Pennsylvania State Police have started the process for removing as many as 5,000 ex-offenders from the Megan’s Law registry under a state supreme court mandate and a new law.
Shaquana Green appeared at a Pennsylvania State Police barracks last month to update her information as a registered sex offender. It’s an annual chore she has done for the last five years, having landed on the Megan’s Law list after disappearing with her daughter for three hours in violation of a custody order.
As of this month, though, the name of the 26-year-old Northampton County resident no longer appears on the registry, under a state Supreme Court ruling and a new exemption for parents who had been charged with interfering with custody of children, but no sex crime.
“I get to have my life,” Green said last week. “This is more than a blessing.”
Last year, the state Supreme Court ruled retroactive application of the state’s version of the new, tougher Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act was unconstitutional. In response, state lawmakers passed House Bill 631, a stop-gap measure to keep up to 12,000 individuals on the registry, but that included an exemption for legal guardians charged with interference with custody of children. Gov. Tom Wolf signed the bill into law Feb. 21. The exemption applies to only legal guardians of children, though another bill in the state Senate would remove interference with custody of children as a Megan’s Law offense; Pennsylvania and Louisiana are the only states where the crime is considered a violent sex offense even when no sexual contact occurred.
Also i was only on the PA registrey and the nationwide. No other state.
Went down to register under Act 10.
Here is what they wanted as information, because of being convicted before Dec 20 2012.
All my residences, cars, schools, jobs!
And that was it!
Court Order in Hand, relieving of Sorna Requirements.
No Internet Identifiers were obtained.
And after you are done the front copy of the paper clearly states what three items they are required to take from Act 10 registraints prior to Dec 20 2012 convictions
And also states on the front page all SORNA requirements required if convicted after Dec 20 2012.
Pretty simple process and then it shows if you are pending review, 10 year or lifetime.
Went in for Act10 compliance today, the trooper thought I was coming in to update SORNA requirements but I said no I’m here to comply with Act 10, he seamed a little lost, he said he doesn’t understand A10 and it’s very confusing, I should have kept my mouth shut but I know he knows about Muniz and I explained the Muniz case to him anyway because he was playing possum, he started getting upset I could see so I then shut my mouth, I did however tell him I am working with my attorney to clear this up, he said any changes, didn’t ask for identifiers or anything pertaining to SORNA bs, but they still gave me SORNA printout, now my papers are very confusing and they just plopped in there, (For offenders who are registered for an offense that occurred before December 20 2012, you must notify psp within 3 business days of the fallowing ) what makes this confusing is that they added it right at the bottom of section 2. In the first page, so does everything above apply to us still or does not not apply is the question. My SID number is still the same, teir level is gone, 12 month registration, it says Active pending review now, registration end date is still the same. I though they were going to re-collect the information.
they took all my info, I told the trooper I was pre sorna. he didn’t wanna here it or care. I wasn’t arguing because im choosing to fight my battle with my attorney. but they DID take my email, and other identifiers, even though it says right there in black and white what IS REQUIRED… but I wasn’t gonna press the issue because I knew it would get know where. the officer doing the update might very well have an OPINION on the matter, but its not up to them, they just fill in the blanks, I get that. there is nothing right on mine including end dates, so PSP is doing whatever, and obviously dragging feet for what ever reason. but im not waiting for them, I will get a judge to force it. the law is the law, and im due relief. I don’t care whether PSP likes it or not, the decision is no longer in their hands, they do NOT make the laws, they are only responsible for enforcing it, so PSP, get off your ass’s and do something…
Sean
They didn’t ask anything about identifiers as I said, he just asked if there were any changes, if I had any questions to call Harrisburg, I told him I have called Harrisburg several times, He didn’t respond, I wasn’t arguing with him, I feel like I should have kept quit but I just couldn’t help myself,
What I think happens on here folks don’t clarify their entire situation a lot may be similar but there’s always something it’s a little different one way or another and it can really get things twisted
Hope everyone gets there info straight today all this keeps me good and confused I’ll be lookin ta see what coments will be on here because it’s not like there’s many outlets for people ta talk about this stuff wish everyone the best
Shaun
I apologize for any confusion I may have cause but I am a little lost as well man. I hope my attorney clarifys this today.
I went in to comply with act 10 today. Evidently the troopers are not given much more info than us. I am back to yearly reporting, and pending review. The lady at Megan’s Law in Harrisburg told me i was at the backend of 17000 reviews due to being out of state and federal. The trooper told me to keep the act 10 paperwork that Harrisburg sent me, stating this counted as my annual, due to them changing my reporting date back to August, in case they send me one in August again. They seem to have little idea locally of what is happening at Harrisburg. It was painless due to the trooper being pleasant, but a pain due to my time should be up. Over 11 years on Pa registry alone, plus two years before i moved here.
Went in for my compliance. Trooper didn’t seem to want to deal with the entire thing. He just asked if I had any changes. I had one. He took it, asked if I had any others. I said no. He took my picture, had me sign it and sent me on my way.
I am going to refrain from posting what my attorney says from now on due to it may cause problems with my case down the road, but I will say that there are challenges to A10 coming down, cases we haven’t seen noor heard of yet but they will be coming to light is what I was told, so we will see hopefully in the near future some cases.
Looks like us out of staters are at the back of the bus when in fact the conference call a couple months ago said out of staters would be prioritized and first to be reviewed, such is life I suppose.
Debo
Not neither one, Stretton doesn’t want to deal with out of state offenses and Patron is a distance problem for me. But he does know them and he does know his stuff. The other attorney I dealt with was going the complete wrong direction for sure, but this guy knows his stuff like Sutton and Patron though, so if he can get me off the reg that would be great.
Just wanted to let everyone know what happened with me yesterday as I went to comply with Act 10 despite not receiving any letter (I did not receive the “you have to register” letter nor the “you no longer have to register” letter.)
As a quick backstory just so my particular situation is clear, I was convicted in 2005 and made to register for 10 years. I had 2 charges but both were in the same case, sentenced at the same time. I like most of you got swept up in SORNA in 2012 and re-set as lifetime registration, then sometime thereafter whenever that one court case came through, I was downgraded to 25 year registry. I was not an out of state offender. I’ve lived in Pennsylvania my whole life.
I did not hear anything at all about anything into January. My normal bi-annual registration is the first week of February. I never received the normal reminder to register. I missed my registration window by about 5 days because of this. In a panic when I realized what I’d done I called Megan’s Law division in Harrisburg. They said that I did not get sent a letter because of the challenges to SORNA and the Act 10 thing pending, and that I was under review, and I’d receive a letter with instructions but “You can go register anyway if you want to be safe.” So I did.
Registration went without issue, no charges or anything for being there late, though the officer said they did show they sent me a reminder letter as usual. I never got one. He told me then that hopefully by the time of my next renewal I wouldn’t have to do this anymore, because while he couldn’t say anything official, just by looking at my file it looked like I’d be one of the ones coming off.
Over the next few months I watched and read here about Act 10. Sometime in March I believe I was removed from the website but received no notice. I called Harrisburg and they told me that I was to have received a letter to comply with Act 10, however they held off sending one to me and others like me because my review was pending and it was likely I’d be removed before the deadline.
Again I received no letter so I called the first week of May. I was told that I so far did not need to register, and they expected my review to be done before then. However I never received anything. So I went in yesterday.
The officer was very matter of fact but not impolite. He told me that they basically did not give them much info either. He did say that an email was sent to the state police barracks yesterday morning telling them to basically not give any advice or much information, and that more info would be coming down the pipeline eventually. He did confide in me that he expected there to be a lot of civil suits as a result of this whole thing so he wondered if that had caused delays. He confirmed my file still showed pending review. He couldn’t tell me much more than that.
One other interesting thing he told me was that part of the issue was that when the website was upgraded to handle SORNA, the previous registration forms and whatnot were removed from the website. So that means as of right now, they have no way to put anyone on the site under the old megan’s law/new act 10 categories, because they don’t exist on the site yet. It’s still being re-worked to be able to re-add people under their proper tiers and registration requirements. He outright told me that anything that my printout may or may not tell me about my tier or my duration/length to register etc would not be accurate.
He did say it was good I came in despite not getting notice. He said he can’t say for sure what would happen if I did not show up, because he honestly did not know. But he said it was better to be safe than sorry. Other than that he had no new information to give me.
Back to the waiting game. I’m not on the website yet but I imagine it’ll take a couple days.
I think it is clear by what came out of the PA legislature this afternoon is that the rules are changing once more.
I read this last night when I saw the new revision. I don’t see too much different than Act 10, but there are some slight details like Judges can’t change times and remove anyone from the registry. Not that I think that won’t be fought, but it’s in there.
I have not read act 10 in a couple of months so I’m going to review that and provide thoughts, if anyone cares.
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2017&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=1952&mobile_choice=suppress
Brian did you move here before jan 23 2005? read from line 5 page 12
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/HA/Public/HaCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sYear=2017&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=1952&pn=2820&aYear=2017&an=07119
Brian it looks to me like you fall under 10yr page 39 line 1-8 It doesn’t say with ever time is greater.
Debo
No it doesn’t say that, I’m not sure where it says that, I know the last time I spoke with psp the lady said that to me, which ever I grater, that’s one hand no knowing what the other is doing, I think they are trying to get one over on me or something, the attorney I fired tied telling me I have to register for life unless I found something in Colorado law stating that, that particular offense was not considered life then he could not help me, he was trying to take my money without helping me I believe, or tried taking the long way around to milk the clock anyway, but eventually I would be in the same boat but broke.
@Debo
Yea that’s odd don’t ya think, no none teir people are, just teired people, I did see one who was pre SORNA who is teired but non co, but like you said he has a teir, there was a guy in my area who was obsconded and his name was removed a month ago but now he’s back up not not marked with non co or obsco, he last updated in 2012, maybe they can’t charge those who have had been noco, weird I tell you, or maybe you have to have been marked prior to the law changes, we will find out though I’m sure.
Someone on narsol posted Any reason why HB 1952 is still advancing thru the Senate?
As of May 22, 2018 it was given it’s third consideration and final passage with a 48 – 0 vote.
I thought that HB 1952 was effectively copied and pasted into something else which became Act 10…
Are they thinking that Act 10 will be over-ruled on some technicality of how it was passed and have HB 1952 waiting in the wings??
What are we missing here – this just doesn’t make ANY sense to me.
So I wander if this review process is going to take the entire 18 months and people are going to be dealing with laws going up and coming down, Does HB 1952 say something’s different then Act10, I thought HB 1952 and SB 631 were squueezed together to creat Act 10, feel free to correct me if I am wrong here.
Hello,
I’m reporting back, my time on the list under the 10 year plan was up in mid March 2018 and received no letter of any kid, I still went in and signed up just like I’ve done for over 10 years, around mid April 2018 I seen my name was no longer on list so I checked the national reg. I’m not there either, mid to later May 2018 I received my letter form PSP dated May 9, 2018 tell me they have completed there review and I no longer need to register as a sex offender, as I said before I know I’m not the only one who went through this, but is has been over 10 years of hell and loss, I’m 64 years old in bad health but when I received my letter I was so dam happy I cried, anyway I just wasn’t to let you all know how that part of this nightmare ended, thank you for reading.
Ed
Lmao He got jokes. That’s funny I gotta say 2
Congratulations Ed God bless you man
@Ed
Good luck man, hope everyone starts getting relief like we’re suposed to also, keep your nose clean and stay out of trouble.
Debo,
Thank you for the kind words, it’s almost like you know me, I have put on my share and others share of weight, I’m looking to work on that, again thank you all for everything.
Ed
New Bill Signed By Wolf?
Closed Loophole?
Does anyone have any news on this recent news, type in Google, “Sex Offender PA” and go to news.
Read the article?
My best guess is there was a loop hole under Act 10, that if the person was still incarcerated for a sex crime and never came home to register under SORNA, or there old registration due to them not making Parole during SORNA or BEFORE SORNA or AFTER MUNIZ, that because they were never registered yet under any Megans Law that they may not have been legally forced to register under ACT 10.
Because Act 10, was for continued registration of prior to SORNA, so if they havent registered yet then they would not be forced under ACT 10 because they were never registered on any registry.
I think that the law makers noticed it!!!