Judge Salas speaks out against too much public information
Federal Judge Esther Salas, whose son was tragically killed last week, spoke out for the first time since the incident. As she explained in a video published by the Savoy Show, “A madman – who I believe was targeting me because of my position as a federal judge – came to my house.” The madman shot her son and her husband, killing her son, severely injuring her husband and then took off. The suspect was found dead a day later, having turned the gun on himself.
In her video, she says, “what we cannot accept is when we are forced to live in fear for our lives because personal information, like our home addresses, can easily be obtained by anyone seeking to do us or our families harm.”
She continues, “the free flow of information from the internet allowed this sick and depraved individual to find all of our information and target us.”
Our hearts go out to Judge Salas on her loss. She is right. NOBODY should be forced to live in fear because personal information is made easily available to people intending to do them harm.
The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) mandates that information on persons who are required to register as sex offenders be made available to the public. States publish this information online, Municipal police departments re-publish it on social media pages. News stations re-publish it on their own websites. And private “mugshot sites” create their own registries and further re-publish the information. Details about where they live, what car they drive, where they work and what they look like can be accessed with a few keystrokes.
Sadly, there is no shortage of people who want to do harm to people required to register and unfortunately we have seen many cases where people have been killed, registrants and their family members, solely because of their presence on a public registry.
What happened to Judge Salas is a tragedy. Maybe now that it has hit closer to home, judges will recognize the danger of having too much information publicly available.
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I agree nothing should be published about anything all parties are in danger plus registery isn’t helping any one for safety who is it really protecting not keeping children safe it’s about time law makers rethink the who thing and stop doing their internet sex stings on adult sites maybe governments law enforcement etc love being sued some are starting to fight back we all need to get together and start fighting for their constitutional rights government keeps bring that word up alot so now all families need to start fighting back if they would ambolish it give these family places to live instead of just out on street for crew few how that protcting anyone
What we are seeing is just how ununited the United States is. Something is illegal and 1,000 feet away it is legal. No wonder that law enforcers are making up their own rules because trying to decipher the laws and ordinances is just too confusing.
Maybe repeatedly quoting the judge could some good.
what we cannot accept is when we are forced to live in fear for our lives because personal information, like our home addresses, can easily be obtained by anyone seeking to do us or our families harm.”
Not difficult.
Do some good.
Oops
No one seems to have mentioned the fact that because this guy was an attorney, so he had access to information about the judge that the public does not. So although I sympathize with this horrific event, it does not seem that this would be the remedy that needs to take place.
You are entirely correct but the problem is they feel there lives matter those on the registry don’t.
Has there ever been a change in the law that was prompted by an attack targeting registrant(s)?
Anywhere? Even once?
Attacks have been catalysts for change. Janice Bellucci of ACSOL became involved in the cause after learning her plumber had been attacked. Someone showed up at his home and assaulted him with a hammer.
To judge Ester Salas
How many people have you convicted of a so called sex crime And ordered put on a registry that puts them and there families at risk just like you were. If it really hits home , then help do something about this.
Judge Salas did not deserve this and in any case has no discretion over our sex laws.
She has had to deal with Federal statutes, Federal mandatory minimum sentencing, Federal mandatory registration. Like many Federal judges, she may find those to be excessive, but from the bench she has few options. She certainly hasn’t convicted anyone of a sex crime unless she presided over a bench trial. Her job has been mostly to say what the law is.
And I think we can agree that most sex crimes on the Federal books are actual crimes and not just “so-called,” though I recognize that there will be exceptions in individual cases.
Overall, I think asking Judge Salas to use this tragedy as a reason to advocate for sex law reform, is a bit much at this time.
I appreciate the video and feel FAC is making good use of its message here.
Jacob
I’m sorry if you understood what I said in any way implied she deserved this. I don’t. But because of her position what she says has great power . She could speak up about not only her personal injustice but all who are receiving injustice because of laws that endanger them and there families.
I’m pretty sure she’s consumed with her personal injustice right now. Maybe one day she might speak out about the bigger picture, but for the time being I think it’s best to let her grieve her loss.
Of course— didn’t mean to imply that.
I do know of at least a couple of Federal judges who have spoken out against mandatory minimum sentences that remove their discretion in pornography cases. But that speaking out took the form of statements they made in the sentencing transcript and judgment order. Ultimately they had little influence on the collateral consequences to the defendants and their families. And it’s now been ten years since a Sentencing Commission survey of Federal judges found that a majority— 63% of them— already felt that mandatory minimum sentences for child pornography crimes were excessive.
I guess what I’m saying is, we all need to keep speaking out and (where possible) funding challenges, as a Federal District Court judge’s influence is only as good as the motions we put before them.