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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Captain Munsey brings up an interesting point. He is not required to register in Virginia and is required to register in Florida. Thousands of registrants can be removed from the registry simply by moving to another state. Pennsylvania is an emerging state with some positive but conflicting court decisions that I’m sure would remove thousands from the registry. The coast of Virginia is not as cold as Pennsylvania or Michigan with a climate more like a cold Florida. Registrants in Florida should be looking up Virginia’s laws to determine if they are required to register there.
Also, one of the elements finding these laws unconstitutional is the necessity of keeping these individuals on the registry. Florida keeping Captain Muncey on the registry after he was removed from the registry in Virginia destroys Florida’s argument for keeping him on the registry. Captain Muncey has a good test case and I would recommend that registrants raise funds for him to challenge his registration requirement. This could remove thousands from the registry in Florida.
Removal from another state’s registry does not trigger removal in Florida. There is nothing stopping Florida from requiring people to register after other states have ceased to. Every state is different, and there is nothing special about Virginia when it comes to registration.
Are you aware of FAC’s Out-of-State Challenge? We have been raising funds for it.
This is an easy one. Simply write the attorney back with a one-sentence reply:
It’s not meant to be punishment.
Awesome!
Leave the bloomin post up there for all to see. Maybe a taste of her own medicine will give her a change of heart. Probably not, but worth a shot.
Cherokee Jack:
One thing you can do today is help other registrants with these petitions. Apparently, Florida is removing some persons from the registry. If you help these people filing their petitions you get a better grasp of the mechanics of the process and increase the odds that you will be removed when the time comes.
That vast majority of registrants I talk to are unaware of Michigan’s 406 petition. I would bet the same is true of Florida’s petition for removal. You could form a committee with FAC to assist in these petitions. You cannot create documents yourself to file in court but you can work under the supervision of an attorney.
The creation of the petition is a very time consuming task. Filing the petition is a simple formality that requires little time. Many attorneys charge about $200 to file simple preprinted forms. Anyone with an average IQ can develop these forms. All the attorney has to do is review and file it. You could charge $300, $200 for the attorney and $100 for you. This would be very cost-effective for registrants. The attorney would make $200+ an hour and you would pick up $10 to $20 an hour for your part-time work.
Cherokee Jack:
You most likely are eligible to be removed from the registry in Michigan. You don’t need an attorney to file a 406 petition. You read the various cases finding different aspects of the Michigan registry unconstitutional and explain to the judge why you are not required to register in Michigan. The advantage you have in Michigan is if the judge denies your request, not only do you have the right to appeal, but you can file a complaint with the Judicial Tenure Commission if the judge fails to follow the law. As a general rule, most judges in Michigan follow the law.
If you can get off of the registry in Michigan, this will bolster your argument to be removed from the registry in Florida. If you do get off the registry in Michigan, you can work in Michigan and return to Florida in the winter until you are removed from the registry in Florida.
You should consider spending a summer in Michigan and giving it a try.
When I was released from probation two years ago…eleven years early…I was removed from the Virginia registry automatically. Virginia may not be a perfect state but it does exercise common sense in many of its actions. I have a friend in Virginia who had his voting rights restored automatically without his having to apply for restoration. I know I’m asking a lot, but it’s time for Florida to start making decisions based on common sense and not fear of a myth.
Capt
Just wondering then why you didn’t stay or move to Virginia then?
I owned a home in Virginia where my offense took place. My parents lived in Florida and needed help with their home…my dad was in poor health…so I moved to Florida and built my retirement home here. The home in Virginia had sad memories for me following my wife’s death. Strange enough, with the exception of the registry and inability to vote, I like living in Florida. I have made numerous friends and have lots of activities to keep me busy. Mom and Dad have both gone on to their reward. I live in a great neighborhood and get along quite well with my neighbors. I visit Virginia ever so often to put flowers and a flag on my wife’s grave site. She was retired Navy. My next move will be to Virginia…to be alongside my wife at Rosewood Memorial Park. Having spent 29 years in the Navy I have learned to make the best of any situation. My son and daughter and their families now live close by here in Florida and we see each other often. I have faith that my situation has a purpose and I wake up each day looking forward to the day. Strange enough my son did the sound at my first probation officer’s funeral. He was the tech director at the church.
Capt
Thanks for the response. We were stationed in Virginia beach, Norfolk and D.C when Dad was in Vietnam in the Navy. Have some fond memories from my boyhood there and some not so fond.
Moving from school to school and always being the new kid is tough.
I graduated from Granby HS in Norfolk. I enlisted in the Navy at Norfolk. From there I went to the Naval Academy and then all over. I ended up back in Virginia Beach as the assistant aircraft maintenance officer at Oceana before I went on to be the aircraft maintenance officer on the Ike. From there I went to the admiral’s staff at AirLant. My wife and I had our dream home built in Virginia Beach where we intended to retire one day. Folks used to say it looked like a ski lodge. I retired in 1991 from the Naval Air Systems Command in DC and my wife retired in 1993. Three years later she was dead and my interest in the home left me. I had a few bad years and it took incarceration to get me back to reality. The day I was released the guys lined up at the door to wish me well. It broke me of my belief that all people in prison are bad. I met some very good people there who taught me some valuable lessons. That experience has made me a better person. I know what forgiveness and restoration is about. I recovered my faith in God. Life can be what we make it. I chose to make it a wonderful experience. God bless you and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
This post brings up a very obvious character in Human Nature. Do we keep up the post and potentially Hurt or Embarrass this prosecutor. Or take it down? So we have self determined that because she is a prosecutor she deserved this punishment or embarrassing press. And I understand she’s hurt us specifically. But my point is this. Possibly get some revenge and you have close to 140 posts. People are ready to pounce. Talk about raising funds or ideas to help out.. And you might get 10 comments. Beleive me I understand. But are we being guilty of doing the same thing they are doing but on a smaller scale?
Just thinking out loud here.
To answer your question, they (the system, including her) have decided to do the same things many psychopath political figures have done for centuries. That is to find a source (such as registered offenders, the poor, or minorities) to increase their own selfish agendas (whatever that agenda may be, money, politics, power, etc).
In a sence those priviledged crooks have declared War against people.
If this or the previous post in any way has “harmed her reputation, or her families or others” so be it.
There is an old saying which states, be carefull for the War you choose, or choose your Wars wisely.
There are no rules or boundaries in a War, thus everyone and everything is fair game.
Tough SHIT.
Sorry, Pariah, but no one said she had to shoplift. She should have known the consequences before she took those actions. Isn’t that what they say to us?? Who says that this is intended for the purpose of punishment or embarrassment?
Just like the Registries, this is merely for information purposes. Why should she get treated any differently from the rest of us??? After all, the publicly available, all-over-the-internet Registries aren’t punishment, right???
She is just one person – but there are now more than a million of us on the Registries. You think we should really feel sorry for her when a million of us and our families and friends are suffering as people like her continue to defend the registries???? 😡
Feel free to be a “conscientious objector”, but get out of my way while I fight!! 😡
In my own opinion, we are not doing the same. Matter of fact, I think what we are doing is demanding equal treatment, which is not what we have. We are seperated from the other criminals, and additional punishments are unnecessarily applied to us that are not applied to any other crimes. Many people in here have never touched a single person and yet they are serving longer sentances (lifetime on the registry) than criminals who have physically harmed others.
The system is unbalanced towards registered citizens, and if that is not bad enough, you have the hippocrisy of those same people who harm us where they steal and drive drunk and leave scenes of accidents and feel like they are exempt from the law. They get away with their crimes and then immediately go back to adding on the already unbearable load of the slanted legal system.
The massive outcry we see here in this thread is not one of revenge (at leaast as a whole), but the result of continually being beaten down by those no better than us, and then watching them commit crimes and walk away with sometimes less than a hand slap.
But I do not see this as us doing the same, its actually us wanting equal treatment.
All valid points. But my initial observatiin stands true. You have a post here about something that provokes a powerful emotion and the comments fly in. Iv seen other far more helpful posts on here. and its mostly crickets.
But thats just my two cents. And that’s probalay what my opinion worth lol.
Pariah
2 cents? Come on now, you and me can combine our collective opinions and they have to be worth at least a nickel lol