In the case of the murder of Jessica Lunsford in February of 2005 by convicted sex offender John Evander Couey, it was determined that he was living in a residence he was not registered with Law Enforcement to live. He was registered to live at a different location. It wasn’t until investigators went out to interview area sex offenders regarding Jessica’s disappearance that they found out that John Couey was no longer living at his registered address and had in fact moved into the trailer just 100 feet from the Lunsford residence.

Mark Lunsford created a foundation and has tirelessly worked with law makers throughout the country to change the laws regarding sex offenders. Jessica’s Law has been enacted in some fashion in many states across the country. Part of Jessica’s Law involves residency restrictions. As a part of that restriction, registered sex offenders are not allowed to live with 2,000 feet of a place where children congregate, such as parks, schools, school bus stops and day care facilities.

I live in California and in November 2006 we passed our version of Jessica’s Law. It was pretty consistent with the original law enacted into Florida law.

Well, a group of sex offenders took umbrage at the fact that they would have to abide by the new residency requirement. They believed that they should not be affected by the new law because they had been convicted of their crimes prior to the enactment of the new law. They filed an appeal and the California Appeals Court agreed with them. The Jessica’s Law provision regarding the residency requirement of not living within 2,000 feet of schools, etc. does not apply to sex offenders convicted prior to November 2006. The decision had nothing really to do with the fairness or unfairness of the concept; the problem was with how the law was worded. The law did not mention applying the provision to all convicted sex offenders.

A group of people in Georgia has formed calling themselves The Justice for Christopher Foundation. Their goal is to “toughen the laws against sex offenders”. Their mission:

The foundation’s mission is to change child sexual predator laws and to make parents more aware when a convicted child molester moves in or lives in their area.

George Edenfield was ordered to move from his prior residence in September 2006 because he was living too close to a park. The law is already on the books in Georgia barring sex offenders from living where children would normally congregate such as parks and schools.

George Edenfield failed to move after being ordered to do so by the Sheriff and he appeared in court 3 days before he murdered Christopher. During that court appearance he entered into a plea agreement with the court. Originally the prosecutor was asking for a more strict probation and a sex offender contract. When George Edenfield was originally sentenced for his 1997 child molestation conviction he received 10 years of regular probation. During the court appearance 3 days prior to Christopher’s murder it was ultimately decided that he would receive 10 years of regular probation and have to sign a sex offender contract.

I am going to guess that George Edenfield knew in September that he was in violation of his probation when he was living near the park. I think at that point he should have had his probation violated, taken into custody, and had to serve the time remaining on his original sentence in jail. He should have been immediately taken off of the streets. Whatever flaw in the system did not allow that to happen.

Making parents more aware of sex offenders living in the area is a noble goal. Awareness is only good for parents to have if they take that awareness and use it to their child’s benefit. I have said it before and I will say it in this entry. There are many ways for parents to find out if a sex offender lives in their community. Access to that information can easily be obtained via the Internet at the National Sex Offender Registry. Most states provide 24 hour access to their state registries via the Internet. If a person does not own a computer then they can go to any public library and gain access to the sex offender registries. If a person has a question about a sex offender, one need only visit the local police department and inquire about a particular person.

This is not an indictment against Christopher’s grandmother. But, she knew the George Edenfield was a convicted sex offender. She has been quoted in the press as having checked the registry after hearing gossip about him. She has also been quoted in the press as stating that George had tried to get Christopher to come up on the porch of his mobile home.

I don’t know about any other grandparent or parent but if I knew a registered sex offender was living across the street from me there would be no way my child would be out playing unsupervised.