___ ___ was a 41-year-old man with a long criminal record and a low IQ when he left Oakland in late 1999 and bedded down at a homeless shelter in San Mateo. Police found him there in March 2000 and discovered he had failed to reregister as a sex offender as required by law — once a year, within five days of his birthday, and within five days of a change of address.
After a San Mateo County judge barred a psychologist from testifying about ____ low mental capacity, a jury convicted him of violating the registration law. With multiple felony convictions on his record — three robberies in 1978, and forcible oral copulation of a minor and attempted manslaughter in 1983 –he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison under California’s three-strikes law. Full Article and Decision
The interesting thing about “Failure to Register” is that it is a “crime” that harms absolutely no one and has no negative effect at all. It is a felony that carries very significant punishment for nothing that matters.
I try to stay Registered correctly and if I am ever arrested for anything related to it, I am going to retaliate in a major way. I have been retaliating for the Registries for 15 years, all completely legally, but I think it might be hard to keep it legal if a criminal regime really attacks me. I’m not going to put up with their crimes.
Regardless of this guy’s criminal history or mental capacity, this is, in essence, Life in Prison for shoddy paperwork.
Only in America…
Still trying to get my head around the fact that registration, deemed a civil requirement by the SCOTUS can get you life imprisonment for failure to register. Can’t lose our spot as world’s leading incarcerator, I guess. Still we lead the developed world in gun violence, though.
and it only a CIVIC law.
The registry is not punishment.?
This was a “Luck of the Draw” 3-judge panel, and this time it went against the registrant. The two judges who voted to uphold the law (Callahan, Smith) were appointed by George W. Bush, and the dissenting judge (Silverman) was appointed by Bill Clinton. As this was not a constitutional issue (like our suit regarding email addresses / Prop 35 challenge), but a criminal sentencing issue, partisan judicial philosophies will play a bigger role. In cases like this, it is rolling dice, because the GOP judge will rule “Guilty!” most of the time, while the Democrat judge will rule “Not Guilty!” most of the time.
Sucks that life-altering decisions must be made in this manner.
I have always wondered WHY is it that something that is “As simple as filling out a price club application” met with PRISON time when you fail to register? I have never understood how something that isn’t a CRIME for anyone else can be charged a FELONY which can be counted towards a strike!
This should be nothing more than an infraction with a fine! After all, I don’t have to notify Price Club every time I go shopping in another district and I certainly don’t go to PRISON for failing to notify them, do I?
There are already too many damn things that qualify for “Failure To Register” such as: Visiting another state on vacation, notifying LE if you move, spending the night at a family’s place for the holiday, not notifying LE about a change of address, change of school being attended (need to notify YOUR local LE as well as LE of he COLLEGE so that gives you two chances to screw up!), change of name, change of job, going homeless (which increases your notification from once a year to 4x a year!!) and the list goes on and an…..and the kicker?!
THIS IS ALL UP FOR INTERPRETATION WHICH CAN (AND ALWAYS IS…) USED AGAINST THE SOCIETY LABELED SEX OFFENDER! “Sorry pervert, but spending the night at your folks home in this state = a residence, I don’t care what your local LE says. You do not pass go, you do not collect $100 and go directly to jail!”
Yeah…….
The only thing more shocking than this case are some of the comments on this article. At the end the joke is on them, on all of us really, as the we the people just made the choice of putting this man in prison for the rest of his life / decades for missing documentation arising from a civil obligation instead of, oh, say, employ an elementary school teacher for pretty much the same cost.
When the printing presses in the fed basement run dry it will be time to pay the piper. That day will come.
I stay Compliant but I have signed the bottom line with ” Under Duress” Above My signature(*)_(<)…lol The lady just looked @ Me kinda blank like? It was all that print takin' & pictures like paparazzi & bein' booked every Year! Stressful & intimidatin' to say the least!