http://www.startribune.com/judge-strikes-down-city-ordinance-restricting-sex-offender-housing/503046601/A Hennepin County judge has struck down an ordinance in Dayton, Minn. that restricts where sex offenders can live in the community, saying the measure is trumped by state law. The far-reaching ordinance barred convicted sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of any school, day care provider, park, playground or public bus stop even a pumpkin patch or apple orchard within the city of Dayton, a rural community of about 5,000 residents northwest of the Twin Cities. The measure was hastily passed by the Dayton City Council in late 2016, after local residents raised alarm over plans by the state to move three convicted rapists from the state sex offender program to a group home in the city.
In a recent decision, Hennepin County District Judge Susan Robiner declared the Dayton ordinance void and invalid because it was expressly designed to conflict with a state law that establishes a legal process for releasing civilly committed sex offenders from the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) and reintegrating them back into society. Such local ordinances, the judge added, would have a devastating effect on the MSOPs ability to discharge offenders from the program.Looks like the another part of the sex offender registry is ruled unconstitutional. Wonder if the whole thing will be gone in a couple years.
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Hey now.