A convicted sex offender who was forced to move by a state law can't return home. He has no rights to the property because his wife owns it, a judge ruled.
 
The man, identified in court records as John B. Doe, had filed a lawsuit challenging a state law that prohibits convicted sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, public park or youth program center.

Doe, who was convicted of child seduction in 2000 and released from probation the following year, was forced to move from his home near a church that offers youth programs. He argued that the law violated his rights by unfairly punishing him again.

Judge Thomas Busch of Tippecanoe Superior Court ruled against Doe on Tuesday, noting that the home was owned by Doe's wife, not Doe, so his property rights were not violated.
Busch also noted similar challenges that had been defeated in other states.

"Under the circumstances, the court finds that injunctive relief forbidding the prosecutor and sheriff from enforcing this law in this case is not in the public interest," Busch wrote in his 11-page ruling.

Doe's lawsuit was one of three filed in Tippecanoe County challenging the law that forced 28 offenders in the area to move or be charged with a Class D felony. None of the three has succeeded in court.

Doe's attorney, Earl McCoy, did not immediately return a message seeking comment left by the Journal & Courier of Lafayette.

Faust Villazan of Western Springs pleaded guilty in May to one count of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud.

Villazan is the former owner of the since-dissolved Faustech Industries. The company qualified as a minority-owned business and allegedly posed as a 30% partner with the Siemens subsidiary when the larger company sought the $49 million contract.

The Siemens subsidiary was also ordered to pay $2.5 million in fines and restitution.

The Michigan Supreme Court unanimously upheld two lower court rulings ordering the release of documents. They were made public hours after the ruling.

The papers pertain to an $8.4 million settlement between the city and two former police officers who alleged they were fired or forced to resign for investigating claims that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.

They include the initial settlement agreement between the city and the former officers, which makes reference to embarrassing and sexually explicit text messages between Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty. The unsealed documents do not include transcripts of the actual messages.

They also include a transcript of a Jan. 30 deposition of attorney Michael Stefani, who represented the two former officers in their lawsuit, by lawyers for two newspapers that sued to get the sealed documents, The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News. In the deposition, Stefani said he thought Kilpatrick rejected an Oct. 17 settlement agreement because the Free Press had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the settlement.

"I'm presuming, but don't know for a fact, that they — that is, Mayor Kilpatrick and perhaps Beatty, did not ... want the reference to the text messages in the settlement agreement," Stefani said.

After the mayor rejected that agreement, a separate confidentiality agreement detailing how the text messages would be kept secret was reached Nov. 1 between all parties.

City Corporation Counsel John Johnson said the city is disappointed by the ruling.

"Opening up settlement information to public view will most certainly put a chilling effect on parties trying to settle cases," Johnson said in a statement. "This ruling discourages the city from entering into the time honored and cost effective process of mediation."

The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News sued the city to get the sealed documents. The city argued the documents should remain sealed because they involved communications between attorneys during court-ordered mediation, but the high court ruled "there is no FOIA exemption for settlement agreements," referring to the state's Freedom of Information Act.

The Free Press first reported last month about the text messages between the married mayor and Beatty, who also was married at the time. The newspaper has not said how it obtained the messages.

Both denied under oath having a physical relationship during the former officers' lawsuit, and the unsealed documents could be used in an ongoing perjury investigation of Kilpatrick. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is investigating and has said she expects to have a decision by mid-March.

"This is complete vindication for the idea that public officials cannot lie under oath and go behind closed doors in secrecy to make decisions with so much public money in the balance," Free Press Editor Paul Anger said in a story posted on the paper's Web site. "The public's right to know has been upheld."

James E. Stewart, attorney for the News, said the public will soon "have access to their own records. These are public records involving the expenditure of millions of dollars of public money that the mayor has attempted to keep from the public and the City Council."

The victims' families clamored for a trial, and prosecutors felt there was plenty of evidence for one. So they moved to rescind the deal.

They were rebuked Wednesday by a judge, who said their regrets weren't grounds for them to renege on an agreement reached weeks ago.

The judge's order means Michael Mastromarino, 44, will go to prison for 18 to 54 years for his ghoulish crimes — possibly putting him behind bars for the rest of his life.

"Mr. Mastromarino may never see the light of day," said Brooklyn Judge Albert Tomei, whose words brought Mastromarino's mother to tears.

Prosecutor Monique Ferrell said there had been a "change in circumstance" and a trial was needed to reveal the full "scope of harm he caused." She said prosecutors became fully aware of his activities only in the last year.

In a statement e-mailed after the hearing, a spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney's office provided a clearer explanation of why prosecutors sought a trial.

The justices declined to examine a trial procedure in which a jury first determines whether smokers as a group are entitled to punitive damages before establishing whether any single smoker is entitled to compensation.

Later, a new jury addresses issues unique to each alleged smoking victim who sued.

West Virginia courts are allowing the approach, which has been used in other types of lawsuits, including claims for asbestos exposure.

The second phases of such trials rarely occur, because the two sides usually settle once they know the value of the case.

Tobacco companies oppose use of the legal device, which lawyers call "reverse bifurcation."

The tobacco industry said a jury doesn't know until later in a case whether any smoker was actually harmed or how serious any injury was; which defendants if any were responsible; or the amount of compensatory damages any defendant owes to smokers.

In addition to helping resolve suits over asbestos exposure, reverse bifurcation has been applied to claims against makers of the dangerous diet drug fen-phen.

In asking the justices not to take the case, lawyers for the smokers said further delay would mean that most of their clients would die before their cases could be tried, "thus affording the defendants a free pass" for their alleged misconduct.

The smokers say the companies secretly agreed not to market a truly safer cigarette while publicly proclaiming the safety of their own particular brands.

The first phase of the trial was scheduled to begin March 18.

The case is Philip Morris USA v. Accord, 07-806.

The justices declined to examine a trial procedure in which a jury first determines whether smokers as a group are entitled to punitive damages before establishing whether any single smoker is entitled to compensation.

Later, a new jury addresses issues unique to each alleged smoking victim who sued.

West Virginia courts are allowing the approach, which has been used in other types of lawsuits, including claims for asbestos exposure.

The second phases of such trials rarely occur, because the two sides usually settle once they know the value of the case.

Tobacco companies oppose use of the legal device, which lawyers call "reverse bifurcation."

The tobacco industry said a jury doesn't know until later in a case whether any smoker was actually harmed or how serious any injury was; which defendants if any were responsible; or the amount of compensatory damages any defendant owes to smokers.

In addition to helping resolve suits over asbestos exposure, reverse bifurcation has been applied to claims against makers of the dangerous diet drug fen-phen.

In asking the justices not to take the case, lawyers for the smokers said further delay would mean that most of their clients would die before their cases could be tried, "thus affording the defendants a free pass" for their alleged misconduct.

The smokers say the companies secretly agreed not to market a truly safer cigarette while publicly proclaiming the safety of their own particular brands.

The first phase of the trial was scheduled to begin March 18.