Daily Archives: May 30, 2007

CT Senate passes harsh “Jessica’s Law” and “tender years” exception

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Yesterday the Senate passed SB 1458 [scroll down to the first full bill discussed], also called “Jessica’s Law”. I’ve blogged about this bill in the past and it really does provide for stiff penalties. It increases the mandatory minimum sentence for sexual assault of a minor under the age of thirteen to twenty five years.

This is also the bill that creates the “tender years” exception to hearsay. My thoughts on this are well documented. I do not like it and I don’t think I ever will.

Not all is bad, though. They amended the “Romeo and Juliet” law to increase the permissible age difference between participants to three years instead of two.

The sad thing is that the bill was based partly on incorrect information:

While the current trend among lawmakers is to move away from mandatory minimum prison terms, Kissel said this was one instance in which such enforcement is necessary. Research has shown that many sex offenders are prone to a pattern of behavior and could offend again if given the opportunity, [Senator] Kissel said.

No, not many. The latest studies show that sex offenders have the lowest recidivism rates. Also notable is the fact that law enforcement agencies have come out against high mandatory-minimums because it makes it difficult to prosecute. Defendants are less likely to accept plea deals and prosecutors have less flexibility in structuring an appropriate sentence.

Here’s another news article with a quote from a prosecutor:

Stephen Sedensky, the State’s Attorney for Danbury Superior Court, applauded lawmakers for taking steps to protect sexual assault victims.

“The legislature realizes the seriousness of these type of offenses and wants the sentences to reflect that,” he said.

He added that the 25-year mandatory minimum for the aggravated sexual assault charge could lead to fewer defendants taking a plea agreement and more cases going to trial.

“It’s too soon to tell whether that will be good for the victims,” he said, noting that the victims could be called upon to testify during a trial. “I’m anxious to see how it will play out in court.”

Well, time will tell how these statutes are utilized and whether they stand up to Constitutional muster.

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Texas AG seeks to out anonymous blog commenters

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Scott Henson, over at the always interesting Grits for Breakfast, has been following this story out of Bexar County in Texas (original post and follow up), which chronicles the efforts of the Texas AG, on behalf of Bexar County probation director Bill Fitzgerald to out anonymous blog commenters at a probation officers’ employee blog .

As part of an ongoing feud with his employees over whether the department will unionize, Bexar County probation director Bill Fitzgerald is seeking the identities of anonymous employee blog commenters on a relatively new blog called Bexar Me the Pain.

This is indeed very troubling, not only for those employees targeted, but for what kind of precedent it could set if the “outing” were permitted. Everyone seems to be pretty clear that the comments would be covered by the guarantee of Free Speech under the First Amendment [Note that (as far as I can tell) the AG is seeking the "outing" of the commenters and not the author of the blog.]

Scott asks:

I also wonder what Greg Abbott, the Texas Attorney General, thinks about his minions trying to out anonymous blog commenters, not because they libeled anyone but simply to expose them to possible retaliation? Why would Abbott allow his attorneys to bully Bexar probation officers this way?

And would Google have just turned the information over if plaintiffs’ attorneys hadn’t filed a motion to quash? I’ve wondered about this in the context of Texas Youth Commission commenters on Grits, and this makes me more curious than ever what information Google/Blogger keeps on IP addresses of anonymous blog commenters and under what circumstances they release the information?

Here [pdf] are all the pleadings in this lawsuit, but they total 270 some pages, so here’s the Motion to Quash, which should give you a basic idea of what it is all about. Grits’ coverage of the lawsuit is here and here.