A Hixson orthodontist who filed suit to try to stay off the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry has finally had to enroll.
Dr. Henry Buhl went on the registry earlier this month after his appeals ran out.
The suit was filed in Chancery Court with the plaintiff listed only as "John Doe." Chancellor Frank Brown ruled against the plaintiff and so did the Tennessee Court of Appeals. The case was closed out after the time to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court had expired.
His attorney, Jerry Summers, said "John Doe" had been convicted of misdemeanor sexual abuse in 1982 in Kentucky and of felony abuse shortly afterward in Ohio.
He moved to Hamilton County in 1989 and has had no other offenses, it was stated.
"This is an exceptional case," attorney Summers had stated in court, arguing that requiring his client to register now as a sex offender would result in a "media frenzy" and destroy the man's reputation as a law-abiding professional in the community.
"If this restraining order is lifted, his name is out," the attorney said. "Even if we prevail later on, it won't make any difference. It's kind of like we're going on a witch hunt."
But Tennessee Assistant Attorney General Ben Whitehouse, arguing for the state, said what would be unfair and inequitable would be to waive the enforcement of the state law in this one case.
"There are 17,850 people currently on the registry," the state attorney noted. "How is (Mr. Summers') client any more special than those 17,850?"
The registry says Dr. Buhl, 62, lives in Hixson, but his car is registered out of Fort Payne, Ala.
His classification is listed as "violent" and his prior offense as "sexual imposition."