Megan’s Law Survives Challenge by Molester

California’s Megan’s Law has survived a legal challenge by a convicted child molester who says the leaflets publicizing his crimes kept him from rebuilding his life.

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson on Monday rejected Russell Markvardsen’s request for a temporary restraining order against the Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies who have posted the leaflets.

The ruling, although applying only to Sonoma County, was closely watched as a hint of how legal challenges to the year-old law might be considered by California courts.

Under Megan’s Law, named after a New Jersey 7-year-old raped and murdered by a convicted sex offender who lived across the street, sexual predators are required to register with authorities and alert them to any moves.

In many towns, deputies have papered neighborhoods with leaflets publicizing a sexual predator’s presence, and residents have vowed to drive the offenders out.

Critics say it’s a violation of the privacy and constitutional rights of sex offenders who have served their sentences. Last month, a convicted rapist and child molester killed himself in Santa Rosa a week after fliers were posted in his neighborhood.

Markvardsen’s lawsuit was the first against state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren alleging violation of constitutional rights. Sonoma County Sheriff Jim Piccinini was also named.

Markvardsen, 47, was convicted in 1984 on four counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under age 14. He was convicted again in 1994 of oral copulation with a minor, qualifying him as a “high-risk sex offender” under California’s Megan’s Law.

Markvardsen went home to Roseland to find about 100 of his neighbors protesting outside his house. He eventually lost his job, then served nine more months for speaking to neighborhood children, a parole violation.

Since moving to new homes in Santa Rosa, Markvardsen has faced protests by neighbors after police and deputies posted leaflets. Markvardsen’s lawyer sought an injunction as Markvardsen prepared to move into another new home.

Sheriff’s deputies said they were simply following the law.

“We will comply with the law whatever the law is,” sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Mike Brown said. “We’ll continue to do that unless and until the law changes or a judge makes a court ruling otherwise.”

Attorneys for Markvardsen declined to comment.