GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -- A federal judge has ruled that homeless sex offenders may stay overnight at shelters near schools in Grand Rapids despite a state law prohibiting them from living within 1,000 feet of a school.
U.S. District Judge Gordon Quist ruled Tuesday. The Grand Rapids Press reports Quist determined that homeless people do not "reside" in emergency shelters if they only go there at night to sleep and have no guarantee of a place to stay on a given night.
Both of Grand Rapids' shelters are within that student-safety zone.
The case was brought after 51-year-old Thomas Pauli froze to death in January 2009 after an overnight shelter denied him admission because he was on the state's Sex Offender Registry. He had a 1991 sexual assault conviction involving a pre-teen girl.
AP