There will be no changes made to the state’s sex offender registry – at least not in the near term – as a result of the Easter Sunday murders of two convicted offenders, who were targeted by a young man using the state’s Web site to find his victims.
Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Cumberland County, who chairs the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, said he was convinced after a hearing Tuesday afternoon that no immediate action was necessary.
Public Safety Commissioner Michael Cantara testified at that hearing he would not recommend change now, but rather suggested the committee “engage in a review of what the sex offender registry should contain and how it should be displayed.”
“As reprehensible as the two murders were on Easter Sunday, the questions you’re grappling with transcend those two murders,” Cantara said. He recommended therapists and counselors be part of the discussion, as well as public safety officials.
The registry, which currently lists 2,200 people in Maine convicted of sex offenses, came under scrutiny when it was learned that Stephen Marshall, 20, of Canada – visiting his father’s home in Houlton – killed Joseph Gray, 57, of Milo and William Elliott, 24, of Corinth on Easter. Both men were on the Maine registry and were a part of a list of 29 names that Marshall had culled from the Web site.
State Police Col. Craig Poulin confirmed Tuesday that Marshall had driven by the homes of four other sex offenders on that list during his killing spree, but it is not known if he stopped at any of their houses.
Marshall had three guns with him that he had stolen, including two handguns and what was described as the civilian version of the M-16. When police finally caught up with him on a bus he had taken from Bangor to South Station in Boston, he shot himself.
“We may never know what set off this disturbed young man,” Poulin said, but, “I don’t believe the sex offender registry was to blame.”
Diamond had called Tuesday’s hearing to get an update from police on the investigation and hear testimony from public safety officials about whether the registry needed to be changed. The registry is supposed to let people know if they have offenders living in their neighborhood.
After the hearing he said he would “absolutely not” recommend change now. “I don’t see any change, especially after today’s testimony,” Diamond said, adding he would like the committee to take up a more thorough review this summer and fall.
What the committee heard was federal law mandates what types of offenders have to be listed on state sex offender registries if states want to continue getting certain federal law enforcement funding. Federal law mandates that those convicted of sexual offenses against minors or aggravated sexual offenses against a person of any age must be on a registry.
The only thing the states control is who gets notified of new registrants and how much detail to put on their Web sites.
People convicted of the most serious crimes, including rape or having sex with a person under the age of 14, are required to register for life. Lesser crimes require offenders to register for 10 years. The state, however, currently makes no distinction between the two on its Web site or gives any details of the crime for which persons were convicted.
“I’m not struggling with whether or not to keep the list up there,” said Sen. John Nutting, D-Androscoggin, a member of the committee, but rather listing people, for example, who may have had sex with a 15-year-old when they were 20, but have turned out to be good citizens. “I’m struggling with that type of person still being listed.”
That scenario reportedly fit one of the murder victims, who had sex at the age of 20 with his then 15-year-old girlfriend.
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