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Monday, November 03, 2014

Court ruling upends Maryland's sex offender registry

The memory of the break-in still stirs terror three decades later: The Rockville woman was ordered out of bed at knifepoint by a teenage burglar, who commanded her to stare out a window as he started to take off her robe.

Before anything else could happen, the woman's husband, who had been tied up in the bathroom, broke his bonds and violently tackled the teen, leaving both of them with stab wounds. That ended Robin Lippold's 1981 summer crime spree, which included other burglaries and a rape.

But it did not eliminate the woman's fear, which lingered long after the pre-dawn attack. That dark emotion surfaced again last week, when she learned that Lippold had been removed from Maryland's sex offender registry, a searchable public database that lists each person's residence and place of employment.

A Shrinking RegistryREAD THE STORY

The 50-year-old Lippold is among 1,155 sex offenders who have been removed from the registry since February, according to data obtained by The Baltimore Sun through a public records request. Almost 400 of them are rapists, including a man who raped a blind teenage girl in a mall parking lot and a man who raped a 67-year-old woman who was walking her dog.

Most have been stripped out because of a decision by Maryland's highest court. That ruling handed a victory to advocates who said the registries were unfairly punitive, but has troubled legislators and upset victims.

Lippold "should have to pay for his crimes as long as his victims are paying for them, and I'm still paying," said the woman, who now lives outside Maryland but would not allow her name to be used because she fears another attack.

"If the state isn't going to protect the public from such criminals then, at the least, the state has a responsibility to let its citizens know where the person is living," she said. "The kind of vileness it takes for a human being to seek out and rape unknown women doesn't go away."


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

we can fix this real quick. ANY sexual offender is just put to death. no list, no "Rehab", no tracking (well, except the obituary). solves everyones issues.

Anonymous said...

The court ruling and those who allowed it are just as dangerous as the offender if not more dangerous. Just know who to go after if one of those offenders repeats the crime!

mack said...

The real issue here is the FACT your politicians were told back then by citizens that these Laws were in fact Illegal and would violate Federal and State Constitutional Laws and would be torn apart. They ignored the facts and pushed them down the publics throats to look tough on crime and gain your votes at the same time knowing once out of office that these Laws would be overturned and cost the taxpayers Millions in fighting court cases. Where is the outrage at from allowing our so called politicians to pass illegal Laws to gain our votes knowing they would be overturned after you voted them in. Lets face it how are the GUN LAWS working ?? Not too good are they ??? PASS LEGAL LAWS and then you will reduce crime and don't allow your politicians continue to lie to you on getting tough on crime when they are passing illegal laws only to have them amount to worthless paper to gain your vote.