On September 12, 2013, a juvenile sex offender and his parents filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Etowah County. The plaintiffs, represented by private counsel and both the national and local American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), asked the court for both declaratory and injunctive relief. They alleged that the Sheriff's office and particular police officers violated their rights under the Fourth Amendment's guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures and the Fourteenth Amendment's protections for substantive due process and against deprivations of liberty without due process. Specifically, the plaintiffs objected to the Sheriff's Office's program of unannounced, random, and suspicion-less compliance investigations of every individual in the county who is subject to requirements of the Alabama Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Act ("the Act"), Ala. Code § 15-20A-4(12).

The primary plaintiff, James Doe, was required to register as a juvenile under the Act. As part of the Sheriff's Office's program, uniformed officers, including defendants and other unidentified officers, conducted warrantless searches of the plaintiffs' home without consent at least nine times between April 2012 and August 2013.

On February 13, 2014 the Court dismissed the case after being informed that the parties reached a written agreement regarding merits of the action and litigation costs. The private settlement agreement stated that police would have to conduct all home visits outside of the home, and would not enter without the registrant's written consent. In addition, police would perform these visits in civilian clothes and unmarked vehicles for the registrant's privacy.

The case is now closed.

Louisa Eberle - 10/06/2013
Will McCartney - 03/23/2018


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