SACRAMENTO, CA – Local resident Donnell Cox was sentenced Monday to two years in California State Prison here in Sacramento County Superior Court for charges resulting from a crime he was convicted of more than a quarter-century ago.
Cox, 57, failed to sign up for the sex offender registry, a felony in California that carries a sentence ranging from 16 months to three years—interestingly, he will be serving a sentence considerably longer than his original sentence.
About 25 years ago, in 1994, Cox was convicted of sexual assault and battery. His original sentence was 93 days in custody and four years of parole. As a condition of his conviction under California Penal Code section 290.018(a), Cox is required to register as a sex offender every year within five days of his birthday.
Until recently California was one of only four states that required mandatory lifetime registration of all convicted sex offenders. As of January, 1 2021, individuals on the registry are eligible to petition the court for their removal, but it is at the court’s discretion and many less severe infractions remain on the books.
In August of 2020, Cox let his registration lapse which triggered a parole violation.
WHEW!!! I’m so glad the registry isn’t punishment! [sarcasm]
Wow. Finally a sympathetic headline. Never thought I’d see the day.
Gotta stay on ur toes if ur convicted of a sex crime and commit another crime ur definently going to prison in reality this guy got lucky the DA could of easily pulled pc667 the 3 strike law and gave him 5 years on top of that 2 I bet hes happy he only got 2 years California ain’t playing .
Good luck
So, he was on parole with probably monthly home visits, meaning they knew where he lived at all times. He probably even wore a GPS. How can a lawyer not argue this? Since registration is just administrative, and they knew where he lived, and it may not have been a willful failure to register (unless he absconded), how could this have even been gone as far as sentencing? The case should have been thrown out. What a bunch of BS. Registration is supposed to be ti prove he still lives where he lives, so what better way to prove this than the unannounced parole visits?
It says he was in violation of parole in 2020, but his offense dated back to 1994 with a 4 yr parole. So what ever parole he was on was not related to his sex offense. Yet of all the things they could get him on they chose this because it carries the stiffest penalty. Sure, registry is not punitive my ass!
It doesn’t matter if you like it or not or what do you think of it. If you’re required to register your’re required to register. So do it.
So what does it mean he let his registration lapse? Was he 2 days late and they jumped on that or did he just say “Screw it. I’m not going to register anymore.” or what?
That all is something we don’t know it’s hard to make a decision if the prosecutors were overly tough on that or not without that information.
Bottomline folks, Register on time! It doesn’t help to have a bunch drug charges either. The courts were fed up with him and now he is in deep doo doo
As usual, I hope this guy gets out and retaliates as severely as he possibly can. All legally, of course. He needs to cause extreme damage.
Personally, I think all PFRs should be retaliating right now. Millions of people. There is no reason to wait until the criminal regimes escalate their attacks.
The Hit Lists aren’t acceptable and there must be damage.