{"id":7966,"date":"2007-09-04T22:24:26","date_gmt":"2007-09-05T03:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2007\/09\/04\/ohio-sex-offender-residency-law-ca"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:53:43","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:53:43","slug":"ohio-sex-offender-residency-law-cant-be-applied-retroactively-feder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2007\/09\/04\/ohio-sex-offender-residency-law-cant-be-applied-retroactively-feder\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio sex offender residency law can’t be applied retroactively: federal district court"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal district court ruled today that Ohio’s sex offender residency law could not be applied to Lane Mikaloff of Akron, a rapist whose crime occurred two decades before the law was passed in 2003.\u00a0 See Mikaloff v. Walsh<\/em><\/a>, Northern District of Ohio, Hon. James S. Gwin, presiding, Case 5:06-cv-00096-JG (Sept. 4, 2007; decision, 22-pp pdf.; hat tip: The Parson<\/a>).\u00a0 According to the Cincinnati Enquirer<\/em>, in “Judge’s sex offender ruling blasted<\/a>” (Sept. 4, 2007):<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge James Gwin [of the Northern District of Ohio<\/a>, Akron<\/a> Division] said the law, which bars offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools, amounts to an additional, retroactive punishment for people who already have served their sentences.<\/p>\n

He said such punishments violate the U.S. Constitution and impose an excessive burden on offenders that could continue for the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law goes well beyond parole in that it never allows a sex offender to reintegrate into society,\u201d Gwin wrote in his decision. \u201cSubjecting a sex offender to constant ouster from his or her home seems a significant deprivation of liberty and property interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sentences them to a life of transience, forcing them to become nomads.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unclear that the residency restriction denies sex offenders access and opportunity to school children.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

The NYCLU has made similar arguments<\/a> in opposing the Schenectady County, NY, residence restrictions. For more coverage of the Mikaloff case, see “Judge rules in favor of sex offender in residency case<\/a>,” Springfield News-Sun\/AP<\/em> (Sept. 4, 2007); and Prof. Corey Yung’s Sex Crimes<\/em><\/a> weblog, “Ohio Residency Restrictions cannot Constitutionally Apply Retroactively” (Sept. 4, 2007).\u00a0 Click here<\/a> for the Mikaloff v. Walsh<\/em> decision.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Cincinnati-based Ohio Justice and Policy Center<\/a> represented Mikaloff. David Singleton, the center’s executive director, said: “This is a landmark ruling that will have national impact as courts around the country address the growing number of such restrictions.” Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters opined that \u201cThe decision is a mistake. I just wish that sometimes they\u2019d think of the kids that get abused.\u201d Deters also asserted (incorrectly) that Gwin has “no business commenting about the effectiveness or wisdom of the law,” as a judge\u2019s job is only to interpret the law.<\/p>\n

Selections from Missed Appointment<\/em><\/a> by Gary Hotham<\/a>:<\/p>\n

the shortcut
\nthe school children take—
\na new layer of leaves matted into the old<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

farewell party—
\nthe sweetness of the cake
\nhard to swallow<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

over the parade—
\na window no one
\nlooks out of<\/p>\n

Dad’s funeral—
\nthe same knot
\nin my tie<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

……………………………………………… by Gary Hotham<\/a> .. <\/p>\n

(Missed Appointment<\/em><\/a><\/em>, Lilliput Review, Modest Proposal Chapbooks<\/a> 2007)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal district court ruled today that Ohio’s sex offender residency law could not be applied to Lane Mikaloff of Akron, a rapist whose crime occurred two decades before the law was passed in 2003.\u00a0 See Mikaloff v. Walsh, Northern District of Ohio, Hon. James S. Gwin, presiding, Case 5:06-cv-00096-JG (Sept. 4, 2007; decision, 22-pp […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3513],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lawyer-news-or-ethics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-24u","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7966"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12474,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7966\/revisions\/12474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}