual assault he did not commit. However, the first six years of that sentence were for convictions of endangering safety regardless of life and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Women Violated by Video Voyeur Seek Justice
ABC News
03 Aug 2006 12:00 am
Yvonne Goodwin, a 35-year-old mother of two in Huntington Beach, Calif., no longer feels safe in her own home.
That's because she discovered a neighbor had been secretly videotaping her most intimate moments.
And it was no isolated incident. It turned out the man convicted of videotaping her — William David Brown — may have been watching Yvonne for six years before he was caught.
Bus stop provision not legal
Robbie Schwartz
02 Aug 2006 12:00 am
While I am no advocate of anyone who is convicted of a sex crime, I consider myself educated enough to at least find out about the people who will be affected by this new state law. I think that there are men on who have been convicted of a crime who have paid their debt to society and are living proof that some offenders can reform and become beneficial members of society.
Just like not all men are created equal, it is my opinion that not all 10,000-plus members of the Georgia sex offender registry are necessarily bad people.
Everyone is quick to find out if there is a sex offender living within their neighborhoods or towns, but how many will actually make the attempt to find out what these people were actually convicted for?
Predators will repeat their crimes. But someone who was 18 and convicted of statutory rape of his 17-year-old girlfriend more than 20 years ago probably will not.
There are differences in the people lumped together on the registry, and the state needs to come up with a way that separates those who pose a danger from those just trying to live.
Child rape suspect, Duffer, to be tried Jan. 8
SHEILA BURKE
02 Aug 2006 12:00 am
A Hermitage man who jumped bail while awaiting trial on molestation charges will be tried on Jan. 8, a Davidson County Criminal Court Judge decided Wednesday.
Jeremy Duffer, 35, skipped bond in February when he cut off an electronic monitoring bracelet just before he was to be tried on child rape. He remained a fugitive for five months.
He was working at a traveling carnival in East Tennessee last month when he was arrested and taken into custody. The arrest came after carnival employees told a Rockwood, Tenn., police officer that he was acting strange.
Former Sheriff’s officer charged with child rape
Nicole Young
02 Aug 2006 12:00 am
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation arrested a former Robertson County Sheriff’s deputy on 61 counts of rape of a child and 60 counts of aggravated sexual battery last week.
The crimes reportedly occurred in Robertson County during a span of about 10 years.
Man charged in murder of Cross Lanes woman
Tom Searls
02 Aug 2006 12:00 am
When he first raped a woman in 1987, 19-year-old Dale Shawnessy O’Neil tried to kill her with a knife, leaving his victim to die, a judge said then.
Last week in Jackson County, authorities say O’Neil, 38, struck another woman in the head, maybe more than once, before dumping her body in a rural area.
O’Neil was charged early Tuesday with the first-degree murder of Kathleen Jewel Adkins, 43, of Cross Lanes.
Sex Offender Charged With New Crime
Associated Press
01 Aug 2006 10:41 am
A registered sex offender arrested in Florida while traveling with five teens has been charged with a sex crime in Marion County.
Sheriff Mark Richardson says 18-year-old Allen Biddix will face one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor when he is returned to South Carolina.
Brother wants answers
LAUREN R. DORGAN
01 Aug 2006 8:00 am
Thirty-five years have passed since 13-year-old Kathy Lynn Gloddy was brutally raped, killed and left nearly naked on a dirt road in West Franklin. No one has ever been arrested for the crime. Numerous theories have come and gone over the years, but her older brother said he's sure of two things.
"I know that there was more than one person involved," said Roger Gloddy, 56, now a businessman in Colorado. "I know that there was a cover-up. . . . They weren't stupid, they weren't ignorant, they were just evil."
In an interview, he also remembered his sister as a sweet-natured but tough tomboy who would have fought hard against any attackers.
Last week, investigators exhumed Kathy Lynn Gloddy's body from St. John's Cemetery in Tilton, hoping that new forensic evidence would solve the crime. The state's chief medical examiner and a forensic anthropologist from Maine have examined the body for clues, but DNA tests could take several weeks to complete.
An unexpected break in the case came this March, when a Florida sex offender walked into his local jail and told sheriff's deputies that he was with Gloddy when she died, according to a police report.
Bentonville : School to check visitors against sex offender list
JAMIE BRUNK
01 Aug 2006 12:00 am
Officials at Bentonville High School plan to use new computer software to check visitors’ names against a national sex offenders registry.
The high school will become the first in Arkansas to use the Visitors Students Or Faculty Tracking software, or V-SOFT, school resource officer Steve Vera said.
The school hasn’t had any problems with registered sex offenders on campus, Vera said, but will use the software to enhance campus security. The high school projects an enrollment this year of almost 2, 900 students in grades 9 through 12.
Accused predator makes plea deal
Alan J. Keays
01 Aug 2006 12:00 am
A Rutland man arrested earlier this year on charges of using a computer in an attempt to lure a 13-year-old girl has resolved a case against him for failing to register as a sex offender.
Larry Lizotte, 47, pleaded guilty Monday in Rutland District Court to the misdemeanor charge of failing to properly register as a sex offender.
He was sentenced to 160 days behind bars, roughly the same amount of time he has already served for lack of bail since his arrest on charge in April. He was given credit for time served.
However, Lizotte isn't expected to go free any time soon.
That's because he's still facing several charges in Grand Isle District Court stemming from an arrest in April in that county.
U.S. judge throws out Minnesota video game law
SHANNON PRATHER
01 Aug 2006 12:00 am
A federal judge on Monday shot down a Minnesota law that would fine youngsters who get their hands on the smuttiest, bloodiest and most violent video games.
The law, which was scheduled to take effect today, would have docked youths $25 for renting or buying video games an industry board rates "mature" or "adults only." It also would have required stores to post signs warning underage gamers about the fine.
Passed in May, the law was aimed to protect game players younger than 17. Backers pointed to games such as "God of War," in which players gouge out eyes, sever limbs and make human sacrifices, and "Manhunt," in which a serial killer uses a nail gun and chain saw to slay victims.
The video game industry sued to block the law in June, arguing it violated constitutional rights of game makers and customers.
U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum ruled that the law violated free-speech rights. He also concluded research failed to back up the state's claims that the law would protect the psychological well being of youngsters and foster their moral and ethical development.
"The state itself acknowledges … that it is entirely incapable of showing a causal link between the playing of video games and any deleterious effect on the psychological, moral, or ethical well-being of minors," Rosenbaum wrote.
