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A man fights to keep his name and photo from appearing online and says the law is unconstitutional
By TOM BELL
Portland Press Herald
AUGUSTA, Maine — A Kennebec County man is asking a court to prevent the state from listing him on Maine’s online sex offender registry.
The man, using the pseudonym John Doe, filed suit in Kennebec County Superior Court, contending the registry violates the Maine Constitution. He also seeks a temporary restraining order to keep him off the registry while the suit is pending.
The suit comes at a time of increased scrutiny of the Internet listings after the murder last month of two Maine men on the registry. Police say a Canadian man used the registry to target the men because they were sex offenders.
In the suit filed last week, John Doe says he believes being listed means he will lose his job and his neighbors will try to force him to move. He said he also fears someone will harm him and his wife has threatened to leave him out of safety concerns. He is required to be on the registry for the rest of his life.
The man acted after the state sent him a letter last month instructing him to register. The man was convicted in 1985, when he was 19, of having sexual contact with a 12-year-old boy.
Under a law that took effect last September, sex offenders whose crimes occurred as long ago as 1982 must register with the state and local police. Previously, the registry went back only to 1992. The registry provides an offender’s name and photo and also home and work addresses.
A legislative panel decided last week to examine policies related to the registry.
Since the killings last month, critics have said the registry includes too many kinds of crimes, does not offer enough information about the crimes and gives no guidance about the level of risk posed by offenders. Some people listed on the registry live in nursing homes and are bedridden.
In a prepared statement Tuesday, Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe said the state law creating the registry is on firm constitutional ground.
“The Legislature has made it very clear that John Doe should be registered under this law, and it is not for prosecutors, law enforcement officers or the courts to be making exceptions,” he said.
In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that online sex registries in Connecticut and Alaska do not violate the U.S. Constitution. The ruling prompted state officials to put Maine’s registry online. Previously, people had to ask local police for the information.
In his objection to the restraining order, Rowe said the registry information is available as a matter of public record.
Quoting from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 decision, he said an online registry is like a court archive of criminal records and not a scheme forcing the offender to appear in public with some “visible badge of past criminality.”
John Doe’s suit asserts that Maine’s registry infringes on a person’s “fundamental liberty” and rights to privacy and due process.
In addition, because state law requires some offenders to be listed for life and others for only 10 years, it violates the constitution’s equal protection clause, which requires that the law treat people the same, the suit says.
“As a result, individuals like the plaintiff — who lead productive lives and pose no risk to society — are forced to register for life for offenses committed years earlier, without assessment as to whether or not they are likely to re-offend,” Augusta attorney Jim Mitchell wrote in a memo supporting the motion for a temporary restraining order.
Federal law requires all states to register sex offenders but gives them discretion on what to include in offender listings.
Maine’s registry is viewed an average of 200,000 times a month, making it the most popular Internet feature of state government.
Any Internet user can access some basic information about sex offenders, including their convictions and place of employment. By taking the additional step of submitting their name and mailing address, users can access more detailed information, such as an offender’s street address.
Offenders with more serious convictions are required to stay on the registry for life.
On Monday, Superior Court Justice Kirk Studstrup heard oral arguments for the temporary restraining order. He has yet to make a ruling.
Related Story: Keeping track of Maine’s sex offenders