MI: Federal judge to hear latest arguments in case of sex offender registry ruled unconstitutional

UPDATE 2/5: Hearing today to decide whether to remove thousands from Michigan sex offender registry

Also see:

https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/02/constitutional-fight-for-michigan-sex-offender-rights-now-before-federal-judge.html

[michiganradio.org – 2/3/20]

Lawyers will make their case in front of a federal judge on Wednesday over what to do about the state’s sex offender registry.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled nearly four years ago that many of the requirements of Michigan’s registry are unconstitutional. But the law hasn’t been changed, and people continue to be on the list.

“The court has said that this registry is so ineffective, that it is also unconstitutional,” says Miriam Aukerman, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Michigan. “And yet the Legislature has done nothing to fix it.”

In its August 2016 opinion, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals described Michigan’s Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA) as “a byzantine code governing in minute detail the lives of the state’s sex offenders.”

“SORA brands registrants as moral lepers solely on the basis of a prior conviction,” the court wrote in its opinion. “It consigns them to years, if not a lifetime, of existence on the margins, not only of society, but often, as the record in this case makes painfully evident, from their own families, with whom, due to school zone restrictions, they may not even live.”

Read the full article

 

Related posts

Subscribe
Notify of

We welcome a lively discussion with all view points - keeping in mind...

 

  1. Your submission will be reviewed by one of our volunteer moderators. Moderating decisions may be subjective.
  2. Please keep the tone of your comment civil and courteous. This is a public forum.
  3. Swear words should be starred out such as f*k and s*t and a**
  4. Please avoid the use of derogatory labels.  Use person-first language.
  5. Please stay on topic - both in terms of the organization in general and this post in particular.
  6. Please refrain from general political statements in (dis)favor of one of the major parties or their representatives.
  7. Please take personal conversations off this forum.
  8. We will not publish any comments advocating for violent or any illegal action.
  9. We cannot connect participants privately - feel free to leave your contact info here. You may want to create a new / free, readily available email address that are not personally identifiable.
  10. Please refrain from copying and pasting repetitive and lengthy amounts of text.
  11. Please do not post in all Caps.
  12. If you wish to link to a serious and relevant media article, legitimate advocacy group or other pertinent web site / document, please provide the full link. No abbreviated / obfuscated links. Posts that include a URL may take considerably longer to be approved.
  13. We suggest to compose lengthy comments in a desktop text editor and copy and paste them into the comment form
  14. We will not publish any posts containing any names not mentioned in the original article.
  15. Please choose a short user name that does not contain links to other web sites or identify real people.  Do not use your real name.
  16. Please do not solicit funds
  17. No discussions about weapons
  18. If you use any abbreviation such as Failure To Register (FTR), Person Forced to Register (PFR) or any others, the first time you use it in a thread, please expand it for new people to better understand.
  19. All commenters are required to provide a real email address where we can contact them.  It will not be displayed on the site.
  20. Please send any input regarding moderation or other website issues via email to moderator [at] all4consolaws [dot] org
  21. We no longer post articles about arrests or accusations, only selected convictions. If your comment contains a link to an arrest or accusation article we will not approve your comment.
  22. If addressing another commenter, please address them by exactly their full display name, do not modify their name. 
ACSOL, including but not limited to its board members and agents, does not provide legal advice on this website.  In addition, ACSOL warns that those who provide comments on this website may or may not be legal professionals on whose advice one can reasonably rely.  
 

77 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

why can’t the judge said “I’ve had enough Megan’s law is now shut down. Every one is OFF The list because the state didn’t do anything for 4 years”

Any news from anywhere or rumblings anyone has heard? I realize this is going to take time as sadly no judge or politician wants to be the person responsible for pulling the switch on this, but it seems clealand and nessel seem to be our best shot at getting anything done at all. I’m curious to see how it will affect those of us who are on the non published list with a “minor” designation due to age at the time of prosecution and plea. I’ve been on half my life this year, I’m 34 so hoping some form of relief comes for all as I too have delt with the public ridicule, sideways glances and even been told should be put down like a dog and spat at by people who or strangers and just see the balloon designation as an offender with no clue what it means. Here is hoping something comes of all this given the amount of time and opportunity given to the state to take action.

When they apply these unconstitutional laws to thousands retroactively years after a crime is a abuse of power at the highest level , this judge should do what is right, He should destroy this registry and force them to rewrite their money trap and give back the LIVES of citizens who in many cases have served their time for their crime , what is crazy is this has gone on this long, when the court knows its WRONG ! Lets hope the judge slams them hard , He should also state in black & white in his order that what they have done, they are NOT getting away with it… AWARD all they people they added punishment after the fact with out a judge or jury … CASH . This is B.S and everyone knows it including the state of Michigan. They are allowing the State to be Judge Jury and Executioner .
” SO UNCONSTITUTIONAL ! “

Hello Everyone,

Well, I received another email from Tim from the ACLU today, and I am not sure what is going on between them and the State, but it all sounds like crap and runaround to me. Maybe I am missing something when it comes to all this legal crap, but for those of us that were placed on it retroactively and those of us that are pre-sorna 2006 and 2011, and/or who were convicted before a registry even existed and placed on it anyway should be removed from it automatically, but according to Tim’s statement that is not the case. So the people that are smarter and understand this stuff much better then me, could you please explain to me how the state claims they can keep us on it for life, even though they clearly clost and it was found to be punishment and unconstitutional. very confused and frustrated. Anyway here is his email to me.

HIM: Bottom line is that if you are a Tier 3 the states position is that you will stay on the registry for the rest of your life. If we do not give the state more time to work with us that could end up being what happens to you and all Tier 3’s and no change for anyone else as to the number of years. You want us to take a hard position then understand that you could be cutting your own possibility of getting off at 25 years. You must not have gotten my last email because you are saying the same thing that you will automatically be removed. How can I be more clear, NO you will NOT unless we can work this out with the State.  The Judge will take as long as he see’s fit to answer our arguments and we should not push him or he could just rule  against us.  He also is more likely to rule in our favor when he see’s we are trying to work with the State.  

Respectfully Tim P ACLU of Michigan SOR Specialist 

Will this case effect people after 2011 and 2006 that were put on the list?

I’m sure we can’t write Judge Cleland, but can we write anyone? Will it help anything?

I’m 1000% sure from the last hearing that NO ONE in the gov wants to let a single person off the registry. Even the ACLU would be happy if no one got off,,, as long as the law was made to pass constitutional muster,,,, our ACLU attorney stated so in court..while explaining that she wished the lawmakers had taken action..
The problem is that the legislature has stepped right in it by not taking action,,,, judge Cleland is running out of excuses not to order the injunction and stop the punishment,,,, it’s something that’s supposed to happen quickly when your punishing people your not allowed to. His job is only to interpret the law,,, and enforce it…he’s the court. He would absolutely prefer not to publish an opinion. It would work out way way better for everyone if the state and the ACLU as well as the judge can make an agreement out of court that would sort of make everyone happy.
However,,,, we are obviously running out of time for all that deal making/revising the law stuff. Judge Cleland could send the law back to Michigan to work out,,, and order separation of the “punishment parts” for ex post facto people,,, or he could sever the parts himself,,,, in court he absolutely did not seem like he was inclined to do either…… So now something has to happen. He’s between a rock and a hard place and our lawmakers put him there…In the end,,, I think our lawmakers have made it crystal clear by their actions,,, they are gonna do ZIP, nada, nothing. The judge can’t rewrite the law. He made that very clear in court “that’s not my job”. I think in the end,,, he’s going to probably order the injunction with some sort of delay until it takes effect to give our amazing lawmakers one more chance to fix this problem,,, and if they run out of time again,,,, maybe,, just maybe, someone may come off the registry. Even then;,,, if they adopt SORNA to the letter to keep the fed money theoretically,,,,, We could all well be recaptured and right back in the same boat. However,,, it should be a slightly easier boat to paddle given agreement on both sides with counts 1-3 of the motion.
It’s my opinion that the lawmakers will continue to do what gets votes which is leave these laws alone,,,, I think the injunction will be ordered and ex post facto will come off,,,,, However I think it will get votes if someone does something to put us all back on and it actually may end up worse,,,, if the classification is justified like in other states with SVP laws,, if your victim was under a certain age or you were convicted of more then one offense,, they require lifetime GPS monitoring that the registrant has to pay for…. or even worse “civil commitment’.
I surely see it as a fight that will continue for many years to come. I would not expect it to be over for anyone with one judges ruling wether it’s in our favor or not.
Again I’d like to add that getting involved is the only hope for a positive outcome and TBH,,,, neither side seems particularly interested in getting involved. We need to continue to do better and be more active,,,including myself. Make our side be the strong one by stepping up at every chance you can. Good luck!!!!

My fellow brothers and sister affected by this registry business:

No one on here understands the struggle, the prejudice, and Ostracizing that we have gone thru with being on the SOR than us. We have been persecuted, forced to move, and live in fear for decades. We are on the brink of something huge happening, and to us, it can’t come fast enough. I totally agree, as I’m living it with you.

As passionate as we are with this topic, justifiably so, we need to take a back seat and let the ACLU do their job. I’m not saying that feet are being dragged. We all know that the state is intentionally stalling. But Tim and Miriam also said the same thing to me, if we push too hard on either the judge or the state, we may very well end up in a worse situation than we already are. We instead need to take a proactive approach and when the ACLU has opportunities for us to speak to legislators or at the hearings, be active! Speak up then! Complaining about the unconstitutional treatment, while doing nothing productive to try and have an impact on the changes, is hurting us more than it is helping. Whether it is with our case with Judge Cleland, or the Betts Case in the MSC, change is going to happen. My patience is running thin as well, but we need to stop “poking the sleeping bear” and let the ACLU do their job.

If I get anymore productive info, I’ll be sure to share!

Brothers and sisters , it’s going to be alright . No matter what happens , it will work in our favor. I know it’s been a long battle for some of us ( 20 years for me ) but we have survived and pushed through to be the best we can in this unforgiving society. I don’t care what the law is trying to do to us, GOD is in control and we are about to see a miracle. Have faith in God not man , and believe. So a man thinketh , so is he. I BELIEVE!!!!!!

I know we are not allowed to say we are victims. But I just lost working as a sub contractor for a company that knew of my case in the very beginning. Before I started to do any work for them they had called my parole officer. My PO gave me a very good endorsement so they accepted me to sub work for them. Through out the years I have been been one of there best techs. But they always found ways to take more and more money from my jots knowing I wouldn’t quit. I am a highly skilled HVAC tech but couldn’t find no work any work. I have never had a single complaint. Even the owner of the company calls me when he needs tech support. But greed plus my situation has made me a easy target for them to take what they want. With my hands being tied I could not do anything. But now they have increased the amount I have to pay a helper for big jobs from $10 to $80. I can longer afford this. So I had stop subbing for them. I have live in a motel for years. I have a van payment and have paid so much to have all the tools for the trade. But now I’m in fear. I have sleepless nights. Chest pains and anxiety. I have to pay for my own insurances for my business and that payment is cumming up. I have been waiting for the day to come where there is no more registry. But it might come to late for me if it comes at all. Even if they do pass something I could still find myself on it. I am consider low risk but I have a tier 3 status so they could still find a way to keep punishing me but that sound like I’m saying I’m a victim again. I could only pray and cry out for mercy that they would take the registry completely away. But life doesn’t work that way. If you want to call this life.The Walking Dead.

thoughts anyone??