Prosecutor Stacey Honowitz wants her arrest post removed
We received an email from an attorney requesting we remove a certain post from our website. The post concerned Broward Sex Crimes Prosecutor Stacey Honowitz’s arrest for shoplifting at a Publix Supermarket in 2018. The removal request appears below:
Good Day,
I hope this message finds you well in these trying times. I am writing on behalf of Stacey Honowitz to kindly request the removal of the article published to the above-copied link. The incident, a misunderstanding, is a most embarrassing blemish on Ms. Honowitz’s otherwise pristine record and career. The charge was readily nolle prossed (please see attached). As you can certainly appreciate, the continued publication has caused and continues to cause Ms. Honowitz great distress and damage to her reputation.
Please do not hesitate to reach out should you have any questions. We thank you in advance for your time dedicated to this sensitive matter.
Cordially Yours,
Vanessa McGill
Stacey Honowitz is a sex crimes prosecutor and an advocate for harsher sex offender restrictions. To quote Ms. Honowitz, “Tougher laws [are] needed to protect our kids from sex offenders.”
While we agree with Ms. Honowitz that sexual abuse needs to be prevented, we strongly disagree that tougher laws are needed to protect anyone from persons forced to register as “sex offenders”. The overwhelming majority (95%+) of people on the registry will not re-offend and are trying to live productive lives, yet the continued publication of their information on a public registry prevents them from obtaining employment, housing and other basic needs for themselves and their families.
For most registrants, their crime was a one-time offense and a complete aberration in an otherwise law abiding life. Surely most were guilty, but many were not. Some were wrongfully accused, baited and switched in a sting, or a misunderstanding for which they took a plea decades ago out of convenience and to avoid the risk of jail time without knowing what was to come as far as the registry. Arguably their incidents are also a “most embarrassing blemish” in an “otherwise pristine record” and “the continued publication” of their information on a sex offender registry “has caused and continues to cause” them “great distress and damage”.
So what to do about this request to remove the article? Since the letter came from an attorney who lists one of her areas of practice as defamation cases, the implication is that if we chose not to take down the article we might face a lawsuit. However, the Miami Herald’s story, Veteran Sex-Crimes Prosecutor Accused of Shoplifting is still up. So is the Sun-Sentinel’s coverage. The surveillance footage of her sticking the cosmetic items in her purse and leaving the store has not been taken down. So why should we remove our post?
We did update the story to state that the charges were nolle prossed, but do we need to take down the entire article? Even if the shoplifting incident was unintentional and she simply forgot to pay for the items or mindlessly put them in her purse without realizing, she prosecutes people who unknowingly or unintentionally violate a technical registration rule all the time and even if decades have passed without incident, her office still vigorously opposes petitions for removal from the registry.
It’s very possible that the arrest has given Ms. Honowitz a different perspective and greater empathy for people who “as [she] can certainly appreciate” are suffering great distress and damage from their continued publication on the registry. Or, it’s possible she could care less. We’d like to see where she stands in light of the fact that she’s “kindly requesting” we take down a post.
Frankly we’re impressed that our little forum would even concern her enough to retain an attorney to contact us. But, before we act on the request, we’d really like to hear the thoughts of our membership, so please feel free to share them in the comments below. We’d also love to hear from Ms.Honowitz herself, given the ironic nature of her request. If she would like to be a guest on a future member call, consider this a public invitation.
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It’s important to note that the other news outlets didn’t recieve the same request. Because it doesn’t deal with those who live life with one eye watching out. If we fold on giving into this lawyer demands, then we lose our freedom to speech. I would recommend the response to the following constitutional right, we didn’t violate her rights, the police arrested her and the state choice to handle it in a different matter. We did do a follow up on this mater.
It’s interesting when the shoe of life is on the other foot.
How do you know others didn’t?
She wants mercy but offers none in return. We could take the higher road, but we give and give and give (So do our suffering families who did nothing wrong except be related to us) and yet we are put through a living Hell for cases that can span 3 decades or more.
The courts, law enforcement, D.O.C, D.O.J, Probation, and even some lawyers leave us high and dry. We are treated like leapers but there are people walking around free with 15 to 20 arrests on their record who have no restrictions at all other than they can’t own a gun. When they get re-arrested they cop to a plea deal for probation so the courts can spend more resources on the scary registered sheep who they claim have a 1000000000% re-offense rate.
If it doesn’t cause legal problems for FAC I say, by all means, leave the article up. Theft (of any type) is the most committed crime in the world. It also has the highest recidivism rate of any crime in the world. There is no threat of defamation here because – regardless of the outcome of the incident – the article stands true. Defamation only occurs if it’s a lie. Yes, she is experiencing what registered citizens experience only on a much smaller scale. I say let it stand in all its infinite glory. Vindictive…? Yes, and it’s an ugly feeling but so is worrying about the future of my son every waking moment of every day.
Karen, I would contribute to FAC’s legal defense of a lawsuit. Of course the woman is too smart to initiate one. That would just be tickling the public relations dragon. Since the incident is in the public record, she has no leg to stand on regarding libel, and I suspect FAC would do all it could to raise public awareness of any lawsuit. I say GO FOR IT Stacey!!
As an aside, I think she should also have been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor for teaching a child to steal.
Veritas.
ED C
If it were John Q public, they would have had their child sent to Dept of children and families. We all know (Ok assume) she got special treatment (Darn it she did).
I am surprised the cops didn’t haul her away then as soon as they got outside told her to go home and ripped up the police reports.
AND like all of us, she does deserve legal defense. Any judge she knows should recuse themselves as a conflict of interest.
Those who believe she should have some “come to Jesus” heartfelt conversation with SO advocates are agonizingly naiive on the psychology of the prosecutorial mind. These prosecutors are mostly psychotic predators who get off on exercising their power over others and living in a self-made superhero fantasy where the world is black and white and they are always the heroes. In 1940s Germany, these people would be the concentration camp officers who gleefully reveled in their duties. The fact that she even had the audacity to send this letter is damning evidence of her self-righteous hypocrisy. Escalate this to national media! Parade her though every possible public domain. Call to notify all her employers of her misdeeds. Burn her reputation to the ground and dance in the flames. Truth is an absolute defense to libel. For many here, this will be your only shot at getting some justice in the world. Don’t let it go.
She might be a kleptomaniac. If so, it is a matter of time before this happens again.
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OK I just watched the news coverage of the incident here’s my thoughts
Well damn I guess the only time alagations are true and to be believed is if its a sex charge and your not someone well known like her or ron book then its give every Ben if it of the doubt. Even it the proof is evident.
3.let’s see she puts stuff in her buggy then in her purse then in the buggy again then at the check out she gets in her purse to pay for the stuff in the buggy ? Am I the only one that asks ” if you get in your purse in which you placed these items to pay for items in the buggy and did not take these items out to pay for them how can you say it was an accident ?
You had to see them and possibly even move them to get your money out !!!”
4. if she’s a thief she should lose her job. If she’s so absent minded as to forget she put stuff in her purse and didn’t pay for it . she should lose her job , I mean how can she be trusted she’s either a hypocritical criminal or she’s losing her mind either way can she EVER be trusted to make good sound decisions ? Sound a little familiar ?welcome to our world.
Lastly would they have treated one of our family members so kindly ? The police waited to give the news the video footage until after they blotted out the face of her family member that was with her if it was us they would have charged them as an accessorie which is the final thought why didn’t this family member say something or remind her the stuff was in her purse ? Sounds like either it was predicted or this was normal behavior and the family member expected her to do it. Just my thoughts