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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” Frankly weâre impressed that our little forum would even concern her enough to retain an attorney to contact us ”
I admire your modesty. But FAC has come a long way in the last decade and has been a huge influence ever since – fighting with persistence and determination. I won’t be surprise if in no time, FAC will be a force not to be reckoned with. Little forum with a huge fighting spirit.
Honowitz is no registry advocate.
She does not claim that the registry promotes safety or is non-punitive. She does not waste our tax dollars prosecuting registration failures, public urination, or so-called stings.
Instead, she prosecutes hard-to-solve sex crimes such as serial child molestation and rape by persons close to the victimâ exactly what we would expect from a legitimate sex crimes prosecutor, and where our law-enforcement resources would be better deployed when it comes to sex crimes.
Prove me wrong, but thatâs what I glean from a google search.
If, in fact, Iâm wrong, and sheâs made inane registry-promoting statements such as âthe public has the right to know,â âthe public has a right to feel safe in their community,â then those statements are fair game and I take my words back. But before we pile onto Honowitz much further, Iâd prefer a better idea of who weâre actually dealing with when it comes to registry issues.
Jacob, I always respect your opinion so I completely respectfully completely disagree. She heads up a division that ALWAYS opposes removal petitions with a vengeance and has been very vocal about making the registry tougher. Here are some personal quotes from her:
“Tougher laws [are] needed to protect our kids from sex offenders.” (her Facebook page)
“Let me tell you something, you would want to know if a sex offender was coming into your neighborhood. Man, woman, whatever it is, so to say that these registries are no good is ridiculous. These people have to be watched, they have to be monitored. I donât care what kind of sex it was, and I donât care what gender it was.” (https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna9503331)
(As to family that harbors a registrant) “They should be in jail for obstruction of justice. And right now, what the new legislation is trying to be passed is saying that, if these people knew that he was a registered sex offender and they harbored him, that they should be charged and they should go to jail and there is no reason why they shouldnât be out. So, weâre hoping that this new law of charging them and making it a crime to harbor these sexual predators is going to pass.” (https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7476589)
FAC commentary is clear proof that some of these anti-registered citizen lawyers are clueless. They have been watching too many movies and TV soap operas. As a registered citizen I will gladly put my character up to compare with her’s or anyone else of her ilk. She gives lawyers a bad name. Not all agree with her.
Thatâs good info and paints a more complete picture. An advocate of state surveillance and cruelty, appealing to our fears. And a nemesis as long as she espouses such nonsense.
Anything that helps the public assess her credibility, should remain public.
That psycho is a really sick individual.
But let me tell you folks my experience. As a prior contractor to most county courthouses in Florida, and often being around those folks who have peoples lives on their hands, there were times I was even affraid for my own safety after hearing them speak in chambers, so she is not the only psycho that thinks that people out of their priviledged groups are their enemies.
I worked as a contractor for Brevard, Volusia, Broward, Polk, Sarasota, Orange, Lake, and Miami-Dade Counties.
My last contract was in Miami, and as soon as I decided to quit I was set up. The Florida system often sets contractors up who want to get out of their program.
I was obligated to even leave the country, and DENIED evidence or reviews by just about every court that I wanted to expose their activities.
If that doesn’t give you an idea of how corrupt Florida is, I don’t know how else to explain it.
The only reason I haven’t exposed them is because I still live near the US, but as soon as I can move into a country that provides asylum, you all will hear the most corrupt and disgusting truths about the Florida corrupt system.
I just need to be far away to do this.
Anonimous
I concur,
I use to be a homicide detective with a major law enforcement department. Not say ALL but many times I would overhear conversations by officers, detectives and rank holding officials that scared me more than the people we were going to arrest.
There were times when the evidence was not all that solid so they would “Set” someone up with planted evidence, lie in court, use false witnesses etc.
I am may not be an Angel myself but I never once crossed the line while with the department and after some soul searching, my mental, spiritual and physical heath could no longer keep silent. Did I snitch on them? no. But I resigned in good standing.
I tried moving to another police department but found out regardless if it is a agency with 15 officers or 1500, that element of power hungry bullies will always exist. AND not all of them were bosses or senior officers. I think some of them that got away with so much BS maybe had some dirt on the chief or something and that is why they never got fired.
And I never joined the union while there but can tell you, union lawyers are vicious if you go after one of their own.
CherokeeJack
The craziest thing is how there are “laws” for the general public NOT to record inside PUBLIC BLDGs, yet the Chief Judges in many jurisdictions have found a way to manipulate the recordings previously done by stenographers.
Now many courthouses have microphones in places the general public is unaware of, and the recordings go to a general remote recording location, where the Judges have the availability to manipulate the recordings to benefit the State.
So, while the general public is not authorized to record posible lies and faults of their accusers, the States are able to manipulate and even delete anything that can place them in a bind.
A guy once said something like his,
“When Exposing a Crime is Treated as Committing a Crime, You Are Ruled By Criminals.”
From my decades as a contractor throughout the US, Florida ranks #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 out of 10 for being the most corrupt and criminal system in the nation.
Far worst than even McAllen Texas, Nuevo Laredo, or Mexico.
My son’s prosecutor said “actions have consequences – deal with it”. I suggest she do the same. At least she’s not banished from her home due to residency restrictions!! No sympathy!!!!
After mulling this over for a day, I am convinced that FAC is literally the only place Stacey Honowitz has sent this request to, because she hates being laughed at by the people she hates most.
We already know the Ron and Lauren Book Crime Family hate us, but I think this mental disease goes beyond just the Books. The entire state of FloriDUH, and particularly the southern tip, have reveled in passing laws designed to cause extreme pain to everyone forced to register.
That’s why I enjoy seeing these folks given even a few hours of the pain they inflict on us regularly.
But this case merely exposes another problem– here we see a separate standard of justice. Here’s a person CAUGHT IN THE ACT plain as day with theft, and there was no prosecution. Yet, another person can be arrested and extradicted from halfway across the nation to face theft charges simply because a cop thinks he might look like a thief, and that person has to spend time and money defending himself.
I’m not sure it can be assumed that FAC is being singled out. I’ve found a few broken links. Here’s a notable one:
https://patch.com/florida/miami/prominent-florida-prosecutor-arrested-shoplifting
Leave it. Though she was able to convince her friends on the Court that she regularly engages in the “acceptable” act of using her purse as a shopping bag, such an excuse is simply not believable to the average intelligent adult. She now, has to deal with a fact of law that we deal with on a regular basis: just because you weren’t convicted doesn’t mean you are innocent and public notification is as a result of the act itself, regardless of its punitive effects. If the fair treatment of those in power happened more often, maybe our justice system wouldn’t be so obsessed on revenge and so unwilling to forgive. Finally, our overly punitive justice system also likes to claim that when people are caught it automatically assumes that there were many times that they weren’t so I say touche to Prosecutor Honowitz. How many times has a person who shoplifted claimed, “I meant to pay for it” but were convicted anyway?
Isn’t what they say about sex offenders…once a sex offender, always a sex offended. Can we not apply the same to a thief? Even if that thief is a politician or lawyer. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Not that I am into getting even, but some of the politicians and lawyers need to get a taste of their own medicine.