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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My 2 cents…
Offer her a “Bargain” or a Plea Deal…
The deal is for her to be a “Guest” on one of the monthly call-ins that FAC hosts along with another guest of a scholarly nature such as one of the more recent authors noting why the Registry is doing far more harm than good? This can be utilized for the benefit of many.
.
Meh Son…A Plea Bargain? WTF
Until Google Removes it and Removes ‘Every Person Forced to Register” from ‘Their Registry”, well she is Fckin STUCK!
Her Problem, Like OUR PROBLEM…wake up MEH SON!
FAC, you state,
“we may face a lawsuit”
For What could she sue FAC? FAC has NOT Defamed her!
It is public information that was reported factually and professionally!
She has NO STANDING in a court of law to sue FAC!
Truth
What is the difference when the news shows police officers getting arrested and the news posting the story.
There is “Freedom of the press” and in some ways, FAC to me is a Press / news site as well as stories of legal matters and other stories are posted.
It is not like FAC drove by her house taking photos of her family and posting them, then that might be crossing the line. Threatening to sue FAC just shows how spoiled and privileged she either is or THINKS she is.
Also, the story was (REPOSTED) so if she doesn’t like the story, go after the main source, not a re-poster. AND he legal defense is probably free as one of her lawyer friends will probably take it pro Sonny Bono
I hope my comment is read by Ms. Honowitz:
You and I have a few things in common. We both have a college degree, a pristine record and career, except for a victimless blemish. This most embarrassing blemish has caused me to lose job offers, restrict me from providing for my family, and caused many, many, many other inconveniences.
I am very sorry you are having difficulty in erasing a blemish from the public internet. But I am also going through this problem, worse even. If you can resolve my problem, I will help in what I can with yours.
Sincerely,
Another human that was squeaky clean until he/she made a one-time mistake
Anonymous: As I was reading the above I laughed at her ‘dilemma’ and then your summation. I think she needs lipstick thief therapy and three yummy meals, one containing what is described as smelling like it’s gone bad. Oh and go to sleep early as breakfast comes at 3AMish. She’ll need plenty of money on her account but the high dollar cosmetics is no comparison to the commissary costs for simple things. A prosecutor should weigh things like the food, commissary, the gangs, deplorable cells, and other things she has surely heard over her put’em away days but she didn’t and now wants to be treated with respect, forgiveness, and restoration. Welcome to the lives of our citizens required to register and their families. Vicki Henry – Women Against Registry
Amen
Largest double standard case I have seen since I was born. She is all uptight in her nether regions about us stating the truth and fact of public record but is tough as *uck on anyone accused of a sex crime?
I usually do not use bad words but this incident takes the cake for me. We COULD be the better ones and take it down but I think she is getting a taste of her own medicine on how we feel on, NOT just a single incident, BUT every day of our lives when we wake up each day realizing we are still on the registry.
I would think less of FAC and if you took it down. It means that you bow to pressure when the pressure gets tough. If a judge allowed defamation of FAC for publishing public records, then we should counter sue her for her defamation of us on a daily basis.
Dont take it down, keep it up, and every other article like this as well. Maybe when the people making and enforcing the laws feel the same pressure and degradation as us then they will want to change something
There don’t appear to be any legal implications to keeping the information posted. Had there been any, I assume her lawyer would have said so.
But if I’m wrong, legal action against FAC for such a thing might result in sympathetic press coverage for our cause. If we need to start a legal defense fund against this, then I am willing to chip in something, as I have done for multiple legal challenge funds. We have multiple legal challenge funds, so why not our first legal defense fund?
Alternatively, if she is open to change of heart and is willing to speak to the press and legislative committees sincerely about needed reforms, then we might work out a deal to take the offending information down, our point having been made.
I too will donate to a legal defense fund to keep the post up. I’m tired of the double standard, one for us and one for the elite.
There’s no legal defense fund needed. We’ve not been sued. She is unlikely to sue. There are no grounds for it.
I understand and I agree. I just wanted it known that if it came to that, I would contribute to this fund as well as the others I have contributed to. It may sound crazy, but keeping the post up is at least as important to me as some of the other more serious cases.
As always, thank you FAC for your fight and for keeping us informed. No mushrooms in Florida!