Michigan Law Allows Sex Offenders to Use Emergency Shelters Within 1,000 Feet of School
Michigan Law Allows Sex Offenders to Use Emergency Shelters Within 1,000 Feet of School
Michigan’s Sex Offender Registry Act (SORA) permits a registered sex offender to use emergency overnight shelters that are within 1,000 feet of a school, a Michigan federal district court has ruled.
The Court’s ruling came in a lawsuit brought by five individuals with prior criminal sexual conduct (CSC) convictions and two non-profit organizations who operate homeless shelters in Grand Rapids. The complaint was filed in response to the death of Thomas Pauli, a homeless man with a prior CSC conviction who froze to death on the streets of Grand Rapids. Pauli was forced into the freezing cold after an overnight shelter within 1,000 feet of a school denied him entry due to his status as a registered sex offender.
The SORA requires persons convicted of certain sex-related offenses to register their address. It also provides a registered sex offender “shall not reside within a student safety zone,” which is defined as “the area that lies 1,000 feet or less from school property.” The parties agreed the definition of “residence” in SORA’s registration requirements cannot be the same as “reside” in the Student Safety Zone provisions of SORA. Otherwise, the definition would virtually amount to banishment.
The Court found the plaintiffs had standing to bring the claim, and that the claim was ripe for review. Initially, the Court determined it need not resolve the raised constitutional issue since the matter could be resolved on a statutory ground.
The definition of reside in dictionaries and Michigan law both agree the term “reside” connotes living somewhere permanently or at least for an extended period of time. The Court, therefore, entered declaratory judgment for the plaintiffs, but it denied them an injunction.
The Court’s judgment declared that under the ordinary meaning of “reside,” a registered sex offender does not violate SORA by using an emergency overnight shelter under the following conditions: (1) users are admitted to the shelter and required to leave in the morning; and (2) users have no expectation of obtaining a place in the shelter on a given night.
So long as these conditions apply, registrants may sleep overnight, and spend multiple nights, in shelters within 1,000 feet of schools. See: Poe v. Snyder, 834 F. Supp 2d 721 (W.D. Mich, 2011).
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Related legal case
Poe v. Snyder
| Year | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Cite | 834 F. Supp.2d 721 (W.D. Mich, 2011). |
| Level | District Court |
| Conclusion | Bench Verdict |
| District Court Edition | F.Supp.2d |