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Judge Rules Sex Offender Can Stay

Barre City, Vermont - June 30, 2009

A preliminary injunction issued by Washington County Superior Court Judge Helen Toor says a convicted sex offender will not have to move, even though his residence violates a Barre ordinance restricting him from living within 1,000 feet of a school or playground.

Chris Hagan, 29, was convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct over a contact with a 15-year-old girl that occurred when he was 18. Barre officials said he had to move to comply with the ordinance the city passed last year. Hagan and the Vermont ACLU said that was not fair.

"It's a very clear-cut legal question," said Allen Gilbert, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "Judge Toor accepted our argument that municipalities simply don't have the authority in Vermont to pass ordinances like this."

The city had planned to fine Hagan starting on July 7th if he did not move; the preliminary injunction means he can stay in the home without a fine until a final ruling is issued in the case.

"There's an important issue at stake here and that's the right of a person who has done his or her time and paid his or her dues for a crime, how they're going to be treated when they're released from prison," Gilbert said.

Barre passed the ordinance last year, arguing the city had a disproportionate number of sex offenders. Mayor Thom Lauzon says it has just 30 percent of the population of Washington County, but 70 percent of its sex offenders. The ordinance limits the opportunity for sex offenders to interact with children.

"This case isn't about Mr. Hagan," Lauzon said. "This case is about keeping children safe in Barre City."

Lauzon says the legislature gave the city the right to impose the ordinance. While the judge's ruling postpones its enforcement against Hagan, it does not throw out the ordinance entirely.

"Mr. Hagan's argument is that the city does not have the authority to enact this ordinance," Lauzon said. "Obviously, if the court rules against the city in that respect, if we don't have authority to enact the ordinance, then the ordinance is moot. If we do, then of course the ordinance would apply to Mr. Hagan, as well as everyone else."

Both sides are due back in court in two weeks for a status conference. That will help the court decide where this case goes from here, including whether the preliminary injunction will become final. Right now the preliminary injunction and the lawsuit apply only to Hagan. But if either side appeals the final ruling and sends the case to the state Supreme Court, it could be applied to other municipalities that have adopted similar ordinances and other sex offenders.

Kate Duffy - WCAX News

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