Local Sex-Offender Residence Restrictions Invalidated In Aftermath of Religious Issue

After losing a free exercise challenge to sex offender restrictions that prohibited him from living within walking distance of a synagogue in Rockland County, New York (see prior posting), Yoel Oberlander succeeded last month in invalidating on other grounds a local law that created "pedophile-free child safety zones" in the county. In People v. Oberlander, (Sup. Ct., Jan. 22, 2009), a New York state trial court held that the local ordinance is pre-empted by a less restrictive state law. The lawsuit was filed after the Probation Department rejected 15 different residence locations proposed by Oberlander.