Tag: Vigilantes

Jailhouse Justice; Is it Legal?

I have very little experience about prisons, but from reading many posts posts at Prison Talk Online http://www.prisontalk.com/ and my minimal experience in the Orange County jail, there seems to be more crime inside than there is outside. Outside I…

W.A.R. Press Release

This press release was just issued to all National Media Groups in light of the recent article from NBC regarding one mother’s fight against the registry. My Son, the Sex Offender: One Mother’s Mission to Fight the Law Women Against…

How Many Victims?

Rosebud-Vigilantes

One after another the reports come in, another victim! How long will the public stand for it? Laws have been put in place to protect children and yet there are more and more victims.

 

From one part of the country to another it seems that these cases are not limited to one area. In the cities and in rural areas victims are beaten and a good number are murdered. This is occurring and law enforcement, legislators and the public are turning a blind eye.

Can we define the causes of these crimes? If we simply look at newspaper reports we can clearly see the cause; the cause is none other than the public sex offender registry.

The latest vigilante action to come across the internet is a case from Florida. A register Offender was walking his dog in his own front yard when he was attacked, beaten and his dog was killed. Those responsible had found his name and picture on the public hit list known as the Sex Offender Registry.

Was this an isolated case? Hardly. Here are a few interesting cases.

Michael Dodele had been free just 35 days when sheriff’s deputies found him dead from stab wounds last month in his mobile home. A neighbor was arrested for the murder. The neighbor had “told every house” that he had found Dodele’s name listed on the Sex Offender Registry. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/10/the_skinny/main3597422.shtml

Two released sex offenders who were on the Sex Offender Registry were murdered. A man is believed to have posed as an FBI officer, went to their apartment and shot them. Police said that the man spoke with three roommates and said he was as a member of the FBI and said he wanted to talk to them about their Level III sex offender status. http://www.talkleft.com/story/2005/08/29/340/52675

Dennis McCarthy was stabbed to death at his Holly Township home Sunday morning, just one week after release from prison. Police said, “We have strong suspicions that he was targeted” http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/08/murdered_sex_offender_released.html

Stephen A. Marshall shot and killed Joseph Gray. The victim had been dozing on a couch at his home in Milo, Maine. Five hours later, Marshall knocked on the door of William Elliot’s vinyl-sided mobile home in Corinth, 24 miles away. When Elliot appeared, the 20-year-old assassin fired at point-blank range. The murders were vigilante strikes against registered sex offenders who were strangers to Marshall and to each other. http://archive.guidemag.com/magcontent/invokemagcontent.cfm?ID=BF0FA813-7607-4666-B1F081D6A6C701CC

Registered Sex Offender Targeted – Investigators say two Scott County men took the law into their own hands. They admitted to setting a fire that killed an innocent woman. “It was vigilante justice,” said Scott County Sheriff Anthony Lay. “This is a prime example of how an innocent person has been fatally injured,” added Sheriff Lay. http://deaths-of-others.blogspot.com/2009/02/tn-reaction-to-vigilante-justice.html

These are but a minute sample of the vigilantly murders that are being carried out with the full knowledge of police departments across the country. I say full knowledge because any time you make it easy for vigilantes to target a group that they hate, the outcome is obvious. In this case murder. However beyond the murders of RFSO’s, there have been other vigilantly attacks such as these: