Sen. Ricketts introduces bill that would create a national violent offender registry

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Today, Sen. Pete Ricketts introduced the Karly Rain Wood Act. The bill would enact a national violent offender registry.

Karly Rain Wood, 20, was fatally shot at a friend’s birthday party in Omaha in 2022. Imhotep Davis, who was convicted of the murder, was a repeat offender. Two others with prior criminal records were charged in regards to the shooting that killed Wood and injured seven others.

“Repeat violent offenders are freely roaming our streets without warning,” said Ricketts. “Americans deserve to know these criminals are living in their communities. A national violent offender registry is not only useful but also necessary to keep the public informed and update law enforcement of their whereabouts. Karly Rain was murdered by a repeat violent offender.  Her death was a tragedy. That’s why I introduced this legislation in honor of Karly and to make our communities safer.”

Sen. Deb Fischer joined Ricketts to introduce the bill.

“Communities deserve to know about the potential danger that could be around the corner, and we need to do everything we can to prevent tragedies like Karly Rain Wood’s death. I thank Senator Ricketts for his leadership on this important legislation to create a nationwide system to identify repeat violent offenders in our communities,” said Fischer.

The bill would require The Department of Justice to create a database to track repeat violent offenders. A repeat offender would be someone who has received a conviction two qualifying offense or one qualifying offense and one serious drug offense. Along with that, qualifying offenders would have to appear in court in person every 90 days to update the database.