More than half of TN sex offenders not on registry

More than half of TN sex offenders not on registry

February 21, 2007

By ADAM LONGO
6 News Reporter

NASHVILLE/KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- A proposal to more than double the number of people on Tennessee's sex offender registry is being considered by state leaders in Nashville.

Sparta Representative Charles Curtiss wants to add out of state offenders to the registry. An amendment added today is bringing a new step to the proposal. It calls for any and all sex offenders, regardless of when and where they were convicted, to be added to the state's online sex offender registry.

"People that have moved here from other states that we are not aware of because they're not required to register," says Knoxville Police Captain Gary Price, who heads the Organized Crime Unit.

People like David Aaron Becker. He's a convicted sex offender from Colorado. He lived under the radar in west Knoxville, working as a referee for area high schools. Even his neighbors didn't know his past.

"Certain types of offenders appear more prone to re-offend," says Price.

Allegedly, Becker did re-offend. He's pleaded not guilty to recent charges of child porn possession.

There are many more convicted sex offenders in the area, than just those listed in the online registry. According to TBI statistics:

Anderson County:

26 Registered offenders

80 Sex crime convicts

Blount County:

56 Registered offenders

118 Sex crime convicts

Grainger County:

17 Registered offenders

26 Sex crime convicts

Jefferson County:

34 Registered offenders

83 Sex crime convicts

Knox County:

173 Registered offenders

402 Sex crime convicts

Loudon County:

21 Registered offenders

59 Sex crime convicts

Roane County:

16 Registered offenders

27 Sex crime convicts

Sevier County:

45 Registered offenders

118 Sex crime convicts

The proposal could face tough legal hurdles. No online sex offender registry that would apply retroactively has been tested in the court system. In the Supreme Court case Smith v Doe et al, the legality of an Alaska sex registry was tested, but a local advocate says it is a totally different set of circumstances than those in Tennessee. Tennessee house Judiciary Chairman Rob Briley, who offered the amendment, cited the above case as grounds to move forward with his plan.

"I'm fine with the concept of registry. We need to focus on pedophiles and predators and no one should argue against that," says Lynn Hughes of the group Families for Fairness.

While Hughes is not morally opposed to the plan, she questions it's legal merits.

"Any constitutional attorney will tell you this is punishment," says Hughes.

Even if it the bill passes, lawyers could fight it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.