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Posted on 04/19/2006 9:24:57 AM PDT by Monk Dimittis
PORTLAND, Maine — Convicted sex offenders often expect to be harassed and ostracized for their actions. Until now, many didn't expect to be attacked.
After Sunday's fatal shootings of two sex offenders listed on the state's Internet sex offender registry, many of those convicted of sex crimes say they are afraid.
"It's really scary," said Raymond Roberts, a sex offender who is listed on the registry and lives near the victims. He asked that his hometown not be identified. "I live alone. I live way out in the country and basically I could be here for days, a dead body, shot."
Police say Stephen Marshall of Nova Scotia, Canada, looked up 34 sex offenders on the state's online registry before showing up at the homes of Joseph Gray, 57, of Milo, and William Elliott, 24, of Corinth, and shooting them with a .45-caliber handgun. Marshall took guns and a truck from his father in Houlton before going to the victims' homes, authorities said.
Marshall fatally shot himself Sunday night after police confronted him on a bus in Boston. Investigators hope his laptop computer, which will be handed over to Maine detectives on Friday, will provide some clues as to what motivated him to kill.
The deaths were on the minds of sex offenders at a recent treatment session in Auburn, said Scott Efland, a social worker who treats sex offenders. "One man said, `It's target practice and we're the target,'" he said.
The killings renewed concerns about the public disclosure of sex offenders' names and addresses on Internet registries. Many offenders are concerned that the Maine registry lumps all sex offenders together, whether their cases involved child sexual abuse or a domestic situation, said Kay Landry, a social worker in Augusta.
In Bellingham, Wash., police reviewed their Internet sex registry after a man used it to get two sex offenders' names and addresses, break into their home posing as an FBI agent and fatally shoot them last year. After the review, police stopped listing exact addresses; they now list the block the offenders live on.
State Rep. Patricia Blanchette, co-chair of the Legislature's Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, said a panel created by the Legislature to study community safety and sex offender accountability should be reconstituted to examine the issue, and investigate whether some categories of offenses need to be listed.
But right now, there seems to be no call to take down the registry as a safety precaution for other convicted offenders.
"Nobody wants to see anybody cut any slack for pedophiles," Blanchette said.
Roberts, who was convicted 13 years ago for assaulting his nephew, said he thinks people should be able to get off the list if they go a certain amount of time without committing any offenses. Also, registries shouldn't give out addresses or places of employment, and offenders should be notified if somebody accesses their information so they can be on guard, he said.
"My concern is this: Is this going to happen again?" he said.
___
Associated Press Writer Glenn Adams contributed to this report.
But damn, in some states, an 18 year old having sex with a 17 year old girlfried is considered statutory rape. Does that guy deserved to get plugged?
About time they feared someone.
If we locked up the true perverts for life, instead of giving them jail sentences as long as the age of their victims, they wouldn't be at risk.
They'd be safe from vendettas - and kids would be safe - and we'd all be safer if they never got out.
The 24-year-old man who was killed had sex with a teenage girlfriend when he was younger. At the time of the sex crime, he was 19 years old, and his girlfriend was 3 days shy of 16 years old.
Hardly what you consider a pedophile.
Under some laws, a guy seen taking a leak in public because he couldn't find a rest room would fall under the "sex offender" umbrella....
Failure to afford a reasonable expectation of personal safety to registered sex offenders is just asking for seriously dangerous and unwanted side effects.
Good. I'm glad they're afraid.
Most likely they want to not be murdered.
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This system has got to cost quite a bit. And as noted, it lumps very high risk with very low risk all together. No sense of proportion to the system.
I wonder if it wouldn't be better to spend the money on a)longer incarceration and b) bird-dog supervision of the really dangerous ones.
Taking a leak in 'public' gets you on the list too. Even if you're not in plain view; like behind some shrubbery, behind a building, whatever. It's a hog's trick (my wife hates that saying), but not what I'd consider a sexual offender crime.
>>>Sex Offenders Fearful for Their Safety
As do the children in your vacinity.
>>>I think he means "go a certain amount of time without getting caught." >>>
Bravo!!!
bump
I'm not necessarily condoning this, but I wouldn't shed a single tear if I read about a lot more of this type of vigilanteism.
Darn, I've got one directly across the street from me.
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