LOCAL CASE TO TEST OFFENDER REGISTRATION

When the headlines fade after sensational and deadly crimes have occurred, some people may remember the circumstances but forget the names of the murder victims.

But the families never forget. And law enforcement officers and the criminal justice system work to ensure that individuals don't kill or hurt people again.

The case of convicted child killer Todd Earl Ice poses an interesting legal debate -- one that may set a precedent for the entire state.

Missouri law requires individuals convicted of sex crimes and crimes against children to register with the sheriff's department in the county where they live.

In July, it was learned that Ice was living near Oak Ridge. Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan notified Ice that he should register. He had been living quietly in a boarding home for two years. A rebroadcast of a "60 Minutes" episode on Ice's crime alerted local people to his identity. Someone notified the sheriff's office.

Ice apparently didn't want to register. He left town without a trace in July. Last week, Ice surrendered to local authorities but still refused to register. He was released on his own recognizance, and the case has since been moved to Perry County on a change of venue.

Ice was 15 years old when he stabbed to death a 7-year-old Kentucky girl and slit the throat of her mother, who amazingly lived. That was 20 years ago.

He was convicted of murder and, at age 16, was the nation's youngest death-row inmate. His sentence was overturned. In a retrial, he was convicted of manslaughter and assault and served his time both in prison and the Kentucky mental health system. He was released in 1996 and ended up living in Cape Girardeau County.

Perhaps the most devastating part of the "60 Minutes" broadcast was Ice's own admission that without his medication he could become dangerous again. He takes the medication voluntarily.

Ice served his time. But that doesn't erase the crime. Missouri's law requires those who commit crimes again children to register. Surely murder is the ultimate crime against a child.

Sheriff John Jordan was right to require this convicted child killer to register. Unequivocally, a community has a right to know if murderers or other people who prey on children are living in their midst. That's the intent of Missouri's sexual offender law.

Todd Ice's case should provide an excellent test of this new law.