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Saturday, May 19, 2001
Sex offenders must post signs
Judge: 'You have no one else to blame but yourself'
By Jeremy Schwartz
Caller-Times

Paul Iverson/Caller-Times

Nueces County District Attorney Carlos Valdez holds a sign that District Judge Manuel Bañales has ordered 21 registered sex offenders to place in their yards. They have to put similar bumper stickers on their cars to make the public aware of who they are.

   A Nueces County judge on Friday ordered 21 registered sex offenders to places signs in their yards and bumper stickers on their cars identifying them as a danger.
   District Judge J. Manuel Bañales called about 55 registered sex offenders to court to receive the new conditions of their probation. Forty showed up, and 21 were given the new rules based upon recommendations from the Community Supervision and Corrections Department.
   "The whole idea is that everybody is looking at you," Bañales told the group, which included one woman. "You have no one else to blame but yourself."
   The offenders must place signs in their yards that read, "Danger! Registered Sex Offender Lives Here," and bumper stickers on their cars that read, "Danger! Registered Sex Offender in Vehicle."
   The signs and bumper stickers were given to the offenders Friday and they were instructed to post them immediately. Area law enforcement will conduct spot checks on the offenders' homes and cars, said Iris D. Davila, supervisor of the probation department's specialized services.
   District Attorney Carlos Valdez said Bañales' action is a practical way of implementing what the sexual offender registration act is supposed to do. But defense attorneys and civil libertarians called the new requirements unfair and dangerous.
   Gerald Rogen, president of the Corpus Christi Criminal Defense Lawyers' Organization, said Banales' actions are unconstitutional. He said they were done for political purposes.
   "It's a return to the days of the scarlet letter," Rogen said. "I think this is just madness. We will have vigilantes out destroying property."

Banales

   The sexual offender registration act requires offenders to register with local law enforcement agencies and have their names and photos on the Internet. The Department of Public Safety also sends postcards to neighbors of offenders considered high risk.
   'A balancing test'
   Valdez said the act doesn't go far enough. "What the legislators were afraid to do, this judge is doing," he said. "The question for public officials is a balancing test, balancing the rights of the defendants and the safety of the community. I would rather err on the side of the community."
   Valdez said he would like to see the seven other district judges do the same in their courts.
   Each of the offenders in Bañales' court had previously received long probation terms instead of prison time for offenses ranging from aggravated sexual assault to indecency with a child. The offenders who were not made to display the signs were required to send letters to each neighbor living in a three-block radius of their homes.
   'Compelling reason'
   Although state law allows judges to modify probation conditions at any time during the term, the law requires the changes be reasonable.
   "The question is whether this is reasonable," Rogen said. "The Legislature has already stated how neighbors should be notified."
   Rogen said he's contemplating what can be done legally to thwart Bañales' action.
   Gerald Treece, a professor of constitutional law at South Texas College of Law in Houston, said that ordering the signs is unusual, but probably not unprecedented.
   But Treece said modifying the conditions in such a way may be unconstitutional. "The judge will have to show a compelling reason," he said.
   'Doesn't do any good'
   Gilbert Garza Canales, who received 10 years' probation for aggravated sexual assault of a child in 1992, was among the group told to place the 18-by-24-inch sign in his front yard.
   "What about my family? What if someone attacks me or my wife?" Canales said. "I'm the one on probation, not my wife. Why don't they make burglars or murderers put signs in their homes?"
   Diana Philip of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas said the signs wouldn't protect the community, but rather lead to harassment of sexual offenders and relatives. "This particular form of sentencing doesn't do any good for the community and could create a volatile situation for offenders," she said. "The offenders' families are incredibly affected."
   Deter offenders
   The probationary changes, which were recommended by the adult probation department after meetings with Bañales and law enforcement agencies, are not the first in the state, Davila said.
   "The rationale is to protect the community," she said.
   Officials pointed to the recent case of Jaime Guerra, a previously convicted sex offender who used a rabbit to lure a 12-year-old girl into his home in August, saying the second offense could have been avoided if he had a sign in his yard.
   Davila also said she hopes the signs will convince offenders not to re-offend and deter sexual offenders who haven't been caught yet. "It's to let others out there know that Nueces County takes this very seriously."

Caller-Times, Contact Jeremy Schwartz at 886-3779 or schwartzj@caller.com

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