Fairness for Prisoners' Families
Caution
urged on sex crime bill Georgia lawmakers were cautioned Wednesday that a proposed measure requiring child molesters to serve long prison terms could have unintended consequences. Doug Peters, former president of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, told a House committee that a bill proposed by Republican leaders could make urinating in public a felony punishable by a minimum of 25 years in prison without parole. Peters used that example to illustrate what he believes are potential flaws in legislation proposed by House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island). Keen's proposal is expected to be considered by the Legislature when it convenes in January. Keen's legislation would create a minimum 25-year prison sentence for certain sex crimes committed against children ages 13 and under. The legislation also would prevent convicted sex offenders from living or working within 1,000 feet of churches, bus stops, schools and day care centers. Keen and other Republican leaders have said they want to enact the toughest child sex crime laws in the nation, and hope it will keep those offenders from living in Georgia. But some district attorneys, members of the parole board, defense attorneys and civil rights advocates are worried the law will not allow judges and prosecutors to be flexible in meting out punishment to sex offenders. Such flexibility is needed since cases often can have mitigating circumstances, they say. Some people who addressed legislators Wednesday said the tough penalties could result in lengthy prison terms for teenagers and young adults who have consensual sexual relationships with minors who may only be a few years younger. Sandra Negron of Augusta told legislators she hopes the proposed law is revised "so that teenagers are not caught up" in legal trouble by parents who press charges even though their daughter consented to sex. The proposed legislation also toughens the penalties for necrophilia, bestiality and public indecency. Peters said he was concerned even an act as seemingly inconsequential as urinating behind a bush could lead to serious criminal charges. Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (Non-Civil) asked Peters and Sandy Michaels, lobbyist for the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, to suggest revisions to the bill. Several law enforcement officers throughout the state spoke in support of the bill. Acworth police Chief Michael Wilkie said he supports a provision in Keen's bill that would require convicted sex offenders to wear an electronic ankle monitor for the rest of their lives. Wilkie said police in the Cobb County city may have been able to keep track of convicted child molester Brian O'Neil Clark, who moved to Acworth from Cherokee County. In September, Clark carjacked Kimberly Boyd, 30, at gunpoint. She was killed when Clark turned into the path of a cement truck. A bystander fatally shot Clark after he tried to flee. Clark was a suspect in a rape in Acworth the week before he carjacked Boyd. "Had this man been immediately marked with a tracking device [on his release from prison], we would've known his presence; we would've been able to find him," Wilkie said. Even as the committee listened to testimony on whether the legislation was too harsh, Rep. Timothy Bearden (R-Villa Rica) introduced an even tougher bill. Bearden's measure would require that anyone 18 and older who rapes or sodomizes a child 12 or under be sentenced to life in prison with parole.
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