First Miami-Dade Inmate to Die of Coronavirus was in Jail for Failure to Register as Sex Offender
Charles R Hobbs Jr. is the first Miami-Dade jail inmate to die from the virus. He was in jail awaiting trial after being arrested for failure to register as a sex offender. The underlying conviction for which he was registered was from 1998. He committed no other sexual offenses in the more than 20 years since.
According to his failure to register case docket, he was indigent and could not afford the $20,000 Bond. He had been sitting in Jail since January.
According to his underlying conviction for the crime that took place in 1997 (before the registry even existed), he was given a withhold adjudication and 5 years probation.
A failure to register for an offense that took place more than 20 years ago and for which he didn’t even receive jail time should not have resulted in the death penalty for Mr. Hobbs. And they say registration is not punishment!
I am so mad. What can we do? Suggestions?
Write to your legislators and the media!!!!
I have just posted this on The Miami Herald’s Facebook page and am waiting to see it they will accept it.
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Our only hope is in the Courts. Not until we successfully win a string of registration cases will the legislators pause and take notice. In a few months I’ll be in contact with my FAC representative here in Miami seeking to get very active both financially & physically with the legal department. Justice can only be found in the Courts and we finally have a few good wins.
This case needs to be forwarded to all Florida and US legislators. It needs to be investigated for, among other things, failure of the jail to provide health care to a citizen who was presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty of the crime charged.
This breaks my heart. It appears he has failed to register several other times over the last 10 years. Which makes me wonder why? He did not commit any other crimes another than it seems he had a drivers license issue. So is this just the result of being shamed and poor? He simply never could get back up on his feet? So sad, so wrong, so heartbreaking.
It appears he was charged on 20FEB20 with 4 separate registration violations which are unknown. Perhaps LE was gunning for this guy. Never argue with your supervising police dept they OWN YOU! (period).
I will comply with every single demand ( short of getting on my knees) with yes sir, you are correct sir. I’m moving now sir. This transient be at the Dennys having coffee or the 24 hour D&D.
COMPLY, COMPLY, COMPLY!!!!!!!!
“Never argue with your supervising police dept they OWN YOU! (period).” ” will comply with every single demand ( short of getting on my knees) with yes sir, you are correct sir.” “COMPLY, COMPLY, COMPLY!!!!!!!!”.
YOU are the reason why this happened! Fight for your rights and demand answers. If they fight back, fight harder.
No, CMC is not the reason why the registry happened.
We know why it happened, and it’s a long story but it’s not because people complied.
NON-compliance, on the other hand, can land registrants in handcuffs, followed by media headlines such as “sex offenders jailed in compliance sweep,” which really creates popular sympathy for registry reform (not).
I am referring, of course, to compliance with the law. Registrants might or might not comply with other reasonable requests from LE, but it’s important to know your rights.
But let’s not accuse each other on this forum of making registries happen. Not unless Ron Book or Lauren Book decides to join us here.
Jacob, as a young man my father laid down the law for me this way:
He said in this house I make the rules. Do as your told or you’ll lose some privileges. Do not argue with your mother. When I come home we’ll discuss it. At School, your teachers make the rules. Do not argue with them, if you have a problem we’ll discuss it when I get home.
On the Streets the police are the law. DO NOT argue with them you will not win. Say only yes sir and no sir save the argument for Court and we’ll discuss when I get home.
Go ahead give LE a hard time, Stand your ground, argue about your rights to some prick with a badge who just happens to have it for sex offenders. Give him a reason to write you up for some BS registration charge.
Like or not, FACT is LE owns us PERIOD.
The public outrage to the offense I committed is the reason this has happened to me.
So just how exactly should I “Fight for my rights”?
By leaving comments in comment sections of newspapers or local news websites I can’t access because I’m a sex offender? By writing to my legislator who has absolutely no sympathy but rather only disdain for the “Sex Offender”. Protesting in the streets while yelling profanities at certain senators or their lobbyist fathers? Surely all of this will help gain public support.
No, the only place for us to find Justice is in the Courts and even there the scale is tilted against us as the 7 factors found in Kennedy V Mendoza ( that which tries to separate “Punishment” from remedial) are highly subjective rather than objective. One Court can find punishment and another a remedial objective.
CMC V STATE OF FLORIDA is pending the outcome of John Doe #4 VS Miami Dade County in the United States Court of Appeal For the Eleventh Circuit case # 19-10254.
Another interesting case would be Jason Boyd V State of Washington. To be honest with you since my illness I haven’t really kept up to date on these and numerous other cases.
Bottom line. For me, unless and until a Court strikes down a law that I must comply with to avoid a new felony, I will continue to comply.
Wow, both appellants Doe # 4 and 5 have passed away. RIP Brothers
Name seems familiar. Wasn’t he one of the homeless guys living in Hialeah’s camp?
We need to follow FAC’s guidance as stated below and start getting the word out on this one.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article242476766.html
4 counts of failing to register. I don’t get it. Why? Also note the jail says they are not sure if Covid killed him? Really? He has it so…..according to the government you have it and die, it is from that. But reading how sick he was before going to the hospital and they did nothing. He should have been under constant medical care. Disgusting.
FYI, I don’t know what the rest of the state is doing, but in palm beach county they are letting you register via phone or internet. You don’t have to go to the sheriffs station.
That’s not accurate. You still need to go to show your ID through the window.
Yes, you must go in person and show your ID. Further, the F.S. does say “in person”, unless of course there was an executive order by the “El heffe” Governor, which there was not. Unless these laws change, this will always be a problem. Not just the COVID-19 situation, but other ones as well, natural disasters, illness, family issues, etc.. Unfortunately, there is a “no mercy” attitude here in Florida and I’m sure elsewhere as well.
There has to be a sharp attorney out there that takes a civil case with the payment based on the outcome of suing the prison system/legal system that put him in jail.
I hope a shark gets a hold of this case and rips the city a new one
get out of this state if you can as soon as you can
the psychopaths that work in the jail have no remorse or care about anybody in jail. why should they? they don’t hire them to care, they are the bottom of the food chain…
On May 25 2018 I had a wipple procedure to remove a tumor from the head of my pancreas. On June 7th 2018 I was “REQUIRED BY LAW” to appear for my monthly transient rereg. My wife had to work that day and I could drive so I paid an Uber $55.00 dollars round trip to the registration office. I had to request the officer come down because i just couldn’t make the stairs. He asked so I lifted my shirt to reveal the 32 freshly installed vertical staples along my stomach. I explained what happened.
So, this very well could have been me had I not had the way or means or physical strength to appear. “I would crawl if I had to to avoid a new felony”. But I shouldn’t have too. I shouldn’t be a transient I have a home. That’s another story.
The question is why was he still being punished for a 20 year old case. Why? How the fuck has this even happened? Why does a man that finishes his sentence still ordered to report to jail for life to register? No doubt he was broke cause the registry. Probably lost his mind due to the cruel and in usual sentence that is outta control the harshness and strife he are punished by daily looking over our shoulder living in the shadows trying to hide our identity just to feed ourselves because if we don’t lie, manipulate and deceive we will never make it. Fuckkkkk this!
When you have stories like this:
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/7-sex-offenders-released-early-due-to-covid-19-in-orange-county-despite-parole-violations/2353911/
it’s difficult to make a case that “it’s not ALL people with sex offenses”.
In the article, I’m concerned with the use of the words “has a history of…” because even 1 incident is part of your “history”. As for violating parole/probation, that’s a no-brainer because it’s about the literal DICTATORSHIP from parole/probation officers that get the person fed up and they get a case of the “fuck it”s and just don’t comply with rules of their release.
So, when the governors, mayors and LE get a chance to look good in the public eye, of course they’re going to allow a journalist to use terminology that sounds scary; “Has a history of”. And LE has a history of lumping everyone into one basket. I wonder how they feel about those REALLY scary sex offenders who may be adults NOW but were teenagers at one time sending nudes to each other via texts.
I didn’t want to move to this state in the first place. My brother lives here, and my mom and I were about to be homeless. After moving in with my nephew because my brother lived too close to something, I got arrested for visiting him. First and last arrest since original crime in August of 96!the first guy that registered me said I could visit, I just can’t live there. Wtf?
It happened again. Good article:
https://www.thecity.nyc/platform/amp/2020/7/20/21331595/rikers-island-sex-offender-registry-homeless