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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Are you actually suggesting that the reason she got off easy is because she’s Jewish?
Is there any surveillance video showing her taking any products out of the store?
Thanks Jacob – I deleted his antisemitic comment
I thought my professional life was over when the audiologist told me I was tone deaf! Now I know there’s hope for me as an attorney!
C
You owe me a new keyboard. I just spit my coffee out LOL.
Thanks for the laugh.
Cherokee Jack:
If your case was in 1991, check out Michigan’s 406 petition.
I agree with you. If the registry existed when you pled, anyone with brains would have taken their case to trial.
Detroit
Thanks for your help
I am in Florida so not sure a Michigan case is going to help me. Plus, I did not get off probation until 2013 so have 2 more years before I can even try the 20 year get off registry plea.
PLUS, I do not work so couldn’t pay a lawyer anyway. If it was a sure thing I would ask my parents for the money and pay them back with the good job I could get if I was not on the registry.
Also, even with the best case possible, I have learned the hard way and lots of lost money, the judge you get matters more than even the law. I went before two different judges to get my probation dismissed. The first was the original judge who sentence me who sent my lawyer away with his tail between his legs and made my Mother cry.
The same lawyer but a different judge two years later threw out the entire remaining probation, otherwise I might still be on probation 30 years later.
Hmmmm…
It sounds like she should read her attorney’s attempt at getting this taken down…over and over and over again until she realizes that is exactly how she is treating other people!
the incident, a misunderstandingmost embarrassing blemishotherwise pristine record and careercaused and continues to cause Ms. Honowitz great distress and damage to her reputation*
I find all of those words interesting. Ms. Honowitz, isn’t this what you are doing to people EVERY SINGLE DAY?!?! It sounds like karma to me.
The Public Has a Right To Know!
Daphne
That is because shoplifters never ever re-offend and the scary sex offenders offend 1000 times a year (Sarcasm)
And I know we cannot even begin to compare shoplifting to a sex crime but what happened to you do your time and rebuild your life and become a responsible citizen in society? How is that even possible with totalitarian government rule that we are governed under as registered citizens ?
They (The law) state what we experience is not punitive but no other group of people can get 25 years in prison for forgetting to report an email address you have not used in 3 years. I would hate to live next to someone who lies about their email, I would have to move.
The key question is if there was a probable cause hearing. Once a hearing is held to make a determination of probable cause, it’s fairly safe to post an arrest record.
The galling thing about her case is it appears that she did receive special treatment because she’s a prosecutor. If it were someone with limited education or funds, they would have had the pleasure of experiencing all the amenities that the Broward jail has to offer.
Detroit
You are correct. When I worked in Law enforcement, if a cop got arrested and he/she was a union member, they got bail posted by the union ASAP. If you were not a union member, you were on your own.
You hit the nail on its head. To whom much is given, much is required. If the average person who made such a “mistake” would have suffered the consequences so should see. Rather, if she is shown mercy, so should the average person be given the benefit of mercy.
sjnmom
Unfortunately, that is not how things work. The old saying “It is who you know” rings true. And sometime WHO you are, or what title you hold. How many times has a cop been pulled over for a DUI and once they find out they are an officer, they call a family member to come get them. You or me would be hauled off to jail. I know this because I use to work in law enforcement and I saw it all the time.
Rules for thee but not for me huh??? Piss on her reputation and let her wear that mark as she has branded so many others..
I’ll just drop a link to the video just in case anyone wants to see a thief in actin..
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.local10.com/news/2018/09/19/surveillance-video-shows-prosecutor-shoplifting-in-publix-police-say/%3foutputType=amp
Dan
I probably shouldn’t say this but with the Criminal justice degree and experience In law enforcement in Florida I have here are my legal thoughts from the video.
#1 Her lawyer says the items would fall through the cart if put there (A jury is certainly going to buy that as it was demonstrated)
and the biggy
#2 In the state of Florida, you have to actually leave the store to be accused of shop lifting. From the video she appeared to have been stopped between the main store and the entryway but it was hard to see.
Anyway somehow, someway she will get it dropped or thrown out as the courts are not going to want to spend money on a trial for an iffy first time offense.
Not at ALL sticking up for her. The good news is it lets her feel what we go through, puts a tarnish on her reputation, and the news stories never go away and are able to be accessed forever in archives. So anyone searching for her name, like for a new job can take that into consideration.
Dan
I think it is more a “Walk a mile in my shoes” sort of thing instead of revenge. I think if she gets a taste of her own medicine, maybe it would open her eyes to not only what we go through but what our families go through.
I was in my 20s when arrested and now in my 50s. When I got arrested my Mother had a nervous breakdown. Yes I caused my main actions but none of us asked for our families to be harassed.
Ms. Honowitz’s story will fade away into the archives eventually but our story is on the registry 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for anyone to copy and paste and forward and protest etc.
I am a Christian and believe in forgiveness. This is not about forgiveness this is about showing someone in power how they do not get a pass while the rest of us rot. We cannot find or hold onto jobs, are not allowed to attended our grandkids plays at school and 1000 other daily things we are prohibited from doing, that Frankly, when I was on probation I actually could do.
(My Opinion) she is sorry, sorry that she got caught. We all sometimes need an eye opener to slap us back into reality and this may very well be hers.
Dan, could we please emblazon this on her driver’s license?? Oh, and be sure to put it on her passport as well, so when she visits other countries, they can be advised that there’s a thief in their midst?