MEGAN KANKA (USA - Megan's law) - Aged 7 years - Hamilton Township, New Jersey (USA)

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:37 am Post subject: MEGAN KANKA (USA - Megan's law) - Aged 7 years - Hamilton Township, New Jersey (USA)

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Every parent should have the right to know if a dangerous sexual predator moves into their neighborhood. That is why Richard and Maureen Kanka made it their lives' mission to see the enactment of Megan's Law in every state.

The Megan Nicole Kanka Foundation is a 501 c 3 non-profit, charitable organization founded by the Kanka family. The foundation wants to ensure that every possible step is taken to help prevent the future victimization of children. It is their hope and dream that no other child anywhere will suffer the fate of Megan Kanka.
OUR MISSION

Richard and Maureen Kanka thought that their daughter Megan was safe. The Kankas had lived for fifteen years in quiet, suburban Hamilton Township, New Jersey. A family of five, they worked hard, paid their taxes, believed in God, charity, and the goodness of others.

On July 29, 1994, Richard and Maureen had their lives shattered when their 7-year old daughter Megan was lured into a neighbor's home with the hopes of seeing his puppy. Shortly after, thirty yards from her front doorstep, Megan Kanka was raped and murdered.

Unknown to the Kankas, a convicted sex offender lived across the street. The murderer had already served six years in prison for aggravated assault and attempted sexual assault on another child. "We knew nothing about him", says Maureen Kanka.

"If we had been aware of his record, my daughter would be alive today." Letters poured into the Kanka family home with offers of support and contributions to a memorial fund. The result of this tragedy was a nationwide law. A law that would give parents what they desperately wanted: the right to know. A law that would require notification when a convicted sex offender moves into a neighborhood. A law to protect our children.

Passed hand-to-hand, over 400,000 citizens signed a petition demanding immediate legislative action on the law that had to be written-Megan's Law. Within an unprecedented eighty-nine days, the New Jersey State Legislature passed Megan's Law.

Megan could have been anybody's child. She was everybody's child, a poignant symbol of the obligation that each of us has to make sure that children are safe in their own community and that every parent has the right to know when a child is in harm's way.

Much has been done to protect children. Much, however, remains to be done.

http://www.megannicolekankafoundation.org/mission.htm
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Megan's Law is an informal name for laws in the United States requiring law enforcement authorities to make information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders. Individual states decide what information will be made available and how it should be disseminated. Commonly included information includes the offender's name, picture, address, incarceration date, and nature of crime. The information is often displayed on free public websites, but can be published in newspapers, distributed in pamphlets, or through various other means.

More Information on Megan's Law can be found on:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan's_Law

NY Times

19 November 1994

Defendant Denies Killing Megan Kanka

The accused killer of 7-year-old Megan Kanka pleaded not guilty today to kidnap, sexual assault and felony murder charges in State Superior Court here.

The defendant, Jesse K. Timmendequas, clean shaven and with a short haircut, stood calmly and said nothing during the arraignment before Judge Thomas DeMartin.

Mr. Timmendequas's court-appointed lawyers, Barbara R. Lependorf and Mark W. Catanzaro, entered the pleas on his behalf to murder, two counts of felony murder, kidnapping and four counts of aggravated sexual assault in the July 29 killing. The proceeding lasted less than five minutes.

The prosecution has said that it will seek the death penalty.

If Mr. Timmendequas were convicted of murder, a jury would decide between death and a life sentence with a minimum 30 years before parole eligibility.

The case has been assigned to Judge Andrew J. Smithson for trial. No trial date has been set.

The death of the Hamilton Township girl prompted a campaign that resulted in new laws stiffening the penalties for violent sex offenders.

Mr. Timmendequas, 33, had previously served time for two other sex crimes involving young girls.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A03E4DF1131F93AA25752C1A962958260

Star-News

25 October 1995

Megan's Law .Defense Wants To Keep Victim's Name A Secret.‎

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0fZOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FhUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6697,3665980&dq=jesse+timmendequas+trial&hl=en

New York Times

22 December 1995

Murder Trial to Be in Trenton

Reversing his own ruling, the judge who will preside over the trial of a man accused of killing 7-year-old Megan Kanka decided yesterday that the case could be heard in Trenton, as long as the jurors live elsewhere.

In October, Judge Andrew J. Smithson of Mercer County Superior Court moved the trial of Jesse K. Timmendequas, the murder defendant, to Camden because of the publicity the case has received. But he changed his mind after prosecutors argued that traveling such a distance would impose a hardship on the girl's family, The Associated Press reported. Megan's death inspired a law requiring that communities be notified of high-risk sex offenders residing in their neighborhoods.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04EFDF1539F931A15751C1A963958260

New York Times

13 April 1996

Federal Appeals Court Rejects A Challenge to 'Megan's Law'

The first Federal appeals court to consider a New Jersey law calling for community notification about paroled sex offenders rejected an offender's challenge to the law yesterday. But the ruling was so limited that it failed to resolve the debate over the constitutionality of the law.

Consequently, the ruling did little to resolve the struggle in Federal courts in New Jersey over the legality of the law's principal tenet. New Jersey's Supreme Court upheld community notification on public-safety grounds last July. Since then, offenders have sought relief from Federal judges in Newark and Camden. While finding the case before it too void of details to judge its constitutional merits, the appeals court provided guidelines with which lower court judges may evaluate future challenges.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia said that a district judge had acted too quickly when he ruled in February 1995 that the law's requirement that the authorities notify communities about dangerous sex offenders violated the Constitution. The law requires the police to maintain a register of paroled sex offenders and county prosecutors to rank them based on possible risks to the public and to notify communities about offenders considered the worst threats.

The offender who brought yesterday's case, Alexander A. Artway, challenged the law before he registered.

The three-judge panel said in its ruling, "If he registers, and if the state decides that his situation warrants community notification, he may seek to enjoin that action at that time."

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F3071FFE3A5D0C708DDDAD0894DE494D81

The Day

13 January 1997

Jury Selection Begins In Megan's Law' Trial.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2zBkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LfgMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4832,2309324&dq=jesse+timmendequas+trial&hl=en

NY Times

22 April 1997

Jury Complete in Megan Case

After 45 days the most time ever spent selecting a jury in New Jersey -- nine women and eight men were chosen yesterday to hear the Megan Kanka capital murder trial. From Jan. 13 to last Tuesday, attorneys and Judge Andrew J. Smithson of Superior Court narrowed a pool of more than 300 candidates, struggling against extreme reactions to the issues of child molestation and the death penalty as well as enormous publicity.

The panel, which includes five alternates, will decide whether a neighbor of the Kankas, Jesse Timmendequas, 36, raped and strangled Megan, a 7-year-old Hamilton Township girl, in 1994. The trial was moved to Hunterdon County because of the media attention in Mercer County, where the killing, which inspired the state's community notification law, occurred.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804EEDA153EF931A15757C0A961958260

Herald-Journal

6 May 1997

Convicted Child Molester On Trial In Case That Led To "Megan's Laws"

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7UgoAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ic8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5815,1886377&dq=jesse+timmendequas+trial&hl=en

New York Times

12 May 1997

In Megan Case, a Passive Suspect With a Violent Past

In the third row of the courtroom at the trial of the man accused of killing their 7-year-old daughter, Maureen and Richard Kanka usually sit with a few friends and relatives.

The corresponding row on the other side of the courtroom, which would normally be reserved for the defendant's family, is usually empty. Other than his two lawyers, there is no one present for Jesse K. Timmendequas as he fights the case that could end with the death penalty if he is convicted in State Superior Court here of killing Megan Kanka.

But if Mr. Timmendequas, 36, is aware of his isolation as he is brought into court each day in shackles, he gives no sign of it. He does not look about for a friendly face. His own face is always expressionless.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0F10FB3B5D0C718DDDAC0894DF494D81

New York Daily News

13 May 1997

FBI: MEGAN'S BLOOD ON RUG‎

Blood found on the rug of accused child killer Jesse Timmendequas' home almost certainly belonged to 7-year-old Megan Kanka, an FBI expert testified yesterday.

Special Agent Jennifer Lindsey said the FBI's DNA lab in Washington analyzed several bloodstained rug samples taken from a bedroom in the suspect's New Jersey home and compared it with samples taken from the little girl's body.

"I can exclude 99.97% of the population," Lindsey testified in Trenton.

But Lindsey also said no DNA evidence was found on the samples that match the suspect's genetic structure.

The testimony came at the start of the second week of Timmendequas' murder trial.

Timmendequas, 36, a twice-convicted sex offender, could face the death penalty if found guilty of raping and killing the girl July 29, 1994.

He lived across the street from Megan in Hamilton Township. The girl's slaying sparked a national campaign for Megan's Law, a statute requiring neighborhood notification about sex offenders in their midst.

http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/1997/05/13/1997-05-13_fbi__megan_s_blood_on_rug.html

The Vindicator

17 May 1997

Juror Dismissed In Megan Trial‎

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RIJKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oYYMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3747,441499&dq=jesse+timmendequas+trial&hl=en

NY Times

18 May 1997

2 Absent Figures Looming in 'Megan' Trial

Two men who are not in the courtroom and are not expected to be -- have nevertheless become figures at the trial of Jesse K. Timmendequas, the man accused of killing 7-year-old Megan Kanka.

They are Brian R. Jenin and Joseph F. Cifelli, with whom Mr. Timmendequas shared a house across from the Kanka family in Hamilton Township, N.J., when the child was sexually assaulted and killed in 1994. All three men are convicted sex offenders.

Both the prosecution and the defense have tried to conjure up Mr. Jenin and Mr. Cifelli in the courtroom, but to make sharply different points. The defense, contending that someone other than Mr. Timmendequas took part in the crime, has struggled to signal the jurors that the two men were sinister figures. The prosecutors have brought up their names only to cast suspicion on Mr. Timmendequas.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10E14FF3A5C0C7B8DDDAC0894DF494D81

New York Times

27 may 1997

Seemingly Aimless 'Megan' Defense Is Seen as Trying to Save Client's Life

On a bathroom wall in the courthouse where Jesse K. Timmendequas is on trial for his life here, a bit of graffiti poses the most frequently asked question about the Megan Kanka murder case. ''Why is there even a trial?'' some commentator scrawled.

The suggestion arises, in part, because Mr. Timmendequas's lawyers have offered little more than conjecture to counter a mound of prosecution evidence tying Mr. Timmendequas to the sexual assault and murder of the 7-year-old Megan in July of 1994. The defense lawyers have often appeared to be groping their way through the trial, never settling on a theme. Sometimes they seemed to be cross-examining witnesses just to fill time. And they rested their case without calling a single witness.

But if Mr. Timmendequas's lawyers have sometimes seemed to be passing time pointlessly, that may be because they could not announce their real mission: not to win an acquittal but to try to save Mr. Timmendequas's life.

Lawyers not involved in the case say that what looks like a half-hearted defense may not be as aimless as it often seemed. The main explanation for the defense tactics, they say, can be found in the death penalty Mr. Timmendequas would face if convicted of intentional murder.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0711FC3C5E0C748EDDAC0894DF494D81

The Vindicator

28 May 1997

Jury To Weigh Fate Of Killing Suspect

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=T4JKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oYYMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3498,7137004&dq=jesse+timmendequas+trial&hl=en