California Supreme Court reversal forces counties to examine sex offender registration

After a conviction for oral sex with a 17-year-old foster child under his care, ____ ____ served as an assistant to the Miss Rio Linda Pageant, where he was photographed with teenage girls.

If pageant officials and parents had checked the state’s sex offender registry, ____’s name would not have appeared. A judge granted ____ a reprieve from registration under a 2006 state Supreme Court decision that allowed judges to exempt offenders who committed certain child sex crimes.

In April, the state’s highest court reversed itself, requiring registration for those offenses, including some cases that had already been adjudicated, including ____’s. Local law enforcement officials are now discussing whether to require hundreds of past offenders granted a judicial reprieve to register under the new ruling. While registration increases community awareness, it also can limit where offenders live and their ability to find employment.

The state Department of Justice this month sent a letter to law enforcement agencies advising them to consult with district attorneys before making past offenders register if they had been given a judicial exemption. The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office plans to examine this week how to handle the cases, said Rob Gold, assistant chief deputy district attorney. Full Article

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This is why my wife describes our life as “waiting for it to strike midnight on a clock with no hands.” If I ever do get some kind of relief, I’ll feel half compelled to move just so they can’t notify me the next time they change their minds…

I’ll give you three guesses which way the Orange County DA is going to jump on this…and the first two don’t count.

Now I am even more confused..
Did the state say that they can change the plea bargain at ANY TIME?

This is for us that plea bargain BEFORE the internet came alone.
I think we shouldn’t have our name on the internet. Period.

There is no constitution, either state or federal, for registered citizens. Election time is coming up so the politicians are thinking about their own butts, and now it is good to be a tough on sex crime person. The Supreme Court justices are nothing more than pandering politicians who can legislate from the protection of their position. Referring to them as “justices” is a joke, their interests are not justice for all, but favor from a few.
How I wish that Sacramento was on a major fault line and the big one swallowed it up…

And registration is not punishment? Yeah right, tell that to anyone who must register again because of this new ruling. On the plus side this will make the state spend more on registration resources which is great because it clearly has nothing better to spend money on….oh wait how about anything else not connected with law enforcement or security like education, infrastructure, community improvement and collaboration, and long term crime prevention (the kind the law enforcement has no business being involved with).

It doesn’t seem right that they give some registrants a measure of relief and then take it away. It seems like some sort of twisted psychological torture.

Seriously??? The California Supreme Court just continues heaping more confusion on top of more confusion! And then they default to allowing the many District Attorneys to make these decisions at their own random discretion. It’s ridiculous!

“…served as an assistant to the Miss Rio Linda Pageant, where he was photographed with teenage girls.” I was thinking, how stupid, this guy was on parole. On the other hand…
OK, so now being photographed with teenagers is a registrable offense? I don’t get it, the guy violated his parole by associating with the teens, not violated a law. How is this an example that others exempt from the registry should be put on the registry after the fact?

I am curious now that the Supreme Court is re-writing laws how this ruling will affect all of us who had hope in receiving a COR. That may well be dust in the wind, and no hope what so ever.

This question seems like a new angle on the Doe v. Harris case. That case was largely dealing with people who entered plea bargains that would let them stop registering after they completed probation – which used to be the standard to stop registering for lesser offenses.

If we are now talking about not applying registration retroactively to offenders who were given a “judicial reprieve,” I would think that automatically has to extend to those who were relived of their registration requirement after getting 1203.4 relief, only to years later be told they have to start registering again, despite their affirmative actions to meet the previous standard to stop registering and having been able to stop.

Of course, I have to think the state high court will rule the same way on this question as it did in Doe v. Harris.

This gives me the feeling that anytime a registered citizen (or an un-registered one) does something stupid, all of us are going to have to suffer some revised ruling, enhanced requirement, or new law. (Just don’t call it punishment!)
So if Mr. X gets a speeding ticket, we will all soon lose our driving privileges?