RI: Judge dismisses charge against sex offender
Following are excerpts from an article in The Providence Journal
Recent misdemeanor charges against Richard Gardner, a registered sex offender who caused a stir among neighbors when he moved to Providence last month, were dismissed Monday in District Court.
At a probation–violation hearing in Superior Court, Warwick, on Monday morning, Judge Bennett Gallo ruled that the misdemeanor charge did not constitute a violation of Gardner’s probation.
“There was no intent to mislead here,” he said of Gardner placing his old address on the marriage license. “I can only conclude that these charges would never have been brought if it involved someone other than the defendant, Richard Gardner.
“I think some would like to use the situation to revisit the sentence imposed in the child-molestation case,” he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island released a statement Monday night saying that Gardner was targeted by police because of his previous conviction.
“Clearly, Richard Gardner was arrested several weeks ago because of his past crimes — not because he put his old address on his marriage certificate,” the statement says. “We are very pleased with the judge’s decision and his comments to the effect that this isn’t how the justice system is supposed to work. The abuse of power by the Cranston police several weeks ago harms us all because it undermines the rule of law.”
Outside the courtroom, Gardner’s wife said her husband was misunderstood.
“I love my husband,” said Patricia Gardner. “I support my husband and I think that the right decision was made.”
She said she has known Richard Gardner since before he went to prison more than 30 years ago.
“He went in as a confused teenager,” she said. “He came out a 51-year-old man. He is not the same person.”
“He’s accepted responsibility for his crimes,” she said. “When is enough enough?”
Richard Gardner and other sex offenders are often demonized in the media, Patricia Gardner said. She said she wished people would just get to know her husband.
“He is the most laid-back, most sensitive, most caring man,” she said. “He has no desire to hurt anyone. We just want to live our life and be as normal as we can possibly be.”
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I see from time to time information on what causes a violation of the Registry and I say to myself, ” I must be careful “so I don’t forget or do something I don’t even know is a violation.
I travel sometimes for work. I even stay out of Florida for 7 months of the year. I have been doing this for four years now.
But this year when I reported to the Jacksonville Sheriff I was told that the address I gave them as a temporary address was now going to be my permanent address because I was going to be at that address for 10 days. I was told to go get a new Drivers license and show the Jacksonville address on my Driver’s license. And…my true permanent address will now be my temporary address. I told her I was confused, that I had been doing this for Four years and now you are telling me I’ve been doing it wrong.
She told me I had two days to get it done and be back to prove it was done.
I went to the license renewal Office and asked for proof to show that I have placed my Temporary Jacksonville address as a second address.
I returned the next day…a day earlier. I went in to report the change, but I wasn’t able to see the Female officer. This male Officer asked me why I was there to see them again? I explained what happened. And also told him that She said I can’t have my own truck plates from a different State than Florida… because this is the state I’m living in. My truck is plated in South Carolina, and she said I can’t do that.
At this point he tells me if I’m leaving Jacksonville in a few days that I should go to Marion County, my home Country and register with them.
I did just that…and I was told by the Marion county Sheriff officer that they had to fix it. That Marion county is my true permanent address and didn’t know why Jacksonville changed it.
Then today I had a Jacksonville Sheriff officer call me to ask me when I will be home at my Jacksonville FL address so that he can come to confirm my home address is in Jacksonville… I told him it is not my home or permanent address and that I’m now in Gainesville FL, at my other temporary address.
He tells me that if it all checks out then Im ok…that he will let me know if it doesn’t check out.
So I’m so confused…I’m afraid that they can violate me and send me back to Prison… how can I be expected to follow the rules and the law if the ones in charge of violating me don’t agree from officer to officer in the same department.
I hate to say it but this is typical of government bureaucracy. Why make a law simple so it can be complied with when it can be made difficult and confusing so that even those in law enforcement have no clue as to what is going on? Most of these laws solve nothing except pointing out the lunacy of those in ‘charge’!
It’s good to see justice and common sense exercised. Too bad Florida can’t follow such an example. Maybe one day!
You know sometimes i think i should create a blog or something to put the numerous responses and write ups and emails I do all over the web and in response to articles, TV shows, newscast etc. I spent an usually amount of time on a piece this morning, posted only in a comments section on Psychology today’s website to a dated article from a few years ago that no one will probably ever read. A shame, because i think it’s pretty good if i do say so myself and if it’s ok i’ll post it here in hopes that it might help the next person. Thanks. The name of the article is “What is the point of the sex offender registry” and the author as is so common spends her time criticizing what she perceives to be a poor implementation of the registry and that “we have a lot of work to do to improve the monitoring of sex offenders,” not even considering the possibility that the registry shouldn’t even exist. so here’s what i wrote and i welcome any feedback or critiques. Thanks!
time to get real
Submitted by trevor sisk on November 20, 2018 – 9:14am
The problem with the registry and sex offender laws is that they have been fueled by panic and rage over a few truly horrific front page crimes. So we panicked and said, “ok, from now on anyone regardless of age or circumstances, who is convicted of ANY crime of a sexual nature will be treated as a potential “Phillip Garrido.” So we’ll monitor and track these people to make sure they don’t become the next “Jesse Timmendequas.” So here we have a list of almost a MILLION names who we believe are people who have the potential to pull a Garrido-type crime, but just haven’t gotten caught yet – so be sure to watch out for these people. It’s a hybrid form of our justice system that says, because you did this crime we think you’re going to do something way worse, so in order to protect the public from that possibility we’re going to Brand you. As a result you will not be able to work any decent job, you cannot go to church, you will not be able to date, you will not able to live within 500 feet of a school, church, or anywhere where children gather, you will not be able to adopt pets, you will not be able to travel, you will not be able to vote, you will not be allowed to keep earnings should you win the lottery and you not be able to rent an apartment or house, you will not be allowed to go to college and you will not be allowed to hold any state license of any kind. Because you peed on a bush outside of a bar one night, we truly believe you have the potential of being a serial, child, rapist, pedophile and so before you become one we’re going to ruin your life and punish you for the rest of your life as if you did. In essence we are going to treat you, all of you like we SHOULD have treated Garrido and Timmendequas. Because we sure as hell aren’t going to let that happen again and this is what the public expects us to do. Does it work? of course not – the whole basis and ethos behind the registry is preventing Stranger Danger and that’s not how kids gets raped and killed. Do we have a pretty good idea who the really dangerous people are on the registry? No, because we cannot predict the future, we cannot know exactly who will commit such a crime in the future and the really dangerous people who have and who we know about aren’t on the registry, they are in a maximum detention facility either waiting for their execution date or serving a lifetime without parole sentence. So why all the billions, time, resources and drama with the sex offender registry? Because the public demanded we do something. Law enforcement totally failed with Garrido and friends so what were they supposed to do – say “oops, sorry?” The sex offender registry solved that problem and eased the PR nightmare law enforcement agencies all across the country were experiencing, but yes the sex offender registry does absolutely nothing to protect us and because it grows every year actually has created a very large, angry and hopeless class of people whose lives and the lives of their entire family have been irreparably, unjustly damaged. It truly is the civil rights, scarlet letter, banishment issue of our time and continues to be a dark stain on the US Justice System. Just pray that no one ever even SUGGESTS that you did ANYTHING even resembling sexual deviancy or your life is over. How can we fix this, what should we do? First of all we must completely revamp the entire way we deal with sex crimes. Registries have historically never worked and have usually been perpetuated by rouge, evil governments. But if we must have one it should be reserved for a tiny percentage of people, a number no more than 5,000 nation wide at any even given time, who have committed very serious child sex crimes and who for a number of reasons, become eligible to be released into the community after a very long prison sentence. That does happen and often. It’s very expensive to house people, so it’s in the best interest for everyone if we can let a few out every now and then. The sex offender registry then becomes a part of their parole and everyone is clear who they are, where they are, what they did, etc. As for the rest, for whatever crime they committed they are to be arrested, convicted, punished and to serve out their sentence. When all that is complete, as we do with every other crime on the books, they are free to go and continue their lives, never to commit the crime again and once again experience the freedom of our great country. Because all of this makes absolutely perfect sense and has well documented research which supports it, it will be only a matter of time before this becomes the law of the land. We have to. We can’t possibly keep pretending that we’re successfully keeping people safe according to a list of over ONE MILLION people.
oh and…
Submitted by trevor sisk on November 20, 2018 – 9:51am
Not to mention that this “hybrid” form of justice in which we continue punishing people long after their sentence has been served for something we think they MIGHT do is completely, totally and obvious to any first year law student, that at the very least, is unconstitutional as it breaks one of the pillars upon which our Justice System was founded; that being the ex post facto clause (a cornerstone law that says once you served your sentence the government can’t come back and say, “oh we want you to now do this too,” or “hey we know you already served your sentence, but we still aren’t satisfied, you gotta do this now too or else you’re going to prison.”) and at the very most could easily be considered “cruel and unusual punishment.” I mean think about it: we are using the legal system to attach the title of “Serial Child Rapist Pedophile” to over a million innocent people. That’s what the registry has so effectively done. When you hear about someone on the registry what is your immediate next thought? Right, he’s a pedophile who rapes and molests children. So how in the world have we been getting away with this for so long? Well, state legislators, many whom are lawyers, were very clever. In every state, sex offender laws that involve post sentence controls are classified as “Civil” rather than “Punitive.” That distinction has allowed these laws to pass through the ex post facto clause, a clause which protects all of us from further “punishment” but it does not protect from future regulatory laws required of citizens. A perfect example of this is a driver’s license. By law we are always required to have one, must abide by any future changes in license laws and can be fined or punished for failing to comply. Those are regulatory, civil laws and the same category in which sex offender laws are found. Branding someone erroneously as a Pedophile for life is considered a “civil” regulation and is not a punishment on a person. Amazing huh? So to unwind and untangle this panoply of laws and schemes in all 50 states is taking some time. Florida, especially is being unusually stubborn and thus far has been unwilling to even consider such a change. This unwillingness to budge is completely political and politicians, elected judges, city council members, etc are not motivated in any way to be lawmaker that gets quoted on the front page saying something like, “We’re removing most of the names of sex offenders off this registry. We were wrong. These people are not dangerous.” To which the average 6th grade educated, ADHD public says, “HUH?!” It’s just too big a risk for those in power to take and that’s why this is taking much longer than it should. There has been some success however. In jurisdictions where judges or lawmakers who were bold and who were free of any political repercussions have come out strongly against these saying, “My God of course this is unconstitutional, what in the hell were you thinking. ” The most damning case to date has involved a Federal Appeals Court who unanimously agreed and whose opinion writer used their decision brief to completely annihilate the illegalities of these laws and demanded law enforcement over which she had jurisdiction to immediately cease and desist, remove the defendants names from the registry and ordered never to bother them again. Unfortunately it was a decision that applied only those mentioned in the case, but still it was a monumental decision. The State of course appealed it to the US Supreme Court and they refused to hear it, automatically making the Federal Appeals decision permanent and binding. It’s a great case if anyone is interested in looking it up: Does v. Snyder, __ F.3d __, 2016 WL 4473231 (6th Cir. 2016),
Great write up. I would love the OK to present this article to the Orlando Sentinel. This would make some great eye-opening reading.
And yet, the guy in the article below probably won’t face the registration requirements in Florida.
http://wesh.com/article/marion-county-man-accused-of-having-sex-with-miniature-horse/25228693?src=app
Sounds to me like this guy needs to see an actual psychiatrist. Not the LPCs or people who grease the palms of the judges and POs to provide “treatment” – someone actually competent to practice.
And yes, he will have to register at one point or another even if current law doesn’t require it. This will be the case driving a future law that no registrant can possess or have access to pets or livestock.
I remember reading about this registrant a few weeks ago, though I don’t recall if it was here or one of the other sites. Something about his neighbors complaining and some idiot councilman putting a 24 hour guard around his house (scaled back according to this article).
Old address on a marriage certificate? Seriously? Picketing neighbors and dedicated police detail and that’s all they could come up with? Doesn’t even sound like an actual charge; more like they charged fraud or forgery or something and trumped it up. When is the last time that charge was pressed on anyone? Betting it’s been a while, if ever.
RI AG: “Particularly in view of Richard Gardner’s criminal record, the Office believed it was important to go forward with the violation…” Exactly what the judge said – revisiting the previous offense, and something many registrants have to go through frequently; trumped up charges for the sole purpose of parole/probation violation.