« Law - "Text Messages: Digital Lipstick on the Collar " [Updated] | Main | Courts - More on: SCOTUS decides Alvarez asset-forfeiture challenge »

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Ind. Law - Still more on "Jeff Council takes steps to revise sex offender ordinance"

Updating this ILB entry from Oct. 8, 2009, quoting a Louisville Courier Journal story, and this Oct. 22, 2009 ILB entry quoting an opinion piece in the Jeffersonville News & Tribune, Harold J. Adams of the LJC has this story today - some quotes:

Convicted sex offenders who are no longer required to be listed on the Indiana Sex Offender Registry will also no longer be banned from Jeffersonville city parks under a revised ordinance that has won final passage from the City Council. * * *

The original ordinance passed in 2006 prohibited sex offenders from city parks for life, even if their required period of registration -- typically 10 years -- had expired. But it allowed offenders to petition the Jeffersonville City Court for an exception.

The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in June, however, that the ordinance was unconstitutional as it was applied to Eric Dowdell, a Clarksville man who petitioned unsuccessfully to be allowed to watch his son play Little League baseball in Jeffersonville.

Dowdell’s required registration period for a 1996 sexual battery conviction expired in 2006. The Court of Appeals ruled that applying the ordinance to Dowdell violated the constitutional ban on using new laws to impose or increase punishment for offenses committed before the laws are passed.

City Councilman Keith Fetz, who sponsored the original ordinance, said Tuesday he thinks the new ordinance is stricter than the original because petitions for exceptions will no longer be allowed.

“I think it’s a vehicle that provides the extra safety net for our citizens and for the people of the community to be able to visit the parks with a little more security,” he said.

Ken Falk, legal director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union who handled Dowdell’s appeal, said he hasn’t formed an opinion on the revised ordinance.

“If there are people who are concerned about it and contact us, we’ll have to assess whether in our estimation it’s constitutional or not,” Falk said.

ILB thoughts. Today's story begins:
Convicted sex offenders who are no longer required to be listed on the Indiana Sex Offender Registry will also no longer be banned from Jeffersonville city parks under a revised ordinance that has won final passage from the City Council.
However, the devil is in the details regarding the application of the Supreme Court's April 2009 opinion in Richard P. Wallace v. State, where the Court concludes:
We conclude that as applied to Wallace, the Act violates the prohibition on ex post facto laws contained in the Indiana Constitution because it imposes burdens that have the effect of adding punishment beyond that which could have been imposed when his crime was committed. We therefore reverse the judgment of the trial court.
For more, see this ILB entry from Nov. 18th on how the ruling is being implemented. The Attorney General's office responded to an ILB question:
The Wallace decision still is under consideration and review. We have discussed enforcement options with our client, the Department of Correction. But we have not issued a published legal advisory opinion on this subject.
As for the Sheriffs' Sex and Violent Offender Registry, the AG's office indicated that the sheriffs are not their client.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 9, 2009 09:06 AM
Posted to Indiana Law