civil rights challenges, lawsuit updates, and court rulings
By Adele Nicholas . . . We achieved a small but important victory in the Seventh Circuit this week. The Seventh Circuit found that a municipal ordinance enacted by the Village of Hartland, Wisconsin, that banned registrants from establishing a home in the Village is retroactive within the meaning of the ex post facto clause. The ruling opens an important avenue…
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By Michael Karlik . . . Even while recognizing the defendant’s only sexual offense happened 25 years ago, that he had served his prison sentence, and that he had the cognitive abilities of a second grader, the federal appeals court based in Denver declined to order a lesser sentence for Kayode Dobosu’s failure to comply with certain conditions of his sex…
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By Larry . . . NARSOL is disappointed in the outcome of a GPS challenge just decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from Wisconsin. The case is Benjamin Braam, Alton Antrim, and Dan Olszewski v. Kevin Carr, Wisconsin Secretary of Corrections. Wisconsin Statute § 301.48(2)(a)(7) requires lifetime monitoring of offenders who have been…
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By Larry . . . The People of the State of Illinois v. Shane Lewis (Docket No. 126705) decided June 24, 2022, deals with an egregious abuse by law enforcement and was clearly entrapment by any objective standard. Shane Lewis was charged with involuntary sexual servitude of a minor, traveling to meet a minor, and grooming. At trial, he asserted…
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By Larry . . . The case of Tracey William Crowley v. the State of Indiana was just handed down by the Indiana Court of Appeals. We are disappointed. The issue before the court was whether Crowley’s 1988 Michigan conviction triggers a duty to register in Indiana. The Court concluded that it does. Tracey William Crowley was previously convicted in…
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By Don T . . . We reported earlier on the bills that had been introduced in the South Carolina legislature in answer to last year’s SC Supreme Court decision that our arbitrary lifetime registration, without due process, was unconstitutional. Now, we can happily report on May 12th, “It’s a great day in South Carolina!” The effort has taken a…
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By Rochelle Dean . . . In a settlement agreement with South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson along with State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel those wrongly convicted of sodomy in the state of South Carolina will now be taken off of the Sex Offender Registry in the Palmetto State. The announcement comes after arguments in Mary Geiger Lewis’s courtroom…
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By Sara Rizzo . . . People on the sex offender registry in New York State can now access the internet and social media platforms without restrictions, except in some cases. The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), Rutgers Law School Constitutional Rights Clinic, and Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York secured a settlement on January 24 ending the ban.…
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By Larry . . . NARSOL is excited to announce that the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals handed Butts County Sheriff Gary Long a stinging defeat today. The case is Cory McClendon v. Gary Long, No. 21-10092. This is a long-running case based on events that occurred on Halloween, 2018. At that time, two deputies from the Butts County Sheriff’s Office…
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By Ayumi Davis . . . U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger ordered the removal of eight men from the sex offender registry to end their retroactive punishments. “Tennessee officials continue to flout the Constitution’s guarantees,” Trauger wrote in her ruling Friday. “The federal district courts of this state have repeatedly concluded that the same analysis applies … to Tennessee’s own,…
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