SEX-CRIME LIST NAMES STILL SECRET; COUNTY PROSECUTOR SEEKS LEGAL OPINION

Cape Girardeau County is among a number of counties in Missouri that decided not to make the names of sex offenders public Thursday.

Other area counties opting not to release the records include Bollinger and Perry.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle instructed the sheriff not to release the names of offenders. He cited legal contradictions in Senate Bill 56 and House Bill 883, which were both signed by the governor and became law Thursday. Swingle thinks those discrepancies could spur a rash of civil lawsuits.

While SB56 says sex-offender records should be open, the House version says statements, photographs and fingerprints of sex offenders aren't public records.

"It's a matter of the left hand of the Senate didn't know what the right hand of the House was doing," Swingle said.

Secondly, Swingle worries about the legal implications of wording in SB56 that calls for the public release of all "convictions." The list of 44 names at the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department contains both convictions and suspended impositions of sentences (SIS).

"Most of the legislators aren't lawyers and they probably didn't realize by using the word conviction they were knocking the SISs off the list," he said.

He wants an opinion from the attorney general's office before proceeding. If the attorney general's office makes no official ruling on its own, Swingle said he would request one.

Ted Bruce, deputy chief counsel for the criminal division of the Missouri attorney general's office, addressed 68 representatives of local law enforcement agencies Thursday in Cape Girardeau. He spoke about the attorney general's position on the law.

"There are only two interpretations we saw as possible: Release the names, address and crime or don't release anything," Bruce said. Withholding the list would be a legal option for the sheriff's departments.

"That's not an unreasonable interpretation, but that's not what we think the Legislature intended," Bruce said. "We feel that the intent of the Legislature was to give that information to the public."

Bruce was a member of a panel of speakers who were at a seminar at the Holiday Inn to brief law enforcement agencies on recent legislation. He said the attorney general has not released an official opinion of the law and had not been requested to.

Requests for the names must be made in person at the sheriff's department in Jackson. A photo identification is required along with a $2 copy and postage fee.

The Southeast Missourian on Thursday made the first request for the names through the Cape Girardeau County sheriff's Department. If the names are released, the Southeast Missourian will publish them on the record page on a regular basis, said Joe Sullivan, editor.

The Missourian's decision was based on conversations with law enforcement officials and victims' advocates, who said the community has a right to know that sex offenders are in their midst.

Personally, Swingle said he agrees with the release of the names.

"Everybody on that list pled guilty or was found guilty of a sexual crime involving a child or felony sexual offenses," he said.

He thinks publishing that information would be helpful to day care providers, nursing homes, churches, Boy and Girl Scout groups and others who want to ensure a safe environment for children. Swingle cited numerous studies that people who commit sex crimes against children cannot be cured.

"They might be able to abstain, but they're never cured of the urge to use children as sexual objects," he said.

Scott County Sheriff Bill Ferrell said in a prepared statement Thursday that his office would make the list available once it was compiled and that the list would include the names, addresses and the crime of offenders registered in Scott County.

Ferrell said the list will be available during business hours Monday through Friday at the sheriff's office in Benton.

Bollinger County sheriff's deputy Allen Baker said his department was not releasing the list and was waiting to see what Cape Girardeau County does.

A communications officer in Perry County said the Perry County Sheriff's Department was checking with its attorney and was not prepared to release the list.

Deputies in charge of the lists in Mississippi and Stoddard counties were unavailable to comment.

St. Louis County police said their public list won't be ready until they delete the names of people who received suspended impositions of sentences. Some eight people had requested information from the list by noon Thursday. They were being told the list probably would be ready today.

Jackson County sheriff's Capt. Tom Phillips said his department took about 20 requests for information Thursday morning, mostly from the media, but also from representatives of child advocacy groups.

People were asked to fill out a brief form stating their name and reason for wanting the list. "We're concerned about any vigilantism or revenge motives," Phillips said.

Some police agencies were charging for the list. In St. Louis city, police said anyone was welcome to go to police headquarters to look at the list of about 540 registered sex offenders, but it would cost $19.50 to get a copy to take home. The list contains the name, address and the offense for which each person was convicted.

In some counties, like Greene County in southwest Missouri, sheriff's officials said they would not release their list to the public because of an apparent conflict in the two laws.

The question of whether the lists are accurate prompted the Columbia Daily Tribune and other newspapers to hold off publishing them. "I would love to run the list," managing editor Jim Robertson said. "I think it's a public service."

But Robertson said he felt uncomfortable using the list because it did not include other identifying information about the offenders, such as birth dates.

Jan Paul, online news editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, agreed. She investigated the experiences of newspapers in other states with similar laws. One paper found a 60 percent inaccuracy rate, she said.

"What I recommended we do is have reporters check on the accuracy of the list, and if it is unreliable then that's the story. I would recommend we not publish until we have some solid grounds to think that it's a dependable list."