Sheriff sued for demanding that sex offender move

View the article here

04/24/2007

Habersham County Sheriff DeRay Fincher will be in court today, April 24, to face a challenge from a convicted sex offender he ordered to move.

Today's hearing is based on documents recorded April 12 in Habersham County Superior Court by attorney Bill Oliver on behalf of offender James E. Craig. It is scheduled to be heard by Chief Judge Ernest H. "Bucky" Woods III.

In enforcing Georgia law 42-1-15(a), which prohibits a convicted sex offender from living within 1,000 feet of a daycare facility, Fincher's office found by GPS that Craig, 42, lives too close to Little Blessings Academy, a nearby daycare facility.

On April 11, Woods issued a temporary order stating that Fincher is temporarily enjoined from proceeding against Craig in enforcement of provisions of the law that restricts him from living within 1,000 feet of a daycare facility.

"The court finds that [Craig] raises legitimate questions regarding the applicability of the statute," the order states. "Therefore, the status quo should be maintained until the issues can be heard or until there is an applicable ruling by Federal Judge Clarence Cooper of the Northern District of Georgia, before whom this court understands there to be a related matter."

"I'm enforcing the law as it applies," Fincher said Monday. "He's less than 500 feet from the daycare center and the law says he has to be at least 1,000. It's not even close. He's more than 500 feet off."

But Oliver asserts that sex offender registration laws did not exist in Georgia at the time Craig was sentenced and that Craig's "conviction" under a general court martial is not such a conviction as defined under the state law relating to sex offenders.

In court martial proceedings at Fort Richardson, Alaska, in 1998, Craig was found guilty of two counts of committing indecent acts upon a female under the age on 16; of committing an indecent act upon a male under the age of 16; and obstruction of justice on or between Aug. 8, 1996, and Sept. 15, 1996, court documents contained in the suit against Fincher show.

Craig was confined for eight years, and was released from the service with a dishonorable discharge, the document states.