Court continues its search for a nonpredatory child rapist

If the 11th District Court of Appeals doesn't like Ohio's sexual predator law, why doesn't it just say so? Oh, that's right, it has. More than once.
Back in 1999, the appeals court attacked the law from the perspective of a lexicologist. A "predator," the court righteously intoned, is an animal of prey by definition, and to brand a human being as an animal is "slanderous."
Which led us to wonder: How do you slander a convicted rapist? Perhaps it's possible, but not by calling him an animal. That's about as genteel a description of a rapist as you'll find.
They're back: Well, the court's nipping at the heels of Ohio's sexual predator law again, this time in the case of Michael J. Naples Jr., formerly of Hubbard Township, who pleaded guilty in June 2000 to two counts of rape and is serving 11 years in prison.
Judge John Stuard of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court sentenced Naples and awarded him the sexual predator designation. That means that when Naples is done serving his time, he will have to register with the sheriff's department in the community in which he lives every 90 days for the rest of his life. The sheriff's department will then notify neighbors that a predator-- sorry if that word offends any appeals judges' sensibilities -- is domiciled in their vicinity.
The law is modeled after "Megan's Law," named for a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was murdered by a convicted sex offender whose background was unknown to the neighborhood.
Not explicit enough: Naples' lawyer argued, and the appeals court agreed that Judge Stuard slapped the predator label on Naples without discussing the reasoning behind the determination or discussing the factors he used to reach the decision. Such a discussion is required so that the appeals court can rule on whether the trial court properly applied the guidelines of the sexual predator law.
Fair enough, we say. A judge should cross every T and dot every I.
So let Judge Stuard hold another hearing and let him explain to Naples why he's a predator.
We can't believe that Judge Stuard will find that such a difficult job, and we suspect that the Trumbull County prosecutor's office will be more than happy to help in anyway it can.
If between them they can't make a case for labeling as a predator a former peewee football coach who pleaded guilty to twice raping an 8-year-old boy, we'll be disappointed.
Of course whether they do so in a way that meets the lofty standards of the 11th District Court of Appeals is another question.