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After two-and-a-half hours of deliberation, a jury of seven women and five men found Jordan Johnson not guilty of rape. Johnson broke into tears as his attorneys, David Paoli and Kirsten Pabst buried him in a group hug. Upon hearing the verdict, Johnson's mother said, "Thank God," and burst into sobs. His father cheered in celebration. Others in the courtroom cheered and a few Griz football players' eyes filled with tears. The woman was not present in the courtroom. The case was a classic "he-said, she-said." Expert witnesses on both sides deemed the limited physical evidence inconclusive.

A woman suspected by police of making up a sexual assault has been fined. A 43-year-old woman from Chippenham alleged she had been sexually assaulted in the town in the early hours of Sunday. Police cordonned off an area beneath the railway arches at the top of High Street, an area well covered by security cameras. The tape was taken down on Sunday afternoon.

A sex offender was murdered in his flat before his body was stuffed into a suitcase and buried in a shallow grave in the woods, a court heard yesterday. Geoffrey Reed, who served 10 years in prison for raping a vulnerable adult and a child, was found doubled up in a foetal position in a suitcase hidden on land off Huntick Road in Lytchett Matravers, the hearing was told. Half-brothers Stuart Raymond Wareham, 26, and Lee Raymond Wareham, 33, are accused together with Benjamin Henry Walter, 22, of murdering Mr Reed between June 6 and June 14 last year.

Hang onto your hats, folks, it's another blog post ~ 3rd one in 3 days! As I've said before, I blog when I have something worthy to say. I feel this will be worthy. As some of you know, I created a video featuring my daughter's reaction to the news that Arkansas is considering removing the eligibility to be removed from the sex offender registry for persons with victims under the age of 18. Admittedly, I was desparate and felt pushed into a corner, only having two days to prepare for the bill, which was scheduled to be presented Wednesday.

A ban on naming a convicted child sex offender may have been breached on Twitter, the High Court heard on Thursday. Lawyers for the man, who is involved in legal action against Facebook, claimed the rival social media site was used to publish his identity. A judge was told the potential breach of his order could amount to contempt of court. It was also confirmed that a barrister has now been instructed to represent a second defendant in the ongoing case, Joseph McCloskey. He was joined to the proceedings over his alleged role in the running of a Facebook page entitled 'Keeping our kids safe from predators'.

The judge may have ordered Facebook to remove the page, but it's still there: http://tinyurl.com/cxypm29

A man who committed suicide on Interstate 95 on March 11 told police during the standoff leading up to his death that he killed Lawrence Lewis of Molunkus Township because the convicted sex offender was molesting children, court documents show. Bruce Neal, aka Bruce King, told Penobscot County Sheriff's Deputy Patty McLaughlin shortly before he shot himself with a .30-30 rifle that he forced Lewis to swallow two bottles of nitroglycerin and one bottle of "psych meds," according to a search warrant affidavit released Wednesday at Lincoln District Court. "King told Deputy McLaughlin that he killed Lawrence Lewis. King said he had reported Lewis for molesting children and no one was doing anything," the affidavit states.

The Illinois Senate Wednesday agreed the state should continue and expand a tax credit for employers who hire ex-offenders. Under the measure, an employer would be able to claim a tax credit up to $1,500 for wages paid to someone who has been con-victed of any crime, other than a person required to register as a sex offender. To qualify for the tax credit, the employer would have to hire the ex-offender within three years after the ex-offender was re-leased from an Illinois adult correctional center. Illinois has had a such tax credit since 2006, but it only gave employers a tax credit up to $600 and only applied to employment of first-time, nonviolent ex-offenders hired within one year of being released.

Except ex-sex offenders as usual!

Investigators with the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit have completed their search for evidence at the home of a registered sex offender whose body reportedly was hidden in his Macwahoc Road home by a man who later committed suicide during a standoff on Interstate 95. What evidence was removed from the home of the late Lawrence J. Lewis, 68, is not being released, and the cause of his death is still pending, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said Thursday morning. The medical examiner has determined it was a homicide. "I do not expect, at this point, any new information to be released," McCausland said. "This is going to be a lengthy and complicated investigation." Lewis' body was taken to the medical examiner's office in Augusta for an autopsy, which has been delayed by the need for additional testing.

The creator of a 'revenge porn' website that posts explicit photos of women without their permission has been accused of posing as a female online to trick women into sending him naked pictures. Craig Brittain, a 28-year-old from Colorado Springs, has allegedly started 'catfishing' - fabricating an online identity to trick unsuspecting web users into establishing a relationship - and then uploading the pictures to his website IsAnybodyDown.com. Two women came forward and spoke to CBS4 about the incident, which started out as a chat on a 'woman-to-woman' forum on Craiglist in August 2012. The Colorado woman - who did not want to be identified - said she met another woman called Jess Davis who she told 'she was just looking for some fun, to hang out, experiment'.

The California man thought he put his past behind him, but then he became victim to an online scam associated more with the mafia than the Internet. He is alleging in a federal lawsuit that three websites are running an extortion racket preying on his history as a one-time registered sex offender. The alleged shakedown is a growing trend in cyberspace that also includes "ransomware" -- another extortion scheme that uses fake police and FBI warnings to demand money in exchange for unfreezing data on your computer, experts say.

On Monday, April 1, anonymous black-and-white fliers were found pinned to billboards at Riverside City College saying the student body president is a registered sex offender. Students at first thought it was a cruel prank, but once it was confirmed, the revelation left them asking whether RCC administrators, who acknowledge they knew about it before the election, should have disclosed the information to the campus community.

In 2012, more than ever, the internet became the way we shame people now. Here to talk about online justice and public shaming are academic internet experts Whitney Phillips and Kate Miltner. (Whitney recently completed her PhD dissertation on trolls; Kate wrote her Masters thesis on LOLCats-yep!) Up for discussion today: Violentacrez, hate blogs, racist teens on Twitter, poor Lindsey Stone, Hunter Moore, and last Friday's misidentification of the Sandy Hook shooter.

In January, the Belfast Giants of the Elite Ice Hockey League (U.K.) - yep, the "All I Want For Christmas Is You" franchise - announced that American Christopher Knight had purchased the team, as Jim Gillespie sold a stake he had held since 2003. It was supposed to be a new era for the Northern Ireland team. Alas, it was an era that ended only a few weeks later when it was revealed that Knight was actually a registered sex offender in Florida.

Only 10 On Your Side questioned Hampton's top cop about evidence that put an innocent man behind bars. Commonwealth's Attorney Anton Bell did not hold the office when a jury convicted Johnathon Montgomery of sexual assault, but explained the case in an exclusive interview with WAVY.com Wednesday. Elizabeth Coast originally testified Montgomery raped her when she was 10 years old and he was 14, but later admitted she made up the story. Montgomery spent four years in prison before Coast's confession.

16-year-old Ashley Haigh pleaded no contest on Friday, February 22nd to taking a vehicle without the owners consent. The Sturtevant teen faced multiple charges for allegedly stealing money, an SUV and a puppy from a Racine man who happens to be a registered sex offender. However, all but the one charge were dropped in exchange for the no contest plea. Haigh had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges last month. But the plea deal changed that status. Haigh is due back in court on Monday, April 15th for sentencing.