(Host) A judge has thrown out a Barre City ordinance limiting where sex offenders can live.
That decision now will be used as legal ammunition in a similar case in Rutland.
VPR’s John Dillon has more:
(Dillon) The American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont brought the case on behalf of Christopher Hagan. Eight years ago, Hagan pleaded guilty to a sex offense involving a 15 year old girl. When he moved this spring with his family to an apartment in Barre, he learned that he would be violating a city ordinance that banned him from living within 1,000 feet of a playground.
The ACLU says that municipal ordinances like Barre’s give the public a false sense of security since most sex offenses against children are committed by relatives, not strangers.
But the legal arguments in this case were more narrow. The ACLU said that the legislature never allowed the city to pass zoning ordinances restricting where sex offenders live.
Allen Gilbert is director of the Vermont chapter of the ACLU. He says the ruling by Washington Superior Court Judge Helen Toor has statewide impact.
(Gilbert) "The legal arguments that we made in the case and that Judge Toor accepted make it pretty clear that Vermont municipalities in her reading of Vermont law do not have the authority to enact these ordinances. So my guess is that if another person is challenging the ordinances the other person will likely cite this decision as ground for why the ordinance should not be enforced against him or her."
(Dillon) And that’s what will happen in Rutland. Rory Malone is a lawyer in the defender general’s office. He plans to use Judge Toor’s ruling in his challenge of a similar ordinance in Rutland.
(Malone) "And I hope to get the Rutland Superior Court to rule consistent with Judge Toor’s ruling in Washington Superior Court. And so I intend on trying to apply to the pending litigation I have in Rutland."
(Dillon) Malone says his client is in prison but is eligible for release. However, the Department of Corrections will not let him return home because of the Rutland ordinance. Malone says Rutland, like Barre, never got approval from the legislature for restricting where sex offenders can live.
(Malone) "It’s our contention that the city of Rutland lacks the authority because in their town charter they didn’t get the express grant for this type of zoning ordinance."
(Dillon) In Barre, Mayor Tom Lauzon says there’s an easy fix to the problem the judge identified. Lauzon says he wants voters to approve a charter change that would give the city the authority.
(Lauzon) "Assuming that passed, and I have no reason to believe that it wouldn’t because we were overwhelmingly supported by our citizens in trying to protect kids, we would then go to the Government Ops Committee where I’m certain that we would be granted a hearing on this charter change."
(Dillon) Charter changes require legislative approval.
But Allen Gilbert of the ACLU says lawmakers may be reluctant to make the change. Gilbert says the Legislature recently passed a bill that discouraged towns from restricting where sex offenders can live.
For VPR News, I’m John Dillon in Montpelier.