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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Ind. Decisions - Do the changes to the sex offender law mean longtime homeowners must move?

Updating a long list of earlier ILB entries on this issue, Sophia Voravong of the Lafayette Journal and Courier reports today that the trial court yesterday denied John Doe's request for a priliminary injuction:

The Indiana Court of Appeals could now get involved in the case of a Tippecanoe County sex offender challenging a state law that forced him to move.

The 56-year-old man -- identified in court documents only as John A. Doe -- filed a petition last month asking to stay in his Lafayette home as the court considers his lawsuit to no longer be deemed a threat to children.

But the request was denied in an order filed Tuesday by Judge Don Johnson of Tippecanoe Superior Court 1.

"The statute is designed to provide a safeguard for minors by requiring convicted sex offenders not to reside within 1,000 feet of designated areas where children are likely to reside," he wrote in the two-page order.

"...The public interest will be disserved should the preliminary injunction be issued."

The law in question prohibits sex offenders convicted of crimes against children from living within 1,000 feet of a school, public park or youth program center. * * *

John Doe's attorney, Chad Montgomery of the Earl McCoy Law Firm, said Tuesday that Johnson's decision means he'll file an "interlocutory appeal" with the Indiana Court of Appeals.

That court will have 30 days to determine whether Johnson erred in not granting the preliminary injunction request.

"If that doesn't work, we still have one more petition on file -- the permanent injunction -- challenging the constitutionality of this law," Montgomery said.

"We hope that through the permanent injunction, they don't apply the law at all."

Johnson also is still considering John Doe's petition to no longer be deemed an offender against children. This is being done using a new law that took effect July 1.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 15, 2007 12:59 PM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions