Mahoning judges sign order dealing with sex offenders

There are about 23,000
registered sex offenders in eight classifications in Ohio.

YOUNGSTOWN — All five Mahoning County Common Pleas trial judges have signed an order halting action in their courts concerning protests filed by 60 registered sex offenders against their reclassification under a new state law.

The stay, filed Thursday, halts action on the protests pending resolution of a case now before U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Gaughan of the Northern District of Ohio, which the common pleas judges said concerns “similar, if not identical’’ issues.

The common pleas court stay order was signed by Judges R. Scott Krichbaum, John M. Durkin, James C. Evans, Maureen A. Sweeney and Timothy E. Franken.

Ohio has about 23,000 registered sex offenders under eight classifications.

The new law, which took effect Jan. 1, classifies them under a three-tiered system, lengthens registration times for felons, and mandates community notification concerning some offenders once considered low level.

The state Legislature passed the law last year to comply with a federal law requiring states to increase registration requirements by 2009 or lose some federal funding. The federal law is named after Adam Walsh, a 6-year-old Florida boy who was abducted and killed in 1981.

The Ohio Public Defender’s Office, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Ohio Justice and Policy Center oppose the law because of its retroactive provisions. The Ohio Supreme Court rejected their challenge in December.