Panel to get update on sex offender killings

AUGUSTA – Responding to the killings of two sex offenders living in Maine, a legislative committee has scheduled a public session for next week in which it will be briefed by top law enforcement officials on the investigation.

The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee also will begin discussions about the various groupings of offenders on Maine’s sex offender registry, said Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, who co-chairs the committee.

The announcement of next Tuesday’s session came as state police investigators sought to find out what drove Stephen A. Marshall, 20, of North Sydney, Nova Scotia, to show up at the homes of two Maine residents early Easter morning and shoot them multiple times.

The victims, Joseph Gray, 57, of Milo and William Elliott, 24, of Corinth, appeared in Maine’s online sex offender registry. Investigators say Marshall looked up at least 34 sex offenders on the state registry before he traveled to Maine, took guns from his father and drove his father’s pickup truck to the men’s homes.

Marshall later shot himself to death when police closed in on the bus in which he escaped to Boston.

Since the chain of violent events, questions have arisen as to which classes or groupings of sex offenders should be listed in the registry.

Diamond said the registry “is a useful tool and a necessary device which provides important protection to the public and especially our children.” He also acknowledged heightened public interest in the issue.

“Certainly vigilantism is a very serious problem,” said Diamond. “However, we need to make sure that we do not overreact to this situation which could only make matters worse. We must adhere to a deliberate process, and that is what our committee will do.”

The committee plans to identify “anything that needs to be addressed immediately,” said Diamond. “If need be, we are prepared to meet over the summer to continue our review and discussion regarding the registry.”

Maine Public Safety Commissioner Michael Cantara, the state police chief, Col. Craig Poulin, and the director of the State Bureau of Identification, Ruth Lunn, are scheduled to address the committee.

On Thursday, Maine House Speaker John Richardson said it would be “nearly impossible” for the Legislature to consider changes in the state policy to have a sex register during the few days left in this year’s session because of other pressing topics.

One of those issues is a proposed “Jessica’s Law,” which would impose mandatory prison terms for those convicted of sex crimes against young victims.

Technical factors also will prevent the sex registry issue from being taken up, said Richardson, D-Brunswick. There is neither a legislative proposal nor time for public notice of a hearing on a bill, he said.

While calling the slayings of the two sex offenders in Maine “despicable and tragic,” Richardson added that “there is no interest in eliminating” Maine’s registry that tells where a sex offender lives.

Like Diamond, Richardson said the Legislature must move deliberately on the issue.

“I don’t like to move very quickly” on issues, Richardson said.