SEX-OFFENDER LIST DEBATE TURNS TO RELEASE OF SISes

The Missouri attorney general's office is offering tentative support to county sheriff's departments withholding the names of certain sex offenders from their public lists.

A law that went into effect Aug. 28 requires that the names, addresses and convictions of those on the list be available to the public on request. Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Perry counties hesitated to release the lists while some discrepancies in the law were clarified.

The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department has decided to release the list without the names of people who have pleaded guilty to a sex crime and have received a suspended imposition of sentence, known as an SIS.

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon released an opinion last week on SB56 and House Bill 883, which govern the release of the list. Nixon stipulated in the opinion that he was not commenting on SIS.

Mary Still, director of communications for the attorney general, said Tuesday that Nixon would like to see the Legislature clarify that point. "This issue has puzzled some people around the state," Still said. "The attorney general would support -- if the Legislature wants to make that choice -- also making SIS information public. But that's not how he sees the law currently written."

Scott, Stoddard, Mississippi and New Madrid counties made their lists available last week before the SIS issue developed. Those sheriff's departments will now have to decide whether to revise their lists before releasing them.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said the county will not release the names of those who have received an SIS until the wording of SB56 has been changed.

Swingle said the law requires only those who have been convicted of a sex crime to be included on the public list. He said according to the terms of an SIS, if the defendants complete the terms of probation, their records are closed and they are not convicted of a crime.

Swingle said they must register with the sheriff's department because they have pleaded to a sex crime, but by strict definition of the law they will not be included on the public list.

"I would like to see the law changed," Swingle said. "All the Legislature has to do is change that from 'convicted of' to 'convicted of or pled guilty to.'"

To complete an SIS, defendants follow the terms of a five-year probation. During probation their records are open to the public but they aren't convicted of a crime. Swingle said their names will only be included on the public list when they violate the rules of their probation and sentences are imposed.

Swingle said it is a class A misdemeanor for law enforcement officers to disclose information from records that have been deemed closed or private, which includes SIS records. He said a deputy giving out the list with SIS names on it could be charged with a crime.

The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department should be ready by today to release the names of most of the registered sex offenders in the county. Bollinger and Perry counties have now cleared their lists and they will be released once they are completed, officers at those departments said.

"I think it was prudent for us to wait," said Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan. "We also are releasing only names of those convicted of felonies."

In addition, the list is being proofread in hopes of avoiding typing mistakes or other errors.

In Cape Girardeau County, 44 people are registered as sex offenders. As of Tuesday, Sheriff's Capt. Ruth Ann Dickerson said that 34 names had been reviewed and four names were excluded from the list because of SISes. Two had pleaded guilty to sexual abuse, one to sodomy and one to rape, Dickerson said.

Dickerson said she hopes the list will be available to the public by today. "But Wednesday is another day," she said of how difficult it has been for the sheriff's department to comply with the new law.

Three requests for the list were made to the sheriff's department, Dickerson said. One was by the Southeast Missourian and two were by citizens.

Southeast Missourian reporter Peggy Scott contributed to this story.