Wendy Whitaker faces eviction under court ruling
November 13, 2008 at 6:36 pm by Scott Henry in NewsIf the name in the headline sounds familiar, it’s because Whitaker was the subject of a cover story I wrote in July 2006 concerning the impact of Georgia’s harsh new sex-offender law. Whitaker, then 26, had been forced out of the house she owned with her husband in Harlem, Ga., on the outskirts of Augusta because the home was discovered to be within 1,000 feet of a church-based child-care facility.
For a while, the couple lived in a trailer park with relatives and she even moved briefly across the state line to South Carolina because the Georgia law bars sex offenders from residing near churches, schools, playgrounds, parks and other facilities, leaving her with few options for where to stay. The penalty for violating the law is 10-30 years behind bars.
Whitaker moved back into her house, however, after the Georgia Supreme Court struck down the law late last year, ruling the residency restrictions made it practically impossible for a sex offender to remain in his own home.
But the law was retooled this spring by the state Legislature and, in July, Columbia County deputies again told Whitaker she’d have to leave her house or face arrest.
Whitaker, who is the main plaintiff in an ongoing legal challenge of the law’s constitutionality, appeared again today before Federal District Court Judge Clarence Cooper. But this time, she left with even less hope.
Cooper ruled that lawyers for the Southern Center for Human Rights had failed to establish that the residency restrictions prohibiting Whitaker from occupying her home did not rise to the level of banishment from the county. Cooper didn’t explain his decision in depth, but it appeared he was swayed by an argument by lawyers for the Attorney General’s office that about 50 other sex offenders had managed to find some form of housing in Columbia County.
On the witness stand, Whitaker indicated that if she and her husband are forced to rent a place to live, in addition to paying their home mortgage, they’ll likely face foreclosure. “It will be bad for us,” she said.
Southern Center lawyers were also in court today to argue that the law imposes an unconstitutional ban on religious practices because many sex offenders have been barred from church activities. More on that later…
November 14th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Putting someone behind bars for a good chunk of their lives while they don’t contribute to the economy and have to be paid for!!
This is part of why the prison- industrial complex still abounds so well and quietly. Criminalize nonviolent sex, demonize perpetrators and then throw away the prison key!
If I understood the prison system better Id be rich.
November 14th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
While I realize that there needs to be some mechanism to know where sex offenders are, the laws requiring “registration” are NOT working. As a matter of fact, the law seems only to address those offenders who are not the serious predators the law sought to control in the first place. GA Law needs to address the SEVERITY OF THE OFFENSE in regards to registration of these offenders. It is safe to say that initially, all individuals convicted of a sex crime need to be registered–but for how long? For some perpetrators, the encounter is minimal at best and the ‘Romeo and Juliet’ affairs currently tried under statutory sex offender laws should be considered as just that–an affair by two individuals regardless of age. Statutory sex offender laws are a joke and serve no true purpose. Originally, the law was to protect the family’s honor in that their daughter’s virtues were somehow ‘protected.’ In this contemporary society, no one is obviously interested in protecting a daughter’s virtue because we now have a promiscuous society. What I think is a more effective registration is to address the severity of the offense; if children are involved, then of course the time required for registration should be longer. Furthermore, teachers involved should have their certification revoked nationally; as it is, they are able to leave the state and go somewhere else to teach. I also believe that there needs to be some revamping as to where these individuals live; day care centers are popping up in areas because the proprietor knows a registered offender is in the neighborhood and wants them out. This is unfair; but it appears the courts are not interested in the fairness of justice. I, personally, do not know any sex offender–but I also believe that the laws should be just and not discriminatory.
November 14th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
I need to add Wendy’s case to my list of the dumbest “sex crime” cases ever at http://www.oncefallen.com/youmightbersoif.html
Maybe i should forward her my residency restrictions fact page as well!
November 14th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
it seems that the case to prove “banishment by attrition,” as i call it, in Wendy’s case than in my own case. They shouldn’t have to argue full banishment, just make the law so onerous as to make the law into punishment. It seems at least the Georgia judge was willing to admit it was a constitutional issue, unlikre in my case, where the courts have claimed it was a civil issue, thus the constitution doesnn’t apply
November 17th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
[...] lawsuit. Watch this week’s paper for my update on the latest news from that case and also look here. Bookmark [...]
November 21st, 2008 at 3:03 pm
[...] Lawyers for the Southern Center for Human Rights, which represents Whitaker’s constitutional challenge against the law, have filed for a Superior Court injunction to block her eviction. But they may be fighting an uphill battle; last week, a federal judge declined to grant a similar injunction. [...]
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:06 pm
[...] Court last year, giving Whitaker a brief reprieve. But Georgia’s legislature then passed a revised law earlier this year, one lawmakers apparently believed is in compliance with the state supreme court’s [...]
February 13th, 2009 at 12:57 am
“The fallen One” is Derek Logue, a Tier III sexual Predator, who served years of prison time for molesting an 11 year old girl. He is violent, cuts himself and has lost numerous appeals to be reclassified. He is a danger to children.
February 13th, 2009 at 1:31 am
how do u know who “fallen one” is?