Posting of sex offenders’
data online soughtSeveral county prosecutors
give the issue a high priority
Prosecutors in four Hawaii counties are moving to once again use the Internet to post information about convicted sex offenders whose victims were children.
Maui Prosecutor Davelynn Tengan said the county has filed several civil petitions seeking to release information about convicted sex offenders whose victims were 12 years or younger. The petitions are required under a ruling by the Hawaii Supreme Court.
"The public has a right to know the convicted sex offenders living near them in order to take the appropriate precaution to protect themselves and their families," Tengan said.
The state was forced to shut down the Sex Offender Registry Web site in November 2001 after the Hawaii Supreme Court found the state law that established the site was unconstitutional. The site provided the names of streets where convicted sex offenders lived and worked, their mug shots, types of crimes they committed and information about their vehicles.
The Supreme Court said the state Constitution required that offenders be given notice and a court hearing before the information was posted.
State Deputy Attorney General Kurt Spohn said prosecutors feel they should disclose information about convicted pedophiles, even though they have to go through a lengthy judicial process.
Spohn said prosecutors felt the issue was too high a priority to be left undone, and awaiting a constitutional solution could take a couple of years.
"It's a safety issue," Spohn said.
A proposed constitutional amendment is scheduled to be on the general election ballot in November that would allow the state Legislature to release information about certain convicted sex offenders without a court hearing. Exactly what kind of information is the subject of debate, according to Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle.
"All I can tell you is that it's a very, very complex question that's being looked at right now," Carlisle said. "The gist of it is that we don't know at this point and we're trying to work that out."
Supporters of the amendment note that if each of Hawaii's 1,900 convicted sex offenders is given an individual hearing, the judicial process could take six years and cost thousands of tax dollars.
Spohn said the intent of the amendment is to focus on providing public information about felons and serial sexual offenders, rather than a people convicted of a single misdemeanor incident.
He said even if voters approve the constitutional amendment, the changes in the law would take effect in July 2005 at the earliest and prosecutors did not want to wait.
A spokesman for the Honolulu prosecutor's office said there will likely be hearings in early June.
On the Big Island, Deputy Prosecutor Michael Kagami said his office has filed "four or five" petitions in Circuit Court, but only one has been served on the offender. In each case, the offender has 20 days to answer the petition.
In the single case served so far, the offender, who was already in custody for an unrelated matter, failed to answer the petition, Kagami said.
The Prosecutor's Office will seek a court order allowing publication of the offender's information, he said.
Kagami said he didn't know how many additional cases remain to be heard by a court, but he noted that the statewide sex-offender registry is several inches thick.
Russell Goo, Kauai's sex crimes prosecutor, said there are about 90 registered sex offenders on Kauai and he has "a bunch of cases ready to go" asking the court to allow the publication of the information. Each case requires a separate civil action.
Prior to the Supreme Court decision, the sex offender registry on Kauai was both on the Internet and shown on Hoike, the public access cable TV channel, Goo said.
State Public Defender John Tonaki said he believes hearings on whether to release the information are necessary in some instances.
Tonaki said in some cases involving families, identifying the sexual offender will also identify the victim and subject that person to humiliation.
"It's not unheard of that sexual-assault victims many times prefer confidentiality," Tonaki said.
Tonaki said he's not arguing on behalf of serial rapists but for the rights of a person who has a 10-year-old conviction for sexual touching and gone through counseling.
"That person at least has the right to argue to a judge to show the court they they're no longer a public-safety concern," he said.
Named in the petitions in Maui Circuit Court were Masayuki Miyake, convicted in 2001 of eight counts of third-degree sexual assault and one count of fourth-degree sexual assault; Elmer Ching, convicted in 1990 of two counts each of first-degree and third-degree sexual assault; Jose Dumadag Villon, convicted in 1999 of one count of third-degree sexual assault; and Eric Hatcher, convicted in 2003 of third-degree sexual assault.
Star-Bulletin reporters Rod Thompson, Anthony Sommer and Rod Antone contributed to this report.