NH lawsuit challenges sex offender registry rules

10-5-2011 New Hampshire:

CONCORD, N.H.—The New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union is suing the state on behalf of a disabled sex offender who was convicted six years before the state passed a law requiring him to register for life.

The suit filed Tuesday in Merrimack Superior Court claims the man -- identified only as "John Doe"-- lives in a Manchester boarding house and cannot qualify for federally subsidized housing because he is a sex offender.

CLU Director Barbara Keshen says there is no opportunity under current law for the man to claim he no longer poses a risk to the public. She said he is classified as 100 percent disabled after a severe abdominal aorta rupture and numerous surgeries.

Deputy Attorney General Ann Rice says she has not seen the lawsuit and cannot comment.

Keshen said Tuesday the man pleaded guilty in 1987 to two counts of sexually assaulting his stepdaughter, who was between the ages of 13 and 16 at the time.

A judge at first deferred, then suspended in 1990, a 2 1/2-year prison sentence after the convict completed two years of sex offender treatment. The lawsuit says the court deemed him rehabilitated and terminated his probation.

It was three years later, in 1993, that the New Hampshire legislature required all sex offenders to register, regardless of their conviction dates. In 1998, the legislature stripped away the confidentiality provisions and made the registry public. It also eliminated the opportunity for convicts to prohibit public disclosure if they could prove they were at a low, or no, risk of reoffending.

The lawsuit claims New Hampshire's statutory scheme is unconstitutional because it imposed punishment retroactively and affords no opportunity for a convict to show he or she is no longer a threat to public safety.

The convict, now in his 60s, is classified as a Tier III offender, the most serious.

"Once you are designated a Tier III offender in New Hampshire, you have to register for life and there's no way you can go to any court and say you're no longer a threat," Keshen said. "You could have every psychologist in New Hampshire saying so and the court couldn't do anything."

Keshen said the current system is a disservice to parents trying to monitor dangerous sex offenders.

"We have over 2,000 sex offenders in our registry," Keshen said. "We don't have 2,000 people who are dangerous sexual predators in New Hampshire."

Keshen said the man shares one room and a bathroom with other men at a Manchester boarding house. Keshen said he has difficulty walking and is in poor health.

No hearing dates have been set. ..Source.. by Lynne Tuohy

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NHCLU files suit over sex offender law

Group challenges lifetime registration

The New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union yesterday filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law requiring sex offenders to register.

People convicted of sexual offenses are required to register with the state police and periodically report in person to the local police. The state police maintain a public list of sex offenders with identifying information, such as the offender's name, physical description, address and convictions. Sex offenders in the most severe category are required to register for life.

In a lawsuit filed yesterday in Merrimack Superior Court, the civil liberties group argued that the law violates a constitutional prohibition on retroactive laws. It also argues that lifelong registration interferes with the due process rights of sex offenders who have no opportunity to show they no longer pose a threat.

The suit was filed on behalf of a Hillsborough County man who pleaded guilty in 1987 to two counts of sexually assaulting his stepdaughter, then a minor. The man, who was not named in the suit, served his sentence and completed rehabilitative counseling, according to the suit. In 1990, the court ruled that he had been rehabilitated and terminated his sentence and probation.

Two years later, state lawmakers enacted a law requiring sexual offenders to confidentially register with the state and report to the police. In 1993, they expanded the law so it applied to sexual offenders who completed their sentences since January 1988, a group that included the petitioner.

The suit describes a progressive expansion of reporting requirements and decline of confidentiality: Lawmakers again changed the law in 1996 by allowing the police to share registry information, previously confidential, with schools and other organizations that dealt with children.

In 1998, they repealed a part of the law that allowed offenders to keep their information private by showing they were a low risk of committing another offense. In 2002, lawmakers allowed the public to view the sex offender registration website, and in 2006, they expanded reporting requirements to include information like Social Security numbers and contact information for landlords.

The suit says that the petitioner was told of the registration requirement in 2004 and has complied with it. Today he is disabled and living in a boarding house, according to the suit. The suit says he applied to live in subsidized housing but was rejected because of his lifetime registration as a sex offender.

In 1994, New Hampshire courts found that the registration law did not violate the state constitution's prohibition on retrospective laws because the law served a regulatory purpose - allowing the police to share information about the whereabouts of sexual offenders - rather than a punitive purpose. In its suit, the NHCLU argues that the law now goes beyond informing the police and instead punishes offenders, some for crimes they committed before the law took effect.

"The cumulative impact of the Act's requirements is to punish, humiliate, shame and subject Petitioner to public condemnation for two offenses he pled guilty to almost 25 years ago, and for which he then successfully completed two years of sexual offender counseling," the suit says.

The suit also argues that people on the list should have a chance to show evidence that they do not pose a threat to the community.

The state sex offender registry now includes more than 2,000 people, said Barbara Keshen, a staff attorney for the NHCLU. She said some of the entries do not help parents who want to warn their children of danger.

"If the list is full of people who committed crimes 20 or 30 years ago but still have to register, that doesn't give them realistic information," she said. ..Source.. by Karen Langley / Monitor staff

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