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Saturday, March 06, 2010
Ind. Courts - "Gibson County gets tort notice over sex offender registry"
Andrea Howe of the Princeton Daily Clarion reported this story on March 2nd:
PRINCETON—Bradley D. Tomey of Princeton is seeking $35,000 in damages from the county for making him register as a sex offender.He claims the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled that the 1992 law requiring sex offender registration was adopted after his 1989 rape conviction, and doesn’t apply to him.
The tort notice claim was filed against the county and sheriff in recent weeks. County Attorney James McDonald said Tuesday the matter has been referred to the county’s liability insurance carrier for review.
Tomey seeks the damages for emotional injury and humiliation, loss of work time, cost of attorney fees and medical expenses “among other losses and injuries yet to be determined,” according to the notice prepared by his attorney, John Emry of Franklin.
According to the claim notice, Tomey was convicted of rape in 1989, when he was 19, and has lived in Gibson County since completing his sentence and parole without any problems.
The state law requiring certain offenders to register with the state was enacted in 1992, and later amended in 1994, but an Indiana Supreme Court decision of April 30, 2009, reversed the requirement in Wallace v. State for a sex offender convicted prior to the adoption of the law.
Tomey’s attorney says in the tort claim notice that Tomey was contacted by the Gibson County Sheriff’s Dept. in late July, 2009, about not being registered, and Tomey contacted the New Castle parole officer and Gibson County Prosecutor’s Office for more information, but wasn’t provided an answer.
His claim against the county alleges that Tomey was contacted again Oct. 1, 2009, and told he would be arrested if he did not register as a sex offender. When Tomey contacted the Indiana Dept. of Correction, he was told the same thing, according to the notice.
A day later, fearing arrest, he registered, and was told “what he could do and not do and where he could go and not go.”
Tomey’s claim says as a result of the events, he had to go back to medication to control mental anguish and was forced to hire an attorney.
It also says the county was contacted Oct. 12, 2009 by Tomey’s first attorney, Michael Cochren, about the error, that commissioners and the sheriff acknowledged the error, but wouldn’t take his name off the registry unless he released them from liability.
The tort claim says Tomey wouldn’t sign the liability release, and there was no resolution to the problem as of Dec. 22, 2009. Some time later, his claim notes, Tomey’s name was removed from the list.
There were 75 registered sex or violent offenders listed this week on the Gibson County registry, a searchable database at www.insor.org/insasoweb
In November 2009, county commissioners established an ordinance that requires convicted sex and violent offenders to pay for complying with the state registration laws.
The county charges a $50 initial registration fee to offenders who are required to register in the county in which they live and/or work.
A $5 fee is also assessed each time an address is changed.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 6, 2010 01:22 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts