Man listed on Megan's Law database dead

[Cynthetiq]

Megan's Law listing may be link to tragedy

A man who allegedly stabbed a neighbor whose name was found on the sex offender database may have mistakenly thought the victim was a child molester.
By Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 10, 2007
LINK
LAKEPORT, CALIF. -- -- Convicted rapist Michael A. Dodele had been free just 35 days when sheriff's deputies found him dead last month in his aging, tan mobile home, his chest and left side punctured with stab wounds.

Officers quickly arrested Dodele's neighbor, 29-year-old construction worker Ivan Garcia Oliver, who made "incriminating comments, essentially admitting to his attacking Dodele," the Lake County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.

Prosecutors said they have investigated the possibility that Dodele's slaying stemmed from his having been listed on the state's Megan's Law database of sex offenders. If so, his death may be the first in the state to result from such a listing, experts said.

Oliver pleaded not guilty to charges of first degree murder, burglary and elder abuse when he was arraigned Nov. 30. In a jailhouse interview Wednesday night, Oliver said he has a son who was molested in the past, and he took action to protect the child.

"Society may see the action I took as unacceptable in the eyes of 'normal' people," Oliver said. "I felt that by not taking evasive action as a father in the right direction, I might as well have taken my child to some swamp filled with alligators and had them tear him to pieces. It's no different."

Although Oliver never said he killed Dodele, he said that "any father in my position, with moral, home, family values, wouldn't have done any different. At the end of the day, what are we as parents? Protectors, caregivers, nurturers."

In fact, Dodele was not a child molester. But a listing on the Megan's Law website could have left Oliver with the impression that he had abused children.

Although Dodele's listing has been taken down since his death, a spokesman for the state attorney general said the site described the man's offenses as "rape by force" and "oral copulation with a person under 14 or by force."

"He was convicted of other bad things, but nothing involving a minor," said Richard F. Hinchcliff, chief deputy district attorney for Lake County. But "it would be easy to understand why someone might think so looking at the website."

Dodele's crimes involved sexual assaults on adult women, records show.

A neighbor at the Western Hills Resort & Trailer Park, a tattered collection of mobile homes and bungalows, said that two days before the killing, Oliver "told every house" in the park that he'd found Dodele, 67, listed on the website of convicted sexual offenders and was uncomfortable living near him.

"He looked it up on the computer . . . ," the neighbor said. "He said [Dodele] can't be around here."

The park resident requested anonymity because of a fear of reprisal, but reported Oliver's visit and statements to sheriff's deputies after the slaying. "A lot of people told them" about Oliver's claims, the person said.

Officials in Lake County -- a patchwork of wealth and poverty, vineyards and mobile home parks just north of Napa Valley -- would not offer a motive for the killing.

Hinchcliff acknowledged, however, that one possible motive investigated by the district attorney's office was that Oliver knew Dodele was on the Megan's Law list and did not want him as a neighbor.

According to court documents, Dodele committed his first offenses at age 15 and spent the last two decades either in prison or at Atascadero State Hospital receiving treatment.

His last attack was the 1987 knife-point rape of a 37-year-old woman on a Sonoma County beach. Those were the charges that were listed on the Megan's Law website.

"I think [Oliver and Dodele] are both victims of the Internet," said Charlene Steen, a psychologist who examined Dodele on behalf of the defense in two 2007 trials about whether he should be recommitted to Atascadero.

Both ended in hung juries. Dodele was freed Oct. 16 and was hoping to start over in the crowded little mobile home park, where neighbors described him as open and friendly.

"The family is just sick," Steen said. "They finally got him back. They all thought he had made such great progress, and then this happened. It's pretty bad."

This is a reason why I don't agree on Megan's law. I think that it is just the same thing as a scarlet letter. If you don't trust your neighbor for whatever reason, run a background check on the individual out of your own pocket.

Note, getting caught pissing in an alley is considered a sex offender offense.

[genuinegirly]

From that article

"I think [Oliver and Dodele] are both victims of the Internet,"

Er, no. One guy was over-protective and misled. One was mislabeled by a shoddily built system. Blaming this instance on the internet is inappropriate.

[ngdawg]

It's a stretch to call Oliver a 'victim'. He made a choice to kill.

Megan's Law had good intentions but it's a societal failure and this just proves it.

[inBOIL]

If we as a society decide that it's worthwhile to rehabilitate criminals, then attatching a stigma to those who have been released is foolish. It only encourages ostracism and abusive treatment of someone who has supposedly paid his debt. Even when the treatment doesn't result in a killing, it's still a serious problem. Exposing anyone to abuse and persecution, let alone someone with a propensity to violence, is an effective way to create a monster.

[Ustwo]

Originally Posted by Cynthetiq

This is a reason why I don't agree on Megan's law. I think that it is just the same thing as a scarlet letter. If you don't trust your neighbor for whatever reason, run a background check on the individual out of your own pocket.

Note, getting caught pissing in an alley is considered a sex offender offense.

Yea too bad this guy was a rapist not a public pisser.

The guy doing the killing was obviously a nutjob and this is the first time this happed at least as far as they know.

While I can understand how this sucks for someone who had sex while 19 with his 17 year old gf or whatever, that problem is WHO is on the list not the list itself.

This guy earned his place on the list, forced rape.

[SortOfRussian]

"According to court documents, Dodele committed his first offenses at age 15 and spent the last two decades either in prison or at Atascadero State Hospital receiving treatment.

His last attack was the 1987 knife-point rape of a 37-year-old woman on a Sonoma County beach. Those were the charges that were listed on the Megan's Law website."

He deserved what he got imo

[analog]

The guy was an asshole and raped at least one woman, and was in and out of jail for two decades. Whether or not it's "justice" or "deserved", the world is undoubtedly a slightly better place now that he's not in it.

[Strange Famous]

I think the murderer is just throwing it up as some sort of defence.

He was charged with robbery as well it seems, did stealing from the guy he had just killed protect his children as well?

[casual user]

neither of the guys was a victim, that's just ridiculous. one's a rapist and the other's a murderer. i have no remorse for either of them.

also, as far as megan's law goes, they should definately be more specific about who they put on there and not just put up anyone with a so called sex offense. while it does need to be refined, i'd say that it probably does do more good than bad. if a violent pedophile was living on my street, i'd want to know about it.

[QuasiMondo]

No remorse for somebody who's already paid their debt to society?

[MSD]

The sex offender registry is an admission that our justice system does nothing more than put people out of our minds until we cool off and forget about them. Someone who is not rehabilitated and able to live in society should not be released. If these criminals cannot be rehabilitated, then they should not be released. If it is safe to release them, then they should not be branded as subhuman.

[Ustwo]

Originally Posted by QuasiMondo

No remorse for somebody who's already paid their debt to society?

The concept of 'paying ones debt to society' is some left over nothing speak.

They didn't pay a debt, they were punished and kept where they couldn't hurt innocent people for a time. No debt was paid.

Society lets them out and says 'don't fuck up again', thats about it.

MSD is right though. What the list is really saying is 'we let these people out but we don't think they are safe'.

[Willravel]

You can't just kill someone because you think they might be dangerous or because they've committed crimes in the past. Have fun in prison, Oliver. And know that your rash and foolish actions actually separated your son from you instead of defending him. All it would have taken was fucking deadlocks. What a waste.

[Daniel_]

Killing someone for being on the sex offender register is killing someone for what they MAY do in future, based on an offence in the past that they have served their time for.

As to whether the time they served was sufficient is not a question for the creators of the register, it's one for the parole board and the convicting court.

As to whether we should make better efforts to rehabilitate people is a question for the prison service and parole officers.

Overall, if we are going to bray that he got his come-uppence then we should immediately ban for life any driver caught over the legal BAC, or speeding.

The court (as part of the country's democratic system) expresses the will of the people as a whole - not the will of a few angry members of the public.

In this case, a man who committed sexual violence against adult women was killed because a man thought he might commit sexual violence on a young male.

[Miss Mango]

I dont understand that kind of vigilantism. How is murder any better than paedophilia - morally or otherwise?

[Infinite_Loser]

Originally Posted by analog

The guy was an asshole and raped at least one woman, and was in and out of jail for two decades. Whether or not it's "justice" or "deserved", the world is undoubtedly a slightly better place now that he's not in it.

Whatever happened to your "Murder is terrible regardless of the circumstances" stance? How do you know he would have raped someone else? Since when did it become kosher to kill someone based on what you think they might do in the future? After all, if he was still a menace to society, so to speak, he'd still be in jail.

[Ustwo]

Originally Posted by Miss Mango

I dont understand that kind of vigilantism. How is murder any better than paedophilia - morally or otherwise?

Well in this case the guy doing the murdering was a loser obvious too, but let me give you a flow chart as I see it.

Murder > Rape > Murder of rapist.

[UKking]

This is something my mum has to deal with, particularly the News of the World being utter cocks about it. a while back they threatened to publish the addresses of everyone on their list, essentially all major hostels that have any links with sex offenders, which is pretty much all of them.

I don't know how it works in the USA but you guys have one thing we don't and that's space.
People coming out of prison need probation (parole) whether they're long term inmates, rehabilitated or not. It's a fact of the system to which the only alternative is the draconian 'lock them away forever'. Probation house people in hostels sometimes if they don't have a home or a place to start, or are still a risk, and the hostels are in residential areas because these people need to work like society so they can't be stuck in the middle of the country.
However unlike USA you would be hard-pressed to find a residential building in britain that isn't within 300ft of a nursery, school, daycare or community centre where children go. That's our problem.

The criminal justice system is not going to put a high risk sex offender in a nursery, they're not stupid or malicious as tabloids will try and make you think. Their job is a hard one though as they also have to judge how much a person is rehabilitated and based on numerous opinions judge how much 'risk' a person carries, and it is partly on that that they are assigned to the hostels. It's not perfect because inmates themselves are also not 'perfect' and rather than the reoffender getting the stick a lot of the time it's just blamed on the justice system. It's the demonising of government doing a good job that I don't like, and the hysteria that comes from trying to frighten people about it all that causes more harm than anything else.

[Miss Mango]

However, we have taken it one step further, GPS bracelets. These ankle bracelets let police see where the ex-con is at all times, and in some states the person must wear them for life. I dont know how this is justifiable if the person is supposed to have paid their debt and been rehabilitated. Its an invasion of privacy and is tantamount to branding the person on the forehead.

[Ustwo]

Can someone explain how one pays a debt of rape or murder by being in prison?

I'm sorry but thats some sort of double speak. They were punished for their actions, if that includes life long GPS bracelets as well thats part of their 'debt'.