Maine to debate registry changes

Following the apparent assassinations of two sex offenders, Maine lawmakers said yesterday they would consider narrowing the types of sex offenders required to register on an online list used to alert residents of their presence, and allowing convicted rapists, molesters, and other sexual criminals to fight their inclusion on the list.

The proposal, to be debated next week in Augusta, comes less than a week after Stephen A. Marshall, 20, allegedly killed two men on the Maine registry before killing himself while on a bus in Boston.

As Maine authorities continue looking for a motive for the slayings, chilling details emerged yesterday about the soft-spoken Nova Scotia dishwasher's edgier side.

A blog, or Internet journal, Marshall maintained was found to be filled with vitriol against pedophiles and a lust for firearms.

On the blog, he also told the world: ''Please e-mail me, I'm lonely."

Marshall's alleged actions drew international attention, particularly in Canada, and prompted some to criticize online sex offender registries as an invitation to vigilantism.

Maine lawmakers said they would consider creating different categories of offenders based on the seriousness of their crimes, a practice employed by numerous other states, including Massachusetts. And they plan to discuss allowing sex offenders to petition an appeals panel to have their names removed from the list, an act that currently can only be accomplished through a gubernatorial pardon.

Senator William Diamond, chairman of the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety in the Maine Legislature, said the panel would take up the issues on Tuesday. He said the panel would also hear an update on the Marshall case from law enforcement authorities.

''I'm concerned that we have pretty much grouped everyone all together," said Diamond, a Windham Democrat. ''If you're on the registry, people automatically assume you've done the absolute worst. . . . Their lives could be ruined."

One of Marshall's alleged victims, Joseph L. Gray, 57, of Milo, Maine, was convicted of raping a child; the other one, William Elliot, 24, of Corinth, Maine, was convicted of engaging in an illegal sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl when he was 19.

Maine's five-year-old online sex offender registry, which lists about 2,200 people, has become more popular than ever. It was briefly taken offline for several hours after the slayings. However, it has averaged 575,000 viewings per month for the first quarter of 2006, where in previous years it averaged 200,000 monthly viewings, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for Maine's Department of Public Safety.

McCausland said yesterday that detectives were returning from Nova Scotia, where they had interviewed Marshall's friends and relatives. He said they had also searched Marshall's house, though he declined to say what, if anything, they had found. Investigators are also scouring a blood-spattered laptop computer found among Marshall's possessions on the bus, where he committed suicide Sunday as police closed in on him.

Another computer revealed Marshall's more belligerent opinions, hidden to his family, who described him as gentle and mild-mannered in the days after the killings.

As first reported yesterday by the Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto, Marshall began a blog several years ago while living in Idaho that included links to gun websites, as well as a guide to spotting pedophiles. Some entries are more prosaic teenage fare, such as pictures of actress Carmen Electra, quotes from deceased grunge rock icon Kurt Cobain, and praise of ice hockey.

But he also targeted gays, ''minorities getting special treatment," and ''women in general." He also discussed suicide techniques under the headline, ''How to kill yourself like a man."

Marshall had shown his aggressive side before: While living in Idaho, he was charged as a juvenile in 2001 for brandishing an assault rifle during a teenage brawl in his neighborhood, according to court papers.

Marshall's blog was on a site hosted by Internet portal giant Lycos. It had been removed as of yesterday morning. Officials at Lycos.com started reviewing the site after it was called to the company's attention, Meredith LeDuc, assistant to the general counsel for Lycos, said from Waltham.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com, and Raja Mishra at rmishra@globe.com.