Georgia sex offenders take fight over ‘no-trick-or-treat’ warning signs to 11th Circuit

[FAC NOTE: WE are in the 11th Circuit. A win here is a win for Duval County and the others that have this absurd law]

A group of registered sex offenders have asked the appeals court to overturn a federal judge’s ruling in favor of a sheriff’s office that posted signs telling trick-or-treaters to keep away from the offenders’ homes on Halloween.

A class of registered sex offenders asked an 11th Circuit panel Friday to overturn a federal judge’s ruling allowing Georgia sheriff’s deputies to put warning signs on their lawns before Halloween.

The Butts County Sheriff’s Office has argued in legal briefs that it was merely trying to protect “unwary trick-or-treating children from coming face-to-face with sex offenders” when it began a policy in 2018 of putting signs in front of the homes of every registered sex offender in the county.

An attorney for the plaintiffs told a three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based appeals court Friday that the sheriff’s office “turned one of their most important rights on its head” by forcing them “to bear [the sheriff’s] opinion on their lawns.”

But attorneys for the sheriff’s office say the signs convey government speech, which is not subject to regulation under the First Amendment.

SOURCE

66 thoughts on “Georgia sex offenders take fight over ‘no-trick-or-treat’ warning signs to 11th Circuit

  • December 19, 2021

    I am Not So Sure, The Attorney, That is Handling the Case, “Sliced It and Diced It, Properly”

    There are Other, More Important Issues, To Have Been Addressed!

    Oh, Well!

    Reply
  • December 18, 2021

    Things like this make me wish the founding fathers had worked more elements of the Magna Carta into the constitution. A lot of the problems in this country are because so many of the people running it don’t follow the rules and laws they enforce.

    Reply
    • December 18, 2021

      Vindicated

      Anymore, the Constitution is just a piece of raggy old paper that gets walked on, spit on, torn, burned, thrown away, disrespected, and used as toilet paper by some so called people.
      The founding Father’s were not fortune tellers so they couldn’t know this would happen. However they had faults as well. IE Slavery comes to mind? Killing native Americans and putting the rest on reservations. (Thanks for the casinos by the way)

      Reply
      • December 19, 2021

        Funny/ironic how many of the people doing these types of things are the first to cry about how the OTHERS are trampling on the sacred Constitution.

        Reply
  • December 18, 2021

    In a way, I feel bad for the sheriff of Butts County. At events, he has to introduce himself as, “hi, I’m the Sheriff of Butts County”! I would hate having his job.

    Reply
    • December 21, 2021

      I don’t feel sorry for the Butts County sheriff. Hell use this to raise funds for the next election. “ Vote for me as the county sheriff I’ve been tough on crime, most importantly perverts. I’ll continue to be a pain in their lives. “

      Reply
      • December 21, 2021

        So he’s a pain in the Butts? Sounds about right.

        Reply
        • December 21, 2021

          Could be worse :

          “Sheriff Buford Pusser was born in town of Finger, in McNairy County, Tennessee on December 12, 1937”

          All kinds of things wrong with that. Pusser is bad enough of a name, and a town named finger? Can’t make this stuff up.

          If you think this real sheriff sounds familiar, Watch the movie “Walking Tall” made after the Real Pusser.

          And just for fun we have: Sheriff Buford T. Justice is a fictional character played by Jackie Gleason in the films Smokey and the Bandit (Not related to Buford Pusser) But might be related to me somehow LOL. Or maybe that was Barney Fife.

          Reply
          • December 21, 2021

            I actually have the Dwayne Johnson remake of Walking Tall in my library bag behind me as we speak. Best corrupt cop movie is probably still Training Day. Got Denzel his Oscar finally.

  • December 18, 2021

    I just don’t see how this would affect Halloween sign laws in Florida. It’s a different set of facts.

    In Duval and St John’s, FL, registrants are compelled to erect a sign on their own residence.

    But in the present case, the sheriff places their own sign in a public right-of-way.

    If anything, I would think Duval-St John’s registrants have a more compelling case than this one, but we’d need to raise the funds. $25k I guess.

    Reply
    • December 19, 2021

      Butts County is saying that tis is “government speech” and as such, not covered whatever that means. But, if you are compelled to put up these signs in Duval. wouldn’t that be “compelled speech” and as such, even worse? I wonder what would happen if you added your own little editorial content, like “the registered sex offender who resides at this location is of the opinion that the sheriff is a big (add your own vulgar insult here)

      Reply
      • December 20, 2021

        JoeM

        The difference is, reporters (Many anyway) will go to almost any lengths to get a story. Someone I once spoke to at the registration office was telling all of us a story about how he had 20 no trespassing signs on his property, a fence with a gate and cameras.
        And yet the news showed up, entered his property and was banging on his door while filming after his arrest. When he called the police, the officers did ask the news to step to the street but the damage had already been done. AND of course they always hide behind the “Freedom of the press” like it is a free pass to do whatever, whenever they want with immunity.
        And I am still pissed that when someone who is filmed and ruined finally is found guilty, almost never is that a story, nor get an apology from anyone. If you force the issue they may print a small update in the “shoes for sale” section of the newspaper.

        Reply
        • December 20, 2021

          Meant to type “found NOT guilty”

          Reply
    • December 19, 2021

      Every one of the state’s arguments in this case is back-tracking.

      Originally, they were posting the signs on the properties. The right-of-way argument was made only after the matter ended up in court, near-certainly by the sheriff’s lawyer.

      Originally, it was “A public safety message from Sheriff Gary Long.” Then it was his personal speech using his own first amendment rights.

      Originally, registrants were subject to arrest if they discarded, alters, or posted a competing sign. But they later claimed no intent to do so despite the flyers delivered to the registrants at the time.

      The only law that Gary Long likes to enforce is “I’m the sheriff and I say so.” While a relatively small matter, little wannabe despot dictators like him need occasional reminders that their authority has a lot more limits than they believe.

      Reply
      • December 20, 2021

        Dustin

        To that point, a lot of these Sheriff’s are tough on crime (Which is a by itself a good thing) and say their Deputies will walk through fire to catch the bad guy.
        Having said that, I have been the victim of crime at least 19 times since being on the registry. In all but one case, I was told “File a report online”. So for us they will not walk on fire but might walk on our arrest records? Maybe spit on them for good measure.

        Reply
      • December 20, 2021

        Statistically, Gery Long has sex offenders working for him in his office. Let him think about that for a minute.

        Reply
    • December 20, 2021

      Some here have asked, “does Duval compel speech” on Halloween?

      Yes, that’s probably our argument.

      But we won’t argue it unless we raise funds for expert witness fees, transcripts, and filing fees.

      I could see FAC Legal opening up a Duval Halloween Challenge fund if they perceive sufficient demand. They would have to pick a county (Duval? St John’s? Clay?) to come after in order to create good precedent.

      And then the internet trolls will argue, “they just want the right to hand out candy,” in the court of public opinion.

      Personally, if I am going to help fund a challenge against a specific county, I would start with Brevard. I would be more than happy to hurt the Brevard administration, even though I have no connection to Brevard, just because they make me mad every time I hear through FAC about how Brevard treats people. In Brevard it’s far worse than just putting up a damned sign.

      Reply
  • December 18, 2021

    If You are Not a Ward of the State or Federal Government, It is called Trespassing, Littering, and it is illegal Graffiti, which are normally Misdemeanors in most State Jurisdictions…..If you have a security gate around your residence, well you can add ‘Breaking and and Entering’, which, too, is a Misdemeanor, But Sometimes a Felony, in Most State Jurisdictions!

    Every Present and Past Judge, That I have spoken to About this and other ‘STUFF’, they always tell me, ‘You are Probably right, just make sure it is balanced with Statutory law!’

    Happy Holidays to All!

    Reply
  • December 18, 2021

    What if the sheriff places the sign in the public right-of-way outside the property line? Because that’s what they say they’re doing, if you read the article.

    Is the sheriff trespassing on the the public right-of-way? Does the registrant have the right to remove government signs from the right-of-way?

    These are the sorts of questions the court has to consider and why it may not be the slam dunk that we wish for.

    Reply
    • December 18, 2021

      Jacob

      I’m not being negative but from what I’ve read those signs seem to be on the public easement, so the lawsuit probably will set bad precedent. Hopefully I’m wrong and it won’t be the first time. Why does the sheriff need to put up signs when people can look up red dots before and on Halloween? Are signs extra protection to these people? Oh look a sign can’t stop here.

      Reply
      • December 19, 2021

        Brandon

        Also, it pretty much ruins Trick or treating for the kids. Even without a sign, the neighbors blame me every year for ruining their kids joy. I am like “Lady, first off avoid my house, Go with your kids, and why do they play in front of my house, on the street the rest of the year and they haven’t been kidnapped, but on Halloween I turn into a Ghoul?
        Add a sign to the mix and instead of Halloween you are going to create chaos and protests. Then the stupid biased news shows up and parks in your driveway and starts filming your house, showing your registry page, tells the public how to look us up. Then the vigilantees come out of where ever they hide during the year.
        But I apologize because the law says the registry is not punishment, so I have to be a good little robot while my house is burned down. Nothing to see here folks, move along.

        Reply
        • December 20, 2021

          CherokeeJack,

          I think if that future scenario plays out as you describe, we’ll be heading to Revolution 2.0. Hopefully not, but I don’t think a million people will go down that quietly. The first one started with less than that.

          Reply
          • December 20, 2021

            Anonymous

            First off, love your name because it reminds me of the hacker group. Not sticking up for hacking but we could use them about now (Use your imagination lol)

            But to what you said above, if all one million of us walked to the white house and chained ourselves to a fence………………..
            Well what we would like to see happen if only a fairy tale. We would most likely all end up with Federal charges and they would build a massive new prison just for us. (Hope it has those new 100″ flat screen tvs at least)

    • December 19, 2021

      Jacob….Not Necessarily The Case…From the ‘Article’, that has NOT BEEN ASCERTAINED…

      So, Therefore, Any Reasonable Person Can Assume, that ‘They’ Littered The Neighborhood with Stupid Paper Flyers and that They Placed Signs in a Land Owner’s Property and They Illegally Entered a Landowner’s Property

      Thank You and Have A Nice Day!

      Reply
      • December 19, 2021

        TruthandScience, have you read the pleadings from the District Court? Those form the record on appeal.

        Reply

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