Cal. lethal injection deliberations can remain closed to the public, at least for now, Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled. David Kravets has this report for AP.

Jailed for over a year by accident, a homeless and mentally disabled man named Edward Perez a.k.a. "Edward Hammer Perez" was left in Lake County, Indiana jail 17 months after his release date for stealing Pepsi from a Wal-Mart. The AP story explained that Perez's attorney, Fred Flores, Judge Sheila Moss, and Perez's psychiatrist, believed he was already out. Perez was sent to a mental health facility on the 7th.

Spanking Ban Dropped San Francisco Assemblywoman, Sally Lieber is backing down from her proposed legislation on making the spanking of a child a criminal offense. Instead, Lieber proposed on Thursday making punishments such as "hitting with a belt, switch, or stick as unjustifiable and grounds for prosecution, probation or parental time-out," explained Aaron C. Davis' story. Lieber's new proposal is still under scrutiny, however, for problems such as wrongful prosecution of parents mentioned by Assemblyman Chuck Devore.

Flashers could have to register as sex offenders in New York under a proposal by City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. An AP story by Sara Kugler reported that a man in Queens had recently flashed two 9 year old girls and an 11 year old boy, then sexually assaulted a 13 year old girl. That was one of the reasons why Vallone is pushing for "public lewdness" to be a registry offense.

$5 million of California's grant funds are going to six sheriff's departments in order to "monitor, investigate, apprehend and prosecute habitual sex offenders in California" says this report. Specifically, the money goes to the departments' Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Program which better prepares officers for tracking sex offenders.

Housing bill for sex offenders passed. A story from (WMC-TV) reports that the Arkansas House passed a bill that stops sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of their victims. The bill won by a 93-0 vote and is waiting for Senate approval.