Another request for your help from supporters of the civil commits at Moose Lake New DOC threats against a leader of the non-violent protests against civil commitment facility at Moose Lake, Minnesota First Daniel Wilson and a dozen others civil commits were placed in the disciplinary unit at Moose Lake without any due process for their protests against Minnesota’s civil…
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By Patty Dexter . . . The city of Apple Valley has agreed to settle a class action federal lawsuit filed in 2020 that challenges the constitutionality of a 2017 city ordinance that limits where some sex offenders can live in the community. The Apple Valley City Council, without discussion, approved a settlement agreement as part of the consent agenda…
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The Free Press, Mankato, Minn. Patty Wetterling lost a son to the actions of a sex offender. But she now has misgivings about a sex offender registry she helped create. Wetterling’s son Jacob was abducted and killed in 1989 in central Minnesota by an area man. After Jacob’s disappearance, Wetterling worked to establish a sex offender registry that would help…
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By Jacob Sullum . . . “It was my understanding that I was to do the treatment, then be released,” says Mike Whipple, who recently participated in a 14-day hunger strike at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program’s facility in Moose Lake. “Twelve years later, I’m still here, doing the same thing, over and over and over.” So far the civil…
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By Chris Serres . . . A Hennepin County judge has struck down a far-reaching ordinance in Dayton, Minn., that restricts where sex offenders can live, ruling that the measure is trumped by state law. The decision concerns a city ordinance that effectively barred convicted sex offenders from living anywhere in the city of Dayton, a semirural community of about 5,000 residents…
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By Sandy . . . In a recent column, Dear Abby makes the unqualified statement that a person with a Level 3 or Tier 3 designation on the sexual offense registry means that the individual is “. . . the most dangerous and most likely to reoffend.” From those in the know, this drew immediate criticism and protest. In 2003,…
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By Nick Ferraro . . . A sex offender who sued West St. Paul over its 2016 ordinance that restricted where he could live will receive $84,000 as part of a settlement agreement approved by a federal judge Monday. U.S. District Court Chief Judge John Tunheim entered an order that dismissed without prejudice the lawsuit that Level 1 sex offender Thomas…
Read MoreBy Chris Serres . . . Three convicted rapists awaiting release from state custody are suing the city of Dayton, Minn., over an ordinance that virtually bans them from living in the city, arguing that the measure violates their Constitutional rights and is trumped by state law. The men are challenging a far-reaching 2016 ordinance that bars convicted sex offenders from…
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By Susan Du . . . Thomas Evenstad, 52, moved into a duplex in West St. Paul on August 21. Three days later, police called his landlord, demanding that he be evicted within 10 days. That’s because Evenstad was convicted of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman in 1999. As a Level I sex offender – the lowest risk category –…
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By Maurice Chammah…. If someone finishes a prison sentence for a violent sexual crime, but might still be dangerous, should he be released? How do you know if he’s dangerous? And when does it violate his rights to hold him? On Monday, the Supreme Court is considering whether to hear a case that stems from these questions, a challenge to…
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