Source: ACSOL
The California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) has agreed to reduce tier assignments for individuals convicted of an attempted offense. That agreement has been formalized in an order issued by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge this week.
“This is a significant victory for those convicted of an attempted offense,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “In the past, CA DOJ assigned those people to the same tier as if they had completed their offense. As a result, thousands of registrants became ineligible to petition for removal from the registry.”
This agreement is in settlement of a case filed against the state agency in June 2022. Initially, CA DOJ refused to reduce tier assignments for those convicted of an attempted offense although sentencing for an attempted offense is significantly less severe than a completed offense.
In an attempt to resolve the case before trial, both parties filed motions for summary judgment in early 2023. The court, however, denied both motions for summary judgment in April 2023.
Although the court denied the motions for summary judgment, the court stated in its decision that it agreed with plaintiffs that convictions for an attempted offense should not be assigned to the same tier as a completed offense. The only reason the court denied plaintiffs’ summary judgment motion is that the tier assignment of one of the two plaintiffs would not change because he was convicted of an additional offense which requires assignment to Tier 3. Assignment to Tier 3 in most cases means an individual is not eligible to petition for removal.
Because of this statement in the court’s decision, CA DOJ entered into settlement negotiations with the plaintiffs. Settlement of the case was reached in early March and the parties reported the terms of the settlement to the court about 10 days ago.
The court order requires CA DOJ to “amend its policy regarding the tiering of convictions for attempt crimes” for all individuals convicted of an attempted offense. The court order also specifies that CA DOJ must reassign of the two plaintiffs from Tier 3 to Tier 1.
Due to this week’s court order, the trial in this case has been canceled.
Download the judgement:
So I just got an email from Janice, I asked if my charge 220pc would benefit from this, her answer was no since it only applies to attempts, my charge says “intent”. By definition attempt is actually worse than intent. For intent it says “ intent is a mental quality that implies a purpose”. Attempt says “attempt implies an effort to carry that purpose into execution”.
For these reasons the DOJ will continue have lawsuits filed against them, to be ticky tacky with two words that at the end of the day fall into the same category, a category where on both the end crime was NOT committed. Intent is that intent, not a completed crime.
Janice if you are reading this, I urge you to to look into these cases that have intent in them, why can they not be treated the same?