Judge Robert Lindeman is expected to issue a written order concerning an appeals hearing held Friday in Miami County Common Pleas Court dealing with the legality of the state's registered sex offender residency rule.
A handful of attorneys - mostly law students from Northern Kentucky University - from the Ohio Justice & Policy Center in Cincinnati who are representing Piqua resident Edward Burge, 34, argued that the state law, enacted in 2003, prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, preschool and daycare facility imposes punishment retroactively and is unconstitutional.
Dr. Luis Rosell, an Iowa expert in the field of sexual offenders and abuse, testified a majority of sex crimes are committed by individuals who already know the victim, claiming the residency law does nothing to prevent sex-related crimes from occurring.
"Children are everywhere," Rosell testified. "...If you want to offend, it's not that difficult. It has nothing to do with where someone lives."
The case was once again before Lindeman after an appeals court in August reviewed the initial case in which the judge ordered Burge to move from his residence at 132 E. Main St., Apt. A, Piqua, because it was 954 feet away, "as the crow flies," from Roosevelt Fieldhouse and Wertz Stadium, 401 E. Ash St., regardless of geography and topography. The Great Miami River separates the residence and the school facility.
However, if the most navigable path (streets) was used by Burge from that residence to get to the fieldhouse, it would be in excess of 2,500 feet.
In that ruling, Lindeman found: "The phrase 'within 1,000 feet' is construed to simply be the delineation of distance between two points, which, at its shortest, is a straight line. Thus, it does not require the court to consider if the straight line is navigable or consider houses, shrubs or other obstacles which may impact traveling in a straight line between the two points."
Burge has since moved from that residence.
Burge's residency has been challenged four times in the last three years, with Miami County Prosecutor Gary Nasal seeking to remove him from two homes in Troy and two in Piqua for being in violation of the law.
Friday's hearing was held concerning Burge's former East Main Street residence. He has since moved to another residence in Piqua that also is in violation of the state law.
Burge, a registered sexually-oriented offender, was convicted of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor in 2000 and the residency law was applied to him retroactively.
Amelia Orr, a clinical counselor who deals with sexual offenders in Butler County, also took the stand at Friday's hearing. She contended the residency law is not only ineffective, but also provides a false sense of security and is counterproductive. She said in some cases, abuse is not reported out of fear of the law.
At times during her testimony, Orr verbally sparred with Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Jim Dicks. At one point she told Dicks how to ask a question, prompting Lindeman to have forceful words with the witness, informing her it was not within her right to tell the prosecutor how to ask a question.
The most heated exchange between the witness and the prosecutor came at the conclusion of Orr's testimony, when she told Dicks a convicted sexual offender is less likely to commit a second sex offense than someone who had never committed one at all.
Additional testimony throughout the day focused on defense witness Dr. Robert Lilly, a Northern Kentucky University professor and expert in criminology.
Other testimony centered on the county's enforcement of the law and specifics on how measurements were taken in Burge's case and his home's proximity to the facility used by the Piqua City School District, which brought to the stand John Carroll of the county sheriff's office, Deb Stump of the county's tax map department and Tim Reed of the Piqua school district.
Since his case began, Burge has appeared on "The Today Show" and "The Montel Williams Show," pleading his case to the watching American public.
Burge, wearing a sweater with a collared shirt underneath and khaki pants, was present in the courtroom, but did not testify.
After the hearing, Lindeman told the prosecution and the defense to file post-hearing briefs concerning their cases in a timely manner, saying afterward he would file a written decision.
Burge's case is one of two high-profile cases concerning sexual offenders in Miami County.
Troy defense attorney Jose Lopez filed a series of lawsuits last month that challenges the constitutionality of Ohio's new sex offender law, the Adam Walsh Act, which was enacted by Ohio lawmakers last summer.
Reader Comments Posted: Saturday, May 08, 2010
Comments
Tim
anyone who commits such a crime against a child should be put to death. seriously....they are never going to be cured, so why try. end this madness by just doing what we all know needs done. end them.
Posted: Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Comments
Ruby
I am sorry I don't agree with any of you men on this subject....This law is trying to protect our children and I live close to a school and I would not want a sex offender living so close to me that they would have ready access to my family's children who come to visit me nor my neighbors...And I would feel immensely sorry for one of those people who have committed a crime against a child to even attempt to do it anywhere around me..I have my home protected with not only dogs who would bite the crap out of someone who tried to harm a child at my home but I also protect my home with a weapon and I am quite qualified to fire with extreme accuracy I was trained in the US Army and am a sharpshooter...The individuals that would harm a child should not be allowed to be anywhere near a child there is no cure nor a treatment...Although they say chemical castration is one, there are sex offenders out there that gain access to other drugs to reverse the effects of chemical castration so that they can continue to abuse innocent victims....Think about this you have a child what would you do if a man or a woman abused them, would you want them to live next door when they were released from prison? Your child will have nightmares regarding the abuse for many years and then the sorry SOB gets out comes home and what thinks that they should live happily ever after....Adam Walsh was a sad case that opened the eyes to millions of people around the world. It was a travesty what happened to that little 6 yr old boy not the punishment that others like his killer should endure, its time that the abusers stop whining and suck it up..
Posted: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Comments
Keith Richard Radford Jr
The Adam Walsh Act is unconstitutional. The Adam Walsh Act is based on lies. The Adam Walsh Act makes us less safe. The Adam Walsh Act design is arrogance. The Adam Walsh Act proves the justice departments commercialization of law enforcement is fundamentally flawed when they have to lie to justify their exististance. Their is no justification for perverted justice. Sex Ofenders have families too.
Speaking from experience the people who come to the rescue of the abused children are the abusers.
First they feel they are better than everyone, even the person who born the child.
Their disgust for the crime proves they are not rational when their intervention requires the disruption of the family core by destruction of that core only to free the child to their will not the child's opening them to the abuse by those irrationally intervening wile continuing to degrade their abuser which in most cases are their parents whom they are also by birth degrading the child by proxy.
The reasoning used by the intervening Adam Walsh Act would ultimately require the destruction of the child who has been abused which is the results now which they do not want to admit now.
The Act definitely does more damage to the child they say they want to protect.
The author of Jessica's Law, Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, has criticized the state's early enforcement of the law. President George W. Bush recently promised federal money to states with GPS tracking systems which is now what the greedy among us are setting their sites on. Not the protection of your children but the money available, (our tax dollars I must add) for more failed programs. I for one have had far to much of the Bush/Chaney/Clinton agenda of failed policy's in this lifetime and am also looking forward to change.
Posted: Monday, January 21, 2008
Comments
Michael
Granted, sex offenses are horrible for the victim and the abuse can never be reversed, no matter how much "wishing" goes on. I believe second time offenders need to be scrutinized. These "laws" enacted to "protect the public and our children"...chaa! What a JOKE!! TOTALLY ineffective because (as stated) a majority of abusers live right in the home. WHEN we can learn to be truthful with ourselves and quit pointing fingers (you may not molest children, however, you cheat on your wife and view graphic pornography on the internet...talk about a "cycle" in the making!!) we will NEVER make any forward progress in reversing the number of children abused every year. I suggest instead of wasting the $$ of taxpayers (state and federal), put more $$ in treatment programs, counselling programs and preventive/PROACTIVE programs/measures to reduce the rate of sexual abuse.
Posted: Sunday, January 20, 2008
Comments
frank
Make every person who has ever fornicated outside of marriage a sex offense and this rage against sex offenders will go away.
Posted: Saturday, January 19, 2008
Comments
Mark
write your Representatives and local Attorneys General and local officials to stop this abusive legislation which is a violation of Ohio and US Constitutional Rights ! Once the rights of one group of citizens is abridged, it will be much easier to usurp the rights of other groups ! A travesty!
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