Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of Sept 2024. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil. This section is not intended for posting links to news articles without additional relevant comment.
Related posts
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MI: Federal judge rules on ACLU lawsuit over Michigan’s sex offender registry
Source: detroitnews.com 10/1/24 A federal judge in Detroit has ruled parts of Michigan’s Sex Offenders Registration... -
A Prosecutor Allegedly Told a Witness To Destroy Evidence. He Can’t Be Sued for It.
Source: reason.com 10-2024 Absolute immunity protects prosecutors even when they commit serious misconduct on the job.... -
General Comments Oct 2024
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of...
Doing my annual here in Los Angeles. I’m at the cop shop right now!
Cop demanded I provide a phone number, and refused to process my annual without it. I told him that I an not required to provide this, he insisted. So I have it up him.
Is that legal?
Do you truly believe that individuals charge with penal code 288c(1) will be able to fall into Tier 2 and apply for removal after 20 years here California? Penal code 261.5 states literally the same thing? What am I missing here?
Has anyone heard if there has been any updates on the Missouri Halloween sign case? I can’t find any updates.
I think ACSOL should campaign to get rid of the following legislators, (They’re both Democrats and one particularly noxious Republican) Mark Berman, Aisha Wahab, Buffy Wicks, and Shannon Grove. These people are out to get us so they need to lose their seats.
We live in a country where they won’t ban guns, but lazily opt to ban us instead. That’s how I know this is not a legitimate “war” to protect children. No, this is a war to protect the bribes from lobbyists, to keep the pockets lined and to protect the technology that’s used to scapegoat us with.
American’s love affair with fetishizing and worshiping guns and registries.
I guess banning guns is not worth that magic jingle of “if it saves one child’s life, it’s worth it.”
No amount of logic will ever make any of this make sense.
So today so the day I am doing my annual registration. Been almost 20 years since my initial registration and 10 years since probation ended all here in California.
My question is in regards to what information can they legally ask for when registering. I own a few businesses, I am self employed, and I have small percentage interest in other businesses. I do not work for anyone else. The officer that was doing my fingerprints said it was mandatory that I provide all of my businesses. I can’t find anywhere that states that I must do so. None of my businesses cater primarily to kids or about kids.
Does anyone know?
I was convicted in 2001 and got off paper in 2015. I wish I had the legal smarts to use the South Carolina case of Powell v. Keel to petition the Court here in Arizona to get off the Registry as the situation is the same here that Registration is for life and there is no vehicle to petition to get off.
The only exception is if you were under 21 and victim was within 3 years of your age.
Excellent commentary on the topic of propensity of other unsubstantiated alleged prior crimes and its desired allowance into court cases for the prosecution…
‘He Says, She Says’ In Harvey Weinstein’s America, September 6, 2024, Law360.com
”The controversial decision by New York’s highest court to overturn Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault conviction has some lawmakers focusing intense new scrutiny on centuries-old legal jurisprudence barring evidence of a defendant’s criminal propensity.”
If the prosecution is going to be allowed to present unsubstantiated alleged prior event evidence such as discussed here, then one needs to allow other unsubstantiated alleged prior acts evidence against the accuser as well (which is commonly not allowed in defense evidence) to balance the “hearsay” evidence thinking in play. If the rules are changed for one group, then by rational thinking, they need to be changed for all, not just the group being charged with a sex offense crime.
Latest phone scam: Scammer claiming to be “local police” asks you if you are texting children. I immediately hung up
If any of us here are feeling down about our circumstances, take a read of Sandy’s 9/3 article over at NARSOL and you’ll see how bad it can be. This poor kid took a plea deal – 68 years of prison time for 30 counts of cp possession when he was 19. Oh yeah, did I mention it’s Florida? I am not saying there should not be consequences, but this was non contact, no distribution. The way we incarcerate in this country is nuts. This sentence will help no one.
Too bad Jeffery Jones was left out of BEETLEJUICE 2. He is a funny actor and really filled a spot in original. If only he had just ruined 1000s of lives by embezzling millions , or killed a family while drunk driving, or even tortured defenseless kittens, he might still have a career. But alas , he had a few pictures. That BASTARD! 😎
Watching a documentary about Filipino children used for Online Sexual Abuse. Since 2020 there have been 2 million identified children in the Philippines used by their families, in this way. When it comes to sentencing people caught paying for this, the Courts will see a difference between them and myself, however once they go home…none?
I’m not certain how many Americans do this, but Americans are the number one purchasers. Not sure how many get caught, but presumably some do. Questions:
* There will no difference as far as the Registry is concerned between one these purchasers and myself? No difference in the minds of the people? All “Internet PFRs” will be this, at least in the minds of our neighbors?
* This will interfere with efforts to change tier assignment for persons like myself?
* State will claim that all 311’s were, “on a path to this” and the only reason any of us never did this was that we got caught and registered before we started? (Official State Lie: “P2P Pics are a gateway to this, and maybe worse”? )
* This will make tier reassignment easier, as people will see that what I, and others like me, were doing on the P2P Networks, was “tame” in comparison to what we could have been doing?
How many of you have been blessed with the opportunity to gain relief from registration. I have.I have 7 months to go and I can file my paperwork. Everything points to me being relieved. A misdemeanor, no jail time, no contact, blah blah blah.
My attention has recently turned to something else. That something is what then. The last 10 yrs have found me doing nothing more than first suffering the massive depression of lifetime registration. Then finding out that with the tier system I will have an opening. And now facing a life of relative freedom, yet nowhere to go. I will be filing for SS and my naval pension soon enough. My status has hit my income so that living in the bay area has left me with little in the way of savings relative to what I would have had. I haven’t made friends , haven’t held relationships with family and don’t see the possibility of rejoining my family overseas. After all, they all have lives and have moved on with them.
I will be 63 with little expectation of having any semblance of a relationship. No children. I keep thinking , “Well, I can find a cheap country to retire in”, but what does that really mean. Waking up to knowing that you are alone from here on out. I have lived by the motto that the path you are on is yours alone. But who’s to say if that path has lead you to happiness. I often think that driving to a secluded forest, walking in and just disappearing could be the best path. I hear from therapists, “ Tomorrow is another day “. Sure, but what if it’s just another day.
I just emailed my Florida’s legislation and asked them to constitute the registry. I’m curious to hear their response, if any.
I know that as a PFR the county and state will deny housing assistance based on that alone, but what about after you have been removed. Can the county still deny. I also understand that even getting it requires qualifying and being placed on a waiting list. That being said, I doubt if that has been tested since the tier system has been in affect for a relatively short time.
Also those lines, has ACSOL considered making a housing section where PFRs could ask about receptive places that other PFRs are aware of, or general housing questions that others could help with.
I haven’t used my VA. loan yet since wasn’t planning on staying in U.S. , but wanting to know if anyone has applied while on or after removed from registry and what if any obstacles were encountered relative to it.
thx.
Good morning friends. Have I got a FLORIDUH story for you! On my return flight from KC to Boston, Spirit Airlines routed me through Orlando on a night flight. After sleeping in the airport overnight, I find out my morning flight was canceled and pushed up a few hours. So I rebooked it for the next day, and got in contact with someone I met on the plane who picked me up and let me stay with him and his wife who lived an hour away in Daytona. Meanwhile, that 48 hour Floriduh clock was ticking. The following day, they drove me to downtown Orlando where I decided to hang out and then catch an Uber to the airport. Needless to say, I didn’t make it in time for my flight, then I had to again rebook for the next day. By then I exceeded the state’s 48 hour registration grace period, and I was sweating bullets overnight while waiting for that early morning flight to Boston. I finally caught the flight and saw the last of Floriduh.
There is a nation wide shortage of fire fighters yet they won’t hire PFRs and they release those already qualified and employed. Looks like global warming is having the last laugh.
Latest Update on the Utah Fee Challenge: The Utah Supreme Court denied cert.
In Utah the fee was taken from my tax refund through an informal administrative action. I timely requested a hearing (2013), but the State failed to set the hearing as mandated by law. The State sent a letter refusing to set a hearing on my timely filed request, instead offering a hearing limited only to whether they could take my money under the statutes. In 2019 the State did the same, and I again requested a hearing, and that time the State scheduled the hearing mandated by law. I challenged the levy because the State did not have a judgment against me, due process and they could no longer get one due to the statute of limitations, and that the fee was equivalent to a probation/parole fee (ex post facto). The administrative law judge dismissed the constitutional issues because they lacked authority (separation of powers) to decide them and deferred to the Courts. He separately ruled that the limitations issue was non-constitutional, and that limitations do not apply to administrative actions.
In 2019, years after the limitations period, Utah made any debt 90-days delinquent a judgment for only the purposes of tax refund garnishment, it is not a judgment for any other purpose (thus not on my credit report).
I appealed to the District Court as all of my issues were constitutional and Utah Admin Code of allowed for “reconsideration” only for my type of hearing before that agency. Utah Code does not require a person to ask for reconsideration before seeking judicial review (appeal to the Courts), U.C.A. 64G-3-302(1)(b).
This was all ignored by the District Court. My appeal was dismissed for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, default on 2013 issues, limitations applied against affirmative defenses, governmental immunity, failure to joinder the Utah Department of Corrections (UDOC), declaratory judgments not allowed in judicial review proceedings. Utah has an agency that handles all collections, OSDC, which represents UDOC and all other agencies when collecting debt, they are the ones who took my property without a judgment.
I appealed all issues to the Utah Court of Appeals. It only issued reasoning on two main issues: exhaustion of remedies, and default in 2013. The Court of Appeals ignored 63A-3-305 stating that the State “shall” set a hearing. It acknowledged that I timely responded in writing and requested a hearing. But, it sided with the State, ignoring its violation of law and Utah Supreme Court precedence, stating that I was in default for not agreeing to a limited hearing that would ignore my constitutional issues. The Utah Supreme Court requires those in administrative actions to litigate constitutional issues at the administrative level or those issues are barred from judicial review. The Court of Appeals agreed with the State that it was then my duty to file a Rule 65B Motion for Extraordinary Relief, to have the Court’s order the State follow the law. Because I failed to do that, I was in default. Also, the Court of Appeals ignored 64-G-3-302(1)(b) which states that I need not file for reconsideration prior to filing for judicial review, their opinion didn’t even mention it although it was argued in the pleadings on both sides. They concluded that I failed to exhaust my administrative remedies because my limitations argument was not constitutional. This was done in an unpublished Order of Affirmance instead of a published opinion.
However, in 2020 in Mitchell v. Roberts, 2020 UT 34, the Utah Supreme Court said that the State could not revive a claim that was past limitations, which is what the State did in 2019 when it made any debt past 90-days delinquent a judgment by statute. Thus, the limitations issue is constitutional. The Courts also ignored my citation to various SCOTUS rulings stating that a person is entitled to a fair and meaningful hearing prior to being deprived of a property interest, due process.
I appealed to the Utah Supreme Court, and they refused to hear the case. Now to decide if it is worth it to appeal to SCOTUS.
A little confused?
So I was on the list for 32 years but removed a few years ago. So gratefull for all the work that Janice and others did to get the new law passed.
My conviction – 288(a) – Sentenced 1989 – 120 days work furlough with 5 years pobation. Expunged in 1994
Up until I was removed from the list I would have been considered a covered individual per international megan’s law if I elected to travel. It’s my understanding now not having to be on any list anywhere, I’m not considered by the Fed’s to be a covered individual.
I’m applying for a new passport next week and plan to start traveling again. (my old one expaired in 2013).
I just dont understand how the Fed’s on one hand can say I’m not a covered individual per international megan’s law anymore, but they will still send out notifications on me as they have on other individuals on this site that are not considered covered individuals anymore. .
It seems this is “Double Jeopardy” – a legal principle that prevents someone from being tried or punished more than once for the same crime. It’s a protection against being harassed by multiple prosecutions and prevents the state from repeatedly trying to convict someone for the same offense
I recently did a poll with a PFR group I talk with. It’s an informal mtg 13 of us held about each month. Kinda like free counseling to get stuff off our minds and offer a friendly face.
Anyway, I asked everyone if they had a choice to double their sentences ( no one had served more than 10 yrs ) if they didn’t have to register, would they take the offer. Every person said yes. Even the ones that got probation like myself said they would take prison time in exchange for no registration. So how can this ever be considered non punitive.
Would like to take the same poll here.
Filed my 290.5 petition on August 26, It sucks I gotta go through this whole process all over again. I’m guessing it’s gonna take about 6 months to get off the registry from this point.
Next year will be 25 years down, I should’ve been off already but I got 2 FTR charges that added 4 years to my mandatory registration time period.
We already know the DA is gonna ask for a hearing so we’re ready.
The more I hear and read about “Price Club” Roberts, the more despicable he becomes in my opinion…In my opinion, he does not believe in the constitution based upon various court opinions that he has been involved with or written.
Hello all,
I know this is low hanging fruit (as Janice has said, try starting with the lower stuff) but ’tis the season. Halloween used to be my favorite holiday since I was a child; it now depresses me greatly due to the legal restrictions my husband needs to abide by. I feel beyond upset by all these laws that have no research to back up their validity.
Sorry for all the questions. I appreciate any help, thoughts, etc.
Spinning off rom the latest story about Internet hook up stings… some distantly related questions.
How do these people fall for these strings? Any chance of “fixing the problem”?
Has America become a place where desperately lonely people desperately seek out “fixes” to this desperate problem? Are some of those desperately lonely people adults, and others teens?
People hook up, not so much for sex as out of loneliness? Adults look to teens for this in hopes that this will “work better” than the failed relationships they have had, or can’t get, with more age appropriate people? An easy relationship, with someone that is neither demanding, nor has decades of emotional baggage they bring with them?
Teens want a more “Genuine emotional connection” than they can get from their peers at school? Their relationship with their “Social Media followers” leaves too much to be desired to be satisfying? They need more? Someone that understands them, and will never “Unfriend” them just because they have emotional needs that make then seem “Uncool”?
Both the adults and the teens hide the painful loneliness that is their life from everyone, because they are certain nobody they know can help, and are scared to find out that nobody will even try, because they don’t really care? Asking for help from the people they know, won’t work and might actually make things worse?
That’s why people hide how lonely and miserable they really are, and then look for anything that can “fix that” at least for awhile? Not everyone turns to substances, some find other ways to “address the problem” by making it “go away”?
If everybody thinks they will get enough of what they really want out of this, everyone is sure THIS…WILL.. FIX…the problem?
Nothing ventured, nothing gained?
I keep hearing the saying: “It’s a marathon, not a sprint..” repeated a lot on here.
Well, I would just like to let everyone know that a marathon only lasts about 4-6 hours.