GPS device enforcement for sex offenders halted

GPS monitoring devices will be removed from more than 400 Missouri sex offenders after Cole County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Green issued a preliminary injunction Monday.

The injunction halts enforcement of a revised state statute that retroactively applied increased security measures on sex offenders who pleaded or were found guilty of various sex crimes on or after Aug. 28, 2006. The statute, which went into effect Jan. 1, instituted lifetime GPS monitoring to those convicted, even if they had already completed their sentences.

A handful of those devices had been installed for sex offenders in Mid-Missouri.

Five people in Cole, Osage and Moniteau counties were affected by the statute change and will have their GPS monitoring devices removed, Department of Corrections (DOC) spokesman David Owen said.

There are 122 registered sex offenders in Jefferson City and 135 in Cole County, according to online records.

The law change also affected eight people in Morgan and Miller counties, and 11 people in Callaway, Montgomery and Audrain counties.

The sex crimes included in the statute change are first-degree rape, statutory rape, first-degree sodomy, statutory sodomy, child molestation, sexual misconduct involving a child, sexual abuse, enticement of a child, incest and sexual trafficking.

The Division of Probation and Parole notified 432 people across Missouri of the lifetime requirement, and devices had been installed on 364 of those people as of April 30. The remaining 68 could not be contacted for various reasons.

Those who had the devices installed were already on state supervision. Another 500 people who had completed their sentences were scheduled to have the devices installed, and about 800 current inmates would have qualified for the lifetime requirement after their release.

A lawsuit filed by Clayton-based attorney Matt Fry argued the law is unconstitutional because it is an ex post facto, or retroactive, law. The Missouri Constitution prohibits such laws.

The injunction gives the DOC 30 days to remove tracking devices that have already been installed.

The preliminary injunction is only temporary, and Fry said the next step is a permanent injunction. A court hearing is scheduled for July 10. While there is no guarantee, Fry said, he has a strong feeling a permanent injunction will be worked out.

The changes were part of sweeping criminal code reform that took place in 2014, and was part of a large bill co-sponsored by Republican state Sen. Bob Dixon and former Democratic state Sen. Jolie Justus.

Fry said enactment of the law could have been avoided through the presence of more lawyers in the state Legislature.

"This is an example of why we have to take our elections seriously when it comes to the Missouri Legislature, especially when it comes to trying to get more lawyers to Jefferson City," Fry said. "A lawyer would know that this is unconstitutional."