SEX OFFENDERS LISTED; SHERIFFS TO MAKE NAMES PUBLIC

Confusion and problems surround the application of a new law that, starting Thursday, will make public the names and addresses of certain sex offenders.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said two laws were signed by Gov. Mel Carnahan that apply to a list of sex offenders that has been kept in the state since 1995. Locally, the list, which will be available through sheriff's departments, has the names of 44 people who live in Cape Girardeau County and have been convicted or pleaded guilty to specific sex crimes since 1979.

Swingle said the law, contained in House Bill 883 and Senate Bill 56, seems to contradict itself on certain points. Swingle said HB883 makes "statements, photographs and fingerprints" unavailable to the public. The Senate Bill says nothing about those restrictions.

Swingle said disclosure of the sex-offenders list conflicts with one kind of sentencing: Judges have the option of suspending the imposition of sentence, called an SIS, of a defendant who pleads guilty to a sex offense without going to trial.

An SIS guarantees that the defendant's court records will be closed once he completes terms of his probation. That assured anonymity through the court sometimes motivates a defendant to agree to plead guilty.

"It is not entirely clear whether the people who got an SIS would have their names on the list," Swingle said. "They were told that this would be a closed record when they pled guilty, and now the law's being changed. Now it's not only not a closed record, but their name is on a list that is being given to the public."

Mary Still, the Missouri attorney general's director of communications, said she didn't know how the new law was going to affect suspended imposition of sentences. Still said the attorney general probably will be asked for an opinion on many aspects of the new law.

Still said the main question in the law is what information will be released. "We believe that the provisions of 883 can be harmonized and are not in contradiction to SB56," she said. "We're talking about releasing the names, the crimes and the addresses, and that is it."

Another contradictory point is whether only the names of felons will be released. Swingle said in many instances misdemeanor sex crimes are committed repeatedly by individuals.

Still said the new law does not distinguish between felons and those who commit misdemeanor crimes, and, therefore, the names of people convicted of either would be released.

But Swingle said HB833 specifically says that only felons will be named. Swingle said this diminishes the effectiveness of the new law.

"There are misdemeanors that involve sex offenses that involve children. I don't think there's a logical distinction between a misdemeanor and a felony if a child is involved," he said.

"When you balance all the pros and cons, I think the law is reasonable and will protect the public a bit more from the child molesters," Swingle said. "It's something of a shambles in the way it was passed, and right now it's causing a real problem for law enforcement officials in deciding what we can release."

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Capt. Ruth Ann Dickerson said her department has been listing those offenders who have been convicted of the crimes of child molestation, rape, sexual assault, deviate sexual assault, sodomy, sexual misconduct, sexual abuse and indecent exposure. That list has not been made public.

The House bill adds to the list of crimes kidnapping, promoting prostitution, incest, abuse of a child, the use of a child in a sexual performance, promoting sexual performance by a child and statutory rape.

Under the new law, the names of offenders of all those crimes are to be made public.

Dickerson said the sheriff's department has not worked out how it is going to present the information to the public. She said the department will probably require that all requests for the list be made in writing with a reason for needing the information.

She said the sheriff's department will charge for copies of the list but she doesn't know how much yet. Dickerson said the list is kept on computer and is easily retrievable.

Dickerson said the department has denied requests in the past for sex-offender information. She said she doesn't know what kind of response to expect from the public under the new law.

"They passed this law and they kind of forgot to tell us about it," she said. "It becomes effective Thursday, so by then we need to be ready for it."