A ruling issued by a sharply-divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court could greatly alter the registration requirements imposed on some types of convicted sex offenders. The decision by the court’s majority states that offenders who commit some kinds of sex crimes, such as possessing child pornography, cannot be made to register with state police for life unless they commit at least one more sex crime after their initial convictions. In other words, they have to become recidivists to qualify for the lifetime registration. Full Article Decision Dissenting Opinion 1 Dissenting Opinion 2
Read MoreTag: State Supreme Court
KS: ‘Denial of justice’ to delay Kansas Supreme Court rulings for eight months, justice says
A Kansas Supreme Court justice accused his colleagues of denying justice by delaying a series of opinions for eight months after they were decided, a tactic that changed the court’s precedent and accentuated the sway a single justice’s appointment can have. Full Article
Read MorePA: Supreme Court to hear registration appeals from 3 sex offenders
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court has agreed to hear appeals by three convicted child molesters, including a Harrisburg man and a former Lancaster County teacher, who claim they wrongly are being forced to register with state police for life. Full Article
Read MoreIn a single day, the Kansas Supreme Court issues important constitutional opinions — and overrules them (Opinion)
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. On Friday the Kansas Supreme Court issued decisions in three cases — State v. Buser, State v. Redmond and Doe v. Thompson — holding that Kansas’s Offender Registration Act, requiring anyone previously convicted of various violent felonies, drug crimes or sex offenses to register with state authorities, cannot be constitutionally applied to people whose underlying felony convictions occurred before enactment of the registration statute in 2011. Full Op-Ed Piece Related KS: Sex offenders win and lose in unusual rulings by…
Read MoreKS: Sex offenders win and lose in unusual rulings by the Kansas Supreme Court
In an apparently unprecedented series of rulings, the Kansas Supreme Court on Friday overruled three of its own Friday opinions regarding state sex offender registration laws. In three separate opinions issued Friday, the court found 2011 changes to the sex offender registry law cannot be applied retroactively to offenders convicted before the law took effect. But then in a fourth opinion also released Friday, the court found that those rulings were incorrect. Full Article State v. Petersen-Beard: Decision – Oral Argument Video State v. Buser: Decision – Oral Argument Video Doe v. Thompson: Decision…
Read MoreCO: Supreme court says towns can ban sex offenders
Can a municipality pass an ordinance that effectively bans any registered sex offender from living there? That was the issue in Ryals v. City of Englewood, which the Colorado Supreme Court decided recently. Full Column Opinion
Read MoreWA: Supreme Court – Records of low-level sex offenders are public
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington’s Supreme Court says information about low-level sex offenders can be released under the state Public Records Act. The 7-1 decision Thursday overturns a King County Superior Court holding that found the records were not subject to disclosure. The ruling came in a case involving Donna Zink, a Franklin County woman who requested a copy of the Washington State Patrol’s sex-offender database. Full Article Opinion
Read MorePA: Second judge resigns amid ‘Porngate’ scandal
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice _ ____ ____ resigned on Tuesday, the second jurist to step down after being accused of using state computers to exchange sexually and racially offensive emails with his peers. ____, 67, a Republican first elected in 2001, tendered his resignation from the state’s highest court after admitting to sending approximately 18 “inappropriate” emails to friends, according to a statement form his lawyer, William Costopoulos. Eakin is the second Supreme Court justice caught up in the email scandal, dubbed “Porngate” by local media. Full Article
Read MoreNV: Ruling approves stricter sex offender registration
A ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court on Friday gave the go-ahead for the state to implement stricter registration requirements for sex offenders. Justices, in a unanimous ruling, denied a petition sought by 24 unnamed, previously convicted sex offenders to block the nearly decade-old law from being implemented while a lower court considers constitutional challenges. Justices said the judicial record of facts was insufficient for the high court’s review. … Assembly Bill 579 was passed by lawmakers in 2007 to make Nevada compliant with the Adam Walsh Act, a federal…
Read MoreNJ: Court Sets Polygraph Limits for Sex Offenders
TRENTON, N.J. (CN) – Polygraph testing is par for the course when New Jersey releases sexual offenders on permanent supervision, but the state’s parole board is barred from using such tests as evidence, a state appeals court ruled today. The decision comes in answer to a lawsuit five convicted sex offenders brought in 2013. Full Article Related Decision N.J. court upholds lie detector tests for sex offenders
Read MoreMI: Michigan Supreme Court takes sex offender list case
The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to look at the case of a man who’s on the sex offender list for life, although his conviction was erased nearly 20 years ago. Full Article
Read MoreMA: Supreme Court Rules Amended Sex Offender Registration Law Ex Post Facto
On July 12, 2013, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed into law a bill requiring the state’s Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB) to amend registry requirements for defendants classified as level two and level three sex offenders, under G.L. c.6, §§ 178D and 178K. Level two offenders are deemed only a moderate risk for reoffending, and prior to the new law, the Board was barred from publishing those offenders’ registry information online. Lawmakers deliberately sought to change that policy, and enacted a law that allowed the Board to retroactively post on…
Read MoreOH: Supreme Court upholds sex offender registration laws, rejecting cruel and unusual punishment argument
COLUMBUS, Ohio — State laws requiring that certain sex offenders register with local authorities and verify their address every six months for 25 years do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The case involved a 21-year-old defendant, Travis Blankenship, who pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor between 13 and 16 years old, a fourth-degree felony. He challenged the constitutionality of the sentence requirement that he register with the local sheriff and report every six months for the next 25 years. But…
Read MoreIN: Supreme Court scrutinizes sex offender registration requirement
INDIANAPOLIS | Indiana law, since 2006, has required sex offenders who must register in their home states to also register in Indiana if they relocate to the Hoosier State. But does a new Hoosier who committed a sex crime elsewhere prior to 2006 still have to register in Indiana? Or is that an unconstitutional “ex post facto” law that imposes a punishment that didn’t exist when the crime was committed? Full Article
Read MoreOH: Convicted sex offender seeks chance to take Ohio bar exam
The Ohio Supreme Court is debating whether a convicted sex offender who wants to be a lawyer should be allowed to take the state bar exam. The court scheduled a Tuesday hearing for the request by ____ ____, a former Army officer convicted in military court of sex-related offenses after his arrest in 1998 in an FBI sting operation in which he thought he was meeting a 15-year-old girl for sex. Full Article
Read MoreGA: Supreme Court Hears Arguments Over Sex Offender Law
The Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments Monday over a state statute that dictates how “sexually dangerous predators” are classified. ____ ____ was designated a “sexually violent predator” in 2013, which is the highest risk designation and requires him to wear an electronic monitor for the rest of his life. ____ was convicted for exposing himself and performing a sexually explicit act via webcam to an individual he believed was a 14-year-old girl, according to court documents. Full Article Case Info
Read MoreMO: Supreme Court weighing adult sex offender registration for youth
The Missouri Supreme Court heard a case Wednesday that could have wide-ranging effects on children accused of serious sexual crimes. The case involves a troubled, developmentally delayed 14-year-old St. Louis boy accused of sexually assaulting his 41-year-old adoptive sister. But it also could challenge the state’s little-known juvenile sex offender registry, and the juvenile court’s ability to place children on the adult registry. Full Article
Read MoreNJ: Supreme Court – Sex offenders who served their time can’t face penalties under new laws
Sex offenders can not be subjected to punishments under newly created laws if they committed their offense and served their time before the legislation was passed, the state Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision Monday. Full Article ———— Please note. .. this article is from September 2014. It was previously posted here at its original date. https://all4consolaws.org/2014/09/nj-supreme-court-sex-offenders-who-served-their-time-cant-face-penalties-under-new-laws/ Oooops. ***Moderator***
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