Lawsuit filed challenging Putnam County Ordinance
Today, a federal class action lawsuit was filed against Putnam County, Florida, challenging their recently amended Ordinance that precludes persons on the sex offender registry from living within 500 feet of one another, among other restrictions. Attorneys Adele Nicholas, Mark Weinberg and Ron Kleiner are representing the Plaintiffs, who are registrants and property owners subjected to the Ordinance.
This is the first of what will hopefully be a series of lawsuits challenging Sex Offender Residency Restrictions (SORRs) in Florida – putting an end to the domino effect of Municipalities passing ordinances to displace our population and forcing them into homelessness. A second lawsuit is in the queue and expected to be filed next month.
You can read a copy of the filed complaint below.
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Believe it or not. I am seriously thinking of Sending my SORNA proposal fix to the Top Senate and House people. Why not. It is so easy.
Tearfuleagle
May the force be with you
Prayers abounding
Thoughts your way
May the road rise to meet you
And lastly, we’ve got your back
What is your proposal? Maybe start a petition?
SORNA Idea.
1. Pre 1997 no registry
2. Every county and city residency restriction matches the stat law NO LOCAL OR COUNTY TRAPS
3. System with a 5-person review board majority vote determines the Tier. 1 from FDLE, 1 From DOC, 1 completely neutral, 2 from advocacy groups.
4. Each persons restrictions are based on Offense date. NO Retroactive application, Period
5. No License Markings
6. Internet Identifiers are Email Address, and true Social Media accounts. (Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Snapchat, What’s App. Etc.) Not eBay, YouTube
7. Have a List of Identifiers and if not on that list you don’t report it.
8. Automatic removal at 10, 15 and 25 years based on Tier assignment.
9. Tier 1 Reports once a year, Tier 2 reports twice a year and Tier 3, 3 times a year.
10. Tier 1 and 2 no cop knocks. Tier 3 cop knocks twice a year.
11. Temporary residence: 5 Business days. before you have to report.
Please feel free to add to the list.
Why do any of these things? Just take the registry down if it doesn’t work.
J – I hear what you are saying but ….. that is not going to happen. Could changes be made that give all of us a path to a normal life one day, yes. As long as people keep committing sex crimes, there will always be a registry. What I am proposing is a fair, science based, proposal that will stop lawsuits that will keep getting shot down by some “Save the Children” judge and politician. I have raised 3 daughters in this state and my number one priority as a “Parent” is to keep them safe, it’s not the states job. Two are now married and one is looking at a law enforcement career. My idea of protecting them is not passing law after law after law that does not keep them safe. What keeps kids safe is parents knowing what the kids are doing online, their friends, their friend’s family, their teachers, their coaches, their youth pastors etc, I think you get the point. We know that roughly 89% of all crimes against children are by someone they know, excluding the online stings, and while “stranger danger” is real. Passing laws to punish ex-offenders, years after their sentences does nothing to stop sex crimes. I forget the name of the Study but I think showed like 1% of those released committed a new sex offence (FAC help me on this one.)
You are right, tearful, these laws don’t keep kids safe, nor will they prevent sexual offenses from happening. Someone intent on committing a sexual offense will do so whether they are on a registry, banned from places, reporting their roommate’s vehicle, or a teacher in a classroom. Even super-vigilant parenting is not foolproof, but it’s certainly much more effective than the registry. The stats speak for themselves. The studies are conclusive at this point. Registrants have a VERY LOW reoffense rate, and even the arrest rates are overwhelmingly for some technical registration violation and not for a new sex crime. The facts are very inconvenient for those who pushed for these laws and the industries that are supported by them. They will keep pushing for harsher penalties because it wins elections and fuels the businesses that profit on them.
Is this beyond the scope of FAC? Is anyone anywhere working on this? The January 20, 2026, Supreme Court decision in Ellingburg v. United States (24-482) has created a potential avenue to challenge retroactive sex offender registry requirements by ruling that post-sentence “penalties” can constitute criminal punishment under the Ex Post Facto Clause.
Congress.gov
By declaring that restitution under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA) is a criminal punishment and not merely a “remedial” civil consequence, the court signaled that state efforts to re-label punitive measures as “civil” to bypass the Constitution may be unconstitutional.
Congress.gov
FAC please advise.
Connie
Have you ever gone bowling? We The bowling ball is the courts and we are the pins. We just keep getting knocked down. We sometimes get picked up, but get knocked down again and again.
So to answer your question, very few get off the registry. I was in the very first batch in Florida in 1997, and here I am, all these decades later, still on the registry, but with numerous new restrictions every year. And I have to register four times a year and have law enforcement come to my house, whenever they damn please.
If I am not home, I get a defamatory post on my front door which seems to me is compelled speech. Posting “Sex offender” on my door is insane, but it continues every 90 days. And, I am NOT on probation.
If they lose the lawsuit they will simply modify the ordinance and change some wording or make it 450 feet instead of 500 and wait for the next lawsuit that will be endlessly appealed…
It doesn’t work like that, Jed.
Isn’t that what MI does?
The takings clause! Thank you! Stop taking our rights to full enjoyment of our property. Property often owned waaaaay before any conviction.