PA - Pennsylvania's Megan's Law mandate unfairly punishes offenders, court rules

Original Article

10/14/2014

By Peter Hall

Some of Pennsylvania's latest sex offender registration requirements run afoul of a constitutional ban on laws that create new penalties for people who have already paid for their crimes, the Commonwealth Court has ruled.

The panel of seven Commonwealth Court judges also found, however, that requiring sex offenders to reveal their email addresses and other online aliases is not a violation of the First Amendment right to anonymous speech.

_____, convicted in 2001 of sexual assault, had already served his prison sentence and probation when the fourth revision of Pennsylvania's version of Megan's Law, named the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, took effect in 2012.

_____ argued that the revisions to Megan's Law were so much more punitive than the earlier version of the law that they violated provisions in the state and federal constitutions that prevent states from imposing tougher penalties for crimes than were in place when they were committed.

He also argued that the new requirement to provide information about his online identities violated his right to anonymous online speech because his crime did not involve a minor on the Internet.

_____, 63, was convicted in Montgomery County Court of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at a suburban Philadelphia restaurant. His attorney, Burton A. Rose of Philadelphia, had not read the decision and declined to comment. State police officials were unavailable to comment.

In an opinion for the unanimous panel, Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer rejected _____'s claims with regard to a majority of the new registration requirements, including mandates to appear in person to register four times a year and to provide extensive personal information, palm prints and DNA samples, plus advance notice of international travel.

Jubelirer wrote that each of those requirements is related to public safety and not intended as a punishment.

Failure to comply with the requirements is a felony punishable by a five-year prison sentence, according to the opinion.

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IA - Police pleased by expansion of DNA requirement

Original Article

If DNA is so good and helping solve crime and freeing innocent people, then how come they do not take DNA from birth and also force everybody else to submit a sample even if they've not committed a crime?

02/01/2014

By NICK HYTREK

SIOUX CITY - As forensic investigation techniques get more advanced, police investigators are finding them ever more useful in solving crimes. A new law set to take effect in Iowa later this year could help law enforcement officers even more.

Beginning July 1, offenders convicted of most aggravated misdemeanors in Iowa's courts will be required to submit a DNA sample. Current law requires felony convicts as well as sexually violent predators and sex offenders to submit DNA samples.

When he signed the bill into law in May, Gov. Terry Branstad said it will help police solve crimes and possibly exonerate suspects who have been falsely accused.

The Sioux City Journal reports, he'll get no arguments from law enforcement.

"It's going to definitely aid in getting people involved in crimes off the street. I think it's going to be a big help for us solving crimes," said Sgt. Pat Breyfogle, an investigator in the Sioux City Police Department's crimes against persons unit.

Juveniles will be exempt from the new requirement. Aggravated misdemeanors related to gambling, hazardous waste, agriculture productions and many traffic offenses also will be exempt from the DNA submission.

Breyfogle said common aggravated misdemeanors are assaults and burglaries. Burglaries can be hard to solve, but it's not uncommon to find DNA evidence at the scene: a cigarette butt or blood on broken glass.

Zac Chwirka, Sioux City Police identification and property supervisor, said the law will expand the statewide DNA database and improve chances that DNA collected at a crime scene will match someone already on file. Other state labs can tap into Iowa's database, which is helpful when dealing with Sioux City crime suspects who live in Nebraska or South Dakota.

"This is just a very crucial tool for law enforcement to try to identify suspects," Chwirka said.

That DNA database can help solve crimes from long ago, Chwirka said. He remembers a Sioux City robbery and rape case from around 2000 in which police obtained DNA evidence of the perpetrator, but had no matches. The suspect was later sentenced for an unrelated felony, and when he gave a DNA sample in prison, the database matched him to the rape case.

"This is a huge tool for us to solve current and past crimes," Chwirka said.

The new law goes too far, some say. Rita Bettis, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, said the law expands DNA collections from cases that have a rational relationship to DNA — sex-related crime and other felonies — to lower-level, nonviolent offenses.

"The rationale that it will solve more cases is absurd when applied to these types of cases," Bettis said. "Under that rationale, the state could collect DNA from everyone at birth and store it long after their deaths. The government's interest in solving crimes must be balanced with the people's fundamental freedoms."

"We think it's invasive and unnecessary."

Breyfogle dismissed concerns about expanding the DNA database to include those convicted of less-serious offenses.

"It's really no different than having your fingerprints on file," he said.

Collecting those additional samples shouldn't be a problem, said Steve Scholl, director of corrections in Iowa's 3rd Judicial District. Most offenders convicted of aggravated misdemeanors likely will be placed on probation rather than sentenced to prison, so probation officers will collect their samples.

Scholl said it will take a little extra time for a probation officer to swab an offender, then seal and send the sample to the crime lab, but it won't lead to any extra expenses in his budget.

Woodbury County Attorney Patrick Jennings said he hoped the new law could act as a deterrent as well as help gain convictions. DNA evidence can be extremely helpful to convince juries, but it's also not necessary if the case's other facts are strong.

"Depending on the facts of the particular case, the lack of forensic evidence doesn't necessarily mean the prosecutor's case is doomed," Jennings said.

For police, DNA is considered one piece of solid evidence that can make a case.

"DNA assists in a lot of cases. Frankly, there's probably a lot of cases that are brought to trial or charged because of DNA evidence," Breyfogle said.

MD - How Kirk Bloodsworth, wrongfully convicted for a crime he didn't commit, escaped death row

Original Article

01/29/2014

Kirk Bloodsworth spent two years on death row and lost a decade of his life after being wrongfully convicted and jailed for a crime he didn't commit.

The former US marine had, in just eight months, gone from an average citizen with a job and new wife to being found guilty of the brutal rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl and sentenced to death.

Despite having an alibi and not matching the police sketch issued at the time, prosecutors were determined to prove he was the man who had taken the life of an innocent girl.

Dawn Hamilton was found naked from the waist down in woodland near her Maryland home in 1984 in a crime which shocked America. She had been raped, beaten and killed.

"Witnesses described someone tall, with curly hair, a bushy moustache and tanned skin," Mr Bloodsworth said.

"I had hair as red as an apple and couldn't tan."

He remembers the shock he felt when he was arrested and how he turned around to look for someone else when police said "that's him" as he was put in handcuffs.

He also remembers the anger and disbelief he found after he was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to death in Baltimore County, Maryland, the following year.

It would take almost 10 years and DNA evidence to secure his innocence and freedom.

But it wasn't until 2003 that the taunts of being a child killer finally stopped and the real offender was charged with the crime.

Speaking exclusively to news.com.au from his Maryland home, Mr Bloodsworth said he can still hear the prison doors shut if he thinks hard enough and gets chills whenever he hears metal keys jiggle.

He said he tries to put it into words what he felt when he was told he was going to die, and just can't describe it.

"I guess it's like a doctor telling you you're going to die from cancer and nine years later saying 'sorry we've made a bad mistake'," he said.

The real green mile

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TN - Innocent man has record wiped clean after 31 years in prison

Original Article

01/27/2014

By Dennis Ferrier

NASHVILLE (WSMV) - An innocent man imprisoned for 31 years, who has been trying to get his record cleared since he was released four years ago, finally got his day in court Monday and is now a man without a criminal record.

_____ had been falsely accused of rape and burglary in 1977 in Memphis.

DNA evidence showed he was never on the scene and had nothing to do with the crime, and 31 years into the sentence, the district attorney and judge released him from custody.

But getting his record wiped clean had been a much more difficult struggle.

The Memphis district attorney had _____'s record expunged on Monday.

_____ and his wife, _____, have been waiting for this day for years. It was such big news that people from Immanuel Baptist Church in Lebanon left work just to come and congratulate him.

"It was done in 15 seconds. Thirty-five years of wrongfully labeling this man was undone in 15 seconds. There really is a sermon there. It was very emotional. It's like a family member's been freed," said the Rev. John Hunn of Immanuel Baptist Church.

_____ attends Bible study five days a week and can now go on a mission trip with Immanuel Baptist Church that before he could only dream about.

Plus, he can now vote again.

"He has had a hard life," _____ said. "He just went through everything and then he couldn't get a job. My children think there is nothing like him. They call him 'Pops.' I never thought I'd meet anybody like him. He is just different. I like to think God saved him just for me."

_____ first walked into Immanuel Baptist Church on a Wednesday night, and things really changed after that. Hunn got him a job at Lifeway Christian Resources, everyone learned his story and witnessed his grace and, now, they see his triumph.

"You got to walk and put God in your heart. You put love in your heart, God can turn bad into good," _____ said.

Senate passes version of Jessica's Law

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Legalized murder. I do not believe in the death penalty for anyone, regardless of their crime. Murder is murder.

04/24/2007

AUSTIN — The Texas Senate on Tuesday passed its version of "Jessica's Law," a get-tough measure on sexual predators that includes a possible death penalty for those who are twice convicted of raping children under 14.

"I can think of no more solemn duty than the protection of our most innocent and vulnerable citizens," said Sen. Bob Deuell, the Greenville Republican who sponsored the measure.

The bill creates new categories of sexually violent offenses against children under 14, breaking out new categories for crimes committed involving kidnapping, date rape drugs, deadly weapons and cause serious bodily injury. Such crimes, or any aggravated sexual assault on a child under 6, automatically carry a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison.

A second offense carries life in prison or the death penalty.

The bill also enhances punishments for most sex crimes against children and extends the statute of limitations for prosecution.

"We want to deter people. We don't want victims. But if a crime happens, we want to give our prosecutors the tools to make convictions," Deuell said.
- When will people ever realize no matter how tough on crime, all the zero tolerance, all the registries in the world will not prevent a murderer from murdering, a thief from stealing, a dealer from dealing, a user from using, a rapist from raping....accusations on any sex crime, child abuse, or domestic violence will literally nail your butt to the wall! No DNA has to be present, No violence has to be present..... HEARSAY ALONE IS LITERALLY NAILING THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TO THE WALL BECAUSE THESE LAWS ARE BIASED.

The bill is named Jessica's Law after Jessica Lunsford, a Florida girl who was abducted and killed. More than a dozen states have passed versions of Jessica's Law to crack down on sex offenders, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry deemed passage of a child sex offender bill a legislative emergency.

Texas' version would make it the sixth state to allow some child sex offenders to be sentenced to death.

Critics have questioned whether the death penalty is constitutional in cases where the victim does not die. In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the death penalty in a Georgia rape case. Louisiana has one inmate on death row in a child sex crime, but the case is still subject to appeals in state and federal courts.

Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, the only dissenter in the 30-1 vote, questioned whether the state should expand death row at a time when post-conviction DNA testing has exonerated people who went to prison for crimes they did not commit.

Just two weeks ago, the Senate hosted two men who served 27 years in prison for sexual assault but were later cleared by DNA testing.

"All of us have to make tough choices, but at some point we have to decide where do we draw the line on something that's politically right but morally wrong," Ellis said. "I'm for the death penalty, but I think it would be nice if we had a system where we got the right one."

The Texas House passed a different version of Jessica's Law last month that also includes the death penalty in some child sex cases.

The House bill allows broader use of the death penalty for two convictions of a newly classified crime, "continuous sexual abuse of a young child," defined as more than one sex act committed against a victim younger than 14 over a period of 30 days or more.

The Senate bill creates the same crime but would carry a sentence of up to life in prison after a second offense.

Victim advocates have warned that the death penalty could do more harm than good if they lead perpetrators to kill victims who may be the only witness to the crime.

They also warn that long minimum sentences could make it harder for prosecutors to get victims to cooperate if the perpetrator is a family member. Most sex crimes against children are committed by family members or friends, victim advocates say.

A statement issued by the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault said the longer sentences are unlikely to serve as a deterrent against sex crimes.

"In reality, sex offenders are some of the most manipulative, intelligent and predatory of all violent criminals. Harsher punishments will not prevent Texas children, men or women from falling victim to sexual violence," the group said, adding that lawmakers should spend more money on victims' services. "The Legislature's work on sexual violence is not complete."

Fairness 2007 Legislative Summary (04/23/2007)

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Fairness for Prisoners’ Families

2007 Georgia General Assembly

Legislative Summary - April 23, 2007

The 2007 Georgia General Assembly came to a close on Friday night. The Governor is expected to announce details this week of a Special Session to address the budget for the last two months of 2007.

Fairness for Prisoners’ Families and the Southern Center for Human Rights owe a debt of gratitude to our friends and colleagues at the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, and the Georgia Innocence Project. To quote Mother Jones, “We do not want to find fault with each other, but to solidify our forces and say to each other: ‘We must be together; our masters are joined together and we must do the same thing.’"

Thanks to all the members of Fairness and the readers of this bulletin who took action this session. Thank you for your solidarity!

Two victories this year addressed wrongful convictions. House Resolution 352 creates the House Study Committee on Eyewitness Identification Procedures. HR 352 was introduced by Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Dekalb) to allow for a process for the legislature to thoroughly explore Georgia's procedures for eyewitness identification. This comes in the wake of Willie O. "Pete" Williams' exoneration in January after more than 21 years in prison on a wrongful rape conviction has raised the issue of eyewitness error for the second year. All six of the men whose convictions have been thrown out by DNA evidence in Georgia were prosecuted based on eyewitness testimony. Additionally, House Resolution 102 gives $1.2 million compensation after being wrongfully incarcerated for 25 years to Robert Clark, exonerated by DNA evidence in 2005.

Sometimes the victories of a legislative session can be better measured by looking at the bad laws that did not pass. Below are some of these bad bills that we were able to stop this year:

HB 185 would have allowed death penalty verdicts to be handed down with only 9 of the 12 jury members in agreement. There was tremendous opposition to this legislation and compelling testimony presented in committee from attorneys (including former prosecutors) , faith-based organizations, and Georgia citizens. This bill was ultimately struck down unanimously by the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the last week of the session.

SB 129 would have allowed for the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) to charge people in prison co-payments for medication. However, we know that no one in Georgia prisons can earn money; so ultimately, SB 129 was ultimately an additional tax on the families who have a loved one in prison. Members of Fairness testified against this measure in a Senate committee and rather than passing the bill, the committee placed the bill in a subcommittee (that we’re happy to say never met) to be studied further.

HB 527 would have allowed for private probation companies to supervise people convicted on nonviolent felonies and charge them a minimum $50 monthly supervision fee. Currently, private probation companies supervise misdemeanors, charge “supervision” fees of around $30 per month that most people cannot afford, offer no actual supervision, and charge extra if the person is required to attend drug treatment or other counseling. We joined Judges, Sheriffs, and the GDC in opposition to this measure and succeeded in stopping the bill from expanding private probation.

SB 1 would have made it illegal for people on the sex offender registry to take photographs of minors. It allowed for no exceptions for parents on the registry taking pictures of their own children nor did it excuse unintentional photographing of children in public places. As this legislation made its way through the legislature, our allies succeeded in amending the language to allow for pictures to be taken if the child’s parent consents. Ultimately, the House did not take action on this bill.

Here is the list of bills that were still pending as the session came to an end along with their current status:

Corrections Bills

• HB 313: Moves the Prison Industry Enhancement (PIE) Program under the jurisdiction of the Georgia Correctional Industries Administration. Passed both Houses and now awaits Governor's signature.
• SB 34: Prohibits a person in prison for a sex offense from possessing a photograph of the victim of the offense for which he or she is serving time. Passed both Houses and now awaits Governor's signature.
  

Sex Offense Bills

• HB 314: Requires that people convicted of certain sex offenses who receive a sentence of probation to provide DNA samples. Language from SB 1 and SB 249 was removed on the Senate floor. Passed both Houses and now awaits Governor's signature.
• SB 1: Prohibits people on the sex offender registry to take pictures of children. It does allow parents to consent to someone on the registry (including themselves) taking photos of their children. It also guards against the taking of pictures of children who might accidentally wander into a scene. Did not pass in 2007 General Assembly but can still be considered in 2008 session.
• SB 54: Re-writes the incest statute to be gender neutral. Passed as included in HB 314.
• SB 249: Sheriff’s Association Legislation that clarifies and changes some registration requirements. Also includes a provision to allow for elderly and disabled people to petition the court to be exempt from residency restrictions. Did not pass in 2007 General Assembly but can still be considered in 2008 session.
  

Criminal Procedure, Sentencing, and Death Penalty Bills

• HB 185: Allows a judge to impose a death sentence on a defendant even if two jurors vote against it. Did not pass in 2007 General Assembly but can still be considered in 2008 session.
• HB 197: Abolishes Georgia’s Sentence Review Panel. Passed both Houses and now awaits Governor's signature. Now includes language from SB 97.
• HR 352: Creates the House Study Committee on Eyewitness Identification Procedures. Adopted by the House
• SB 97: Requires lawyers to state with specificity their objections to the jury charges prior to deliberations, or waive them. Passed as part of HB 197.
• SB 145: Allows for prosecutors to seek life without parole sentences for murder without having to seek the death penalty. Did not pass in 2007 General Assembly but can still be considered in 2008 session.
  

Indigent Defense

• HB 586: Limits the amount of money that the state must pay for capital defense; the county must pay the balance. Passed both Houses and now awaits Governor's signature.
• SB 139: Transfers the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council from the judicial branch to the executive branch. Passed both Houses and now awaits Governor's signature.
  

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

With hope and solidarity,

Sara

Sara J. Totonchi
Public Policy Director
Southern Center for Human Rights
83 Poplar Street, N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
404/688-1202 voice
404/688-9440 fax
stotonchi@schr.org

DNA exonerates man who served 25 years

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04/23/2007

CHICAGO - A man who spent 25 years in prison for rape was exonerated Monday as a judge threw out his convictions because DNA evidence showed he couldn't have committed the attack. An advocacy group said it was the 200th such case.
- When did DNA come into being? If it was older than 25 years, why didn't they do this back before the man lost 25 years of his life? I hate to say it, but, is it because he's black? Well, from this page, it says DNA forensics came into being in 1984. Still, this man has lost 25 years of his life, and should be compensated for his LOST time.

Jerry Miller smiled and the courtroom erupted into cheers after Cook County Circuit Court Judge Diane G. Cannon read the ruling that cleared him of all charges.

Miller, 48, had been found guilty of rape, robbery, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated battery even though he testified he was at home watching television at the time of the 1981 attack. He was paroled in March 2006 and now works two jobs and lives with a family member in a Chicago suburb.

"I will get on with my life, start a life, have a life," Miller said at a news conference after the hearing. "I'm just thankful for this day."

The Innocence Project, a New York-based group, had persuaded prosecutors last year to conduct DNA tests on a semen sample taken from the rape victim's clothes. Those results excluded Miller as the attacker.

The case is the 200th in the United States in which a person was convicted and later exonerated based on DNA evidence, the group says. The first exonerations based on DNA testing were in 1989, and in all, the 200 defendants served about 2,475 years in prison for crimes they didn't commit, according to the group's Web site.

"We look at this as a learning moment," said Peter Neufeld, a co-founder of the Innocence Project and one of Miller's lawyers. "What went wrong? We have to get the answer for the future or there'll be too many Jerry Millers."

Miller was arrested in the attack on a 44-year-old woman at a Chicago parking garage in September 1981. The attacker raped her and put her in the trunk of her car, but he ran away when two attendants approached him as he tried to leave the garage.

The attendants helped authorities make a sketch and later picked Miller out of a lineup.

Now that he is exonerated, Miller no longer has to register as a sex offender.

Mark Ertler, deputy supervisor of the Cook County state's attorney's office DNA review unit, told the Chicago Tribune that the case was "a good example of what the DNA unit was intended to do."

On the Net:

http://www.innocenceproject.org/

DNA clears man of rape after 25 years in prison

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04/22/2007

It came as no surprise to Jerry Miller last week when the test results came back showing he could not have committed the 1981 rape he served 25 years in prison for. He knew he was innocent.

On Monday, his attorneys will appear in Cook County Criminal Court to ask that his conviction be vacated, and Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine's office, which agreed to the DNA testing last year, will join the motion.

"It feels great," said Miller, who's living with a cousin in the south suburbs since his parole last year. For years, he wrote to lawyers, journalists and others looking for help with his case. "It took a long time."

The New York-based Innocence Project took up his case and asked Devine's office last year to agree to the DNA testing, which was not available when Miller was convicted in the early '80s.

"He will be the 200th post-conviction exoneration in the country," said Colin Starger, the staff attorney with the nonprofit group that handled Miller's case.

If Judge Diane Gordon Cannon approves the motion, it will end Miller's supervised home release, take his picture off the state's sex-offender registry, and allow him to try to get on with his life, 25 years later, his attorneys say.

William Wolf, the assistant public defender representing Miller here, said when prosecutors confirmed the DNA of semen found on the rape victim's clothes did not match Miller, they ran it against a national criminal database and got a "hit."

That could mean that the rapist, who went free while police targeted Miller, went out and committed another crime for which he was arrested, but prosecutors are not giving any more details on the DNA "hit" and whether that offender is in custody or was convicted of another rape or some other crime.

"We don't know what he was convicted for that put him in the database, other than it was a felony," Wolf said.

Miller had the misfortune to resemble a sketch of the rapist, drawn using information from parking garage attendants who saw the man flee. The victim had been warned by the rapist not to look at him or he would kill her. She was raped in her car, then put in her trunk and later rescued by the parking attendants.