Local News

Missouri AG Pushes Back on Sex Offender’s Challenge to Halloween Laws | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

October 20, 2023

[ad_1]

click to enlarge Missouri Attorney General’s Office Thomas Sanderson distributing candy to children at home on October 31, 2022.

Earlier this week in federal court, Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office filed its response to a lawsuit brought by a Hazelwood man on the sex offender registry who feels he should no longer be compelled to hang a sign on his residence reading “no candy or treats at this residence” every Halloween.

In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, Thomas Sanderson, 58, argued that his being compelled to put up such a sign just because he is a sex offender is tantamount to compelled speech and a violation of his First Amendment rights.

According to his own suit, Sanderson has been hosting a popular Halloween party in Hazelwood for the past two decades, including lavish decorations and more than 100 guests.

Sanderson’s party would seem to violate Missouri’s law governing the behavior of sex offenders, the Halloween-related provisions of which took effect in 2008. Starting that year, on Halloween sex offenders in the state are required to post the sign as well as avoid all “Halloween-related contact” with minors and stay inside their homes with all the exterior lighting turned off from 5 to 10:30 p.m.

Sanderson, who’d been convicted of statutory sodomy in 2006, was seemingly doing none of those things last Halloween when officers with the Hazelwood Police Department showed up to his party around 5 p.m. and took photos of him handing out candy to trick-or-treaters in front of an elaborate Halloween display that included skeletons, tombstones, police caution tape and spooky-colored lights. The photos taken by the police that evening are included in the attorney general’s office’s recent filing in the case.

Later that night, the Hazelwood officers went to issue a warning to Sanderson, but didn’t find him at his house and spoke to his girlfriend instead. She said Sanderson was no longer on the premises. The officers told the girlfriend that the house needed to be in compliance with the law, which would entail the posting of a sign and the taking down of the exterior lights. The officers said they’d be coming back later in the evening and if Sanderson had failed to comply, he would “face consequences.”

About 20 minutes later the officer returned to Sanderson’s house to find his decorations still prominently displayed and no sign warning off children. Sanderson’s girlfriend continued to insist he wasn’t there, however after a few minutes Sanderson revealed himself to be in the Halloween display itself and “apparently intoxicated,” wrote Assistant Attorney General Gregory Goodwin.

According to Goodwin’s filing, Sanderson was antagonistic to police, blaming his status as a sex offender on “[t]hat 16-year-old bitch girl, little girlfriend of my daughters, that made some allegation.” He then told the officers “go away, go away, bye bye, get a warrant and come back fucker.”

click to enlarge Missouri Attorney General’s Office Police body cam footage of Sanderson’s Halloween display.

Two days later, Sanderson was charged with failing to comply with Halloween related restrictions for sex offenders, to which he pleaded guilty this April. A judge sentenced him to one year of probation.

Goodwin’s filing in court pushes back against Sanderson’s assertion that having to hang the sign on his residence is a violation of his First Amendment rights.

“Unsurprisingly…the First Amendment does not grant sex offenders a right to give candy to children on Halloween,” he wrote.

Goodwin goes on to argue that the sign isn’t compelled speech because it doesn’t involve “a particular political or ideological message.”

Sanderson’s original suit was filed on October 3. But then, a little more than a week later, Sanderson filed a request for a temporary restraining order which, if granted by the judge, would block enforcement of the Halloween-related law immediately while the larger case worked its way through the courts.

In that request, Sanderson’s attorney asked for a ruling to be made prior to Halloween, as the law is only applicable that one night every year.

In filings on behalf of the Attorney General’s Office, Goodwin takes Sanderson to task for waiting until less than a month before Halloween to file that request, as well as for failing to raise any First Amendment qualms in between his being charged in St. Louis County Circuit Court last November and pleading guilty five months later.

Sanderson is represented in his suit by Matthew D. Fry of noted Clayton firm Rosenblum, Schwartz, Fry & Johnson as well as Janice Bellucci, an attorney out of Sacramento who is the executive director of the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws.

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

12 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

12 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

12 months ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

[ad_2]

Source link