A Challenge to Miami-Dade’s sex offender residency restriction

Weekly Update #93

Dear Members and Advocates,

This morning, oral arguments in Doe v. Miami-Dade (the challenge to Miami-Dade’s sex offender residency restriction that has left hundreds of individuals without anyplace to live) took place before the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals. While we anxiously await the decision, we can say that attorney Daniel Tilley from the ACLU did a good job on behalf of the plaintiffs. What we can also share is that it was clear that the County will do whatever it takes to keep the Lauren Book ordinance in place and they clearly could care less about the human beings legislated into homelessness. When asked by one of the Judges on the panel if he knew why two of the homeless plaintiffs died during the pendency of this appeal, the attorney for the County had no clue and apparently never cared enough to ask.

There is no time frame for an order to come down from the Court, but today’s oral arguments moves the case farther along. Another update is that a new attorney has filed a notice of appearance on behalf of the FDLE in Does v. Swearingen (the Ex Post Facto Plus challenge). This has no bearing on the merits of the case.

We have also been in contact with an attorney who is contemplating an out-of-state challenge on behalf of his client, to see if he would consider including the FAC members who are no longer in the state but who are still on the registry in a more comprehensive challenge. We have been trying to raise funds to bring an “Out of State” challenge for quite some time. The biggest hurdle is that the overwhelming majority of our members are in Florida and this challenge would do nothing to benefit them. For that reason, we cannot allocate funds from our general legal challenge to this case and we’ve been stuck very short of our fundraising goal. By supporting the challenge and adding a representative plaintiff of FAC (or two) we can put the funds earmarked to this challenge to use sooner than later. We are also seeking individuals who are in this situation (no longer in Florida but on the Florida registry) and who would be interested in participating, to contact info@floridaactioncommittee.org to express your interest.

Finally, crunch time has approached in the Ex Post Facto Plus case, depositions are approaching, expert declarations have been submitted and costs are rapidly mounting. Last week we received a very generous pledge from one of our members who wanted to remain anonymous but wanted to do what he can to help this case succeed. As we successfully did last summer, he has pledged to match every donation to our Ex Post Facto Plus case, dollar-for-dollar, up to five thousand dollars. That means, if we can raise $5000 between now and the end of July we will get an additional $5000 to support this lawsuit! Your $10 donation is worth $20, your $100 donation is worth $200… Now is the time to help support this challenge and now is the time that donations are needed. Our first two rounds have been met, now let’s bring this case home. Please visit https://floridaactioncommittee.org/donations to help make this happen!

Sincerely,

The Florida Action Committee

Reminders:

JUNE 11 – NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION CALL. Thursday June 11th at 8:00 pm ET.  Anyone can call-in to learn about the organization, resources, and Volunteer opportunities. Dial 319-527-3487.

SOME HEADLINES FROM THE WEEK

Nigeria starts “naming and shaming” sex offenders

the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has now published names and photographs of some convicted sex offenders on the Nigeria Sex Offender Register. The DG of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, shared a list over the weekend via…

Florida’s 2nd DCA offers relief for terminal man confined in civil commitment.

Florida really loves to keep people on it’s sex offender registry and locked up. There are nearly 80 thousand people on Florida’s sex offender registry but fewer than 30 thousand are actually in the community. Of those in the community, we have so many who are elderly…

Ocala sex offender jailed after registering a day late

An Ocala man was arrested Monday after he showed up a day late to update his registration as a sex offender. Shaun David Killie, 33, of 4055 NW 63rd St., was supposed to re-register during the month of May. He was reminded when he updated his vehicle information in…

Come On!!! Attorney for killer of Mattieo Condoluci claims he didn’t originally intend to murder.

The Attorney for James Fairbanks, who shot Mattieo Condoluci to death a couple of weeks ago, is claiming he “didn’t intend to kill him”. REALLY?!?! So he just found him on the registry, showed up at his door with a gun, shot him inside his home and then sent an email…