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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Ind. Courts - "Park ban on sex offenders challenged: Man can't watch son play baseball" [Updated]

This report Aug. 9th in the Jeffersonville News & Tribune concluded:

Judges with the Jeffersonville City Court have twice denied exemption requests filed on behalf of [Eric] Dowdell. The case first came about when Dowdell was coaching his son’s team last summer, and they had a game scheduled in Jeffersonville. He no longer coaches the team.

Dowdell has the option to take the case to the Indiana Court of Appeals. Rose said he will talk to his client soon to discuss what steps to take next.

In a separate case, the constitutionality of the city’s ordinance is being challenged by another ACLU lawyer. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 25.

Today Ben Zion Hershberg reports in the Louisville Courier Journal:
Prohibiting a man convicted of sexual battery 10 years ago from going to a Jeffersonville park to watch his son play baseball is irrational and unconstitutional, a lawyer told a Clark Superior Court judge yesterday.

The park rule imposed on Eric Dowdell and others by a city ordinance enacted last year "bans people who have had no offense in a park" and violates Dowdell's "rights to personal autonomy," said Ken Falk, legal director of the ACLU of Indiana.

Falk also told Judge Vicki Carmichael there is nothing to support an argument that Dowdell presents a particular risk to children in the park.

But Larry Wilder, the lawyer who wrote Jeffersonville's sex-offender ordinance, argued that cities have the authority to make laws protecting their citizens in city parks. Use of parks "is not a fundamental right and constitutional protections don't apply," Wilder said.

Dowdell, 36, of Clarksville also wants to use Jeffersonville parks to play basketball and baseball himself, watch Thunder Over Louisville, and take part in other lawful activities, Falk said in a court filing.

Carmichael, whose hearing considered the constitutional claims in the case, said she would issue a decision after Sept. 12, the deadline for the lawyers to submit final documents.

[Updated at 1:00 pm] See this story by Matt Thacker headed "ACLU challenges Jeffersonville's sex-offender ordinance" in the Clark County Evening News. A quote:
Dowdell has pleaded guilty to domestic battery and battery and faces charges of class D felony strangulation and class A misdemeanor domestic battery.

Falk argued that his history is irrelevant.

“He’s not even required to register (on the sex-offender list),” Falk said. “The state has determined that we don’t have to know Mr. Dowdell’s whereabouts.”

When asked in an interview if it would be constitutional for Jeffersonville to prohibit people currently on the registered sex-offender list from entering public property, Falk said that would not be constitutional either. He said doing so violates their “rights to personal autonomy.”

Wilder countered that “it is not a fundamental right to enter a park.”

The decision will have widespread effects. Falk said he has been contacted by other sex offenders in Jeffersonville who want the ordinance overturned, but he said he could not recall how many. He also said the ruling is important as other communities in Indiana are considering similar ordinances.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 26, 2008 08:46 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts