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LAS VEGAS (AP) — A last-gasp petition to the Nevada Supreme Court succeeded Friday, at least temporarily, in blocking publication of the names of about 5,200 registered sex offenders under a long-fought and yet-to-be-enacted 2007 community notification law.
Three justices issued an order preventing postings in the Nevada Sexual Offenders Registry while the court considers several constitutional questions raised by lawyers representing 17 unnamed plaintiffs in Las Vegas. "A temporary stay of enforcement ... is warranted to maintain the status quo while this court considers the petition and supporting documents," the court said.
Attorneys Margaret McLetchie and Alina Shell won the delay after losing a bid on Thursday to get a district court judge in Las Vegas to block enactment, and appealing just hours later to the state high court.
They argue the law, which was made retroactive to 1956, represents double-jeopardy punishment, treats offenders unevenly, unfairly reclassifies people as a greater risk than previously assessed, and is fatally flawed because the state has no method to correct errors.
"It's rife with problems because even the federal guidelines that it was passed to conform with have changed," McLetchie said Friday.
The notification provision of the Nevada law was approved by the state Legislature as AB 579 in 2007, largely to comply with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.
Attorney General Adam Laxalt's office didn't immediately respond Friday to messages seeking comment.
A new state registry home page appeared briefly online Friday morning before it was taken down and returned to a former introductory display. Offenders' names were not displayed.
Registry officials didn't immediately respond to messages.
Laxalt's office earlier this month reported there were 6,512 offenders in the state's tiered risk-assessment system.
Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Smith gave the go-ahead Thursday to post 80 percent of the names, ruling that the plaintiffs' challenge, filed this week, came too late ahead of a long-known implementation date.
But the judge had also scheduled a July 12 hearing on the constitutionality of the state law, and he said that if errors were found, names could be removed.
McLetchie and Shell argue that publishing offenders' names can't be undone.
They say it would irreversibly endanger the health and safety of offenders who have completed their sentences and begun new lives, and it could also place offenders' families and employers at risk.
"It's important that the law not be enforced until, at very least, issues about errors and application are addressed," McLetchie said Friday.
Some state lawmakers have promised to ask the Legislature next year to amend the law, and to take up questions about the cost of implementation, she said.
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