Win in Indiana with ties to Florida
Some good news came out of the Indiana Supreme Court yesterday. Though the case does nothing to help us here in Florida (unless you plan on moving from here), it has an interesting tie to Florida and its lifetime registration requirement.
In 2013, Peters was convicted of sexual abuse in Illinois. He was ordered to be on the Illinois sex offender registry for 10 years. Three years later, he moved to Indiana. Indiana law has it’s own registration period, but in order to avoid people moving to Indiana just to reduce their period of registration, their law states that the person has to register for the longer of the period prescribed by Indiana law, or the period he or she is required to register in the other jurisdiction.
Since Indiana and Illinois were both 10-year periods, Peters’ registration was set to expire in October of 2023. That was all fine, except that in 2021 took a vacation in Florida. He never moved to Florida, just visited. But because Florida requires a sex offender to register a “temporary address” if they stay someplace for three or more days, Peters did the right thing and complied with Florida’s registration requirements.
We in Florida all know what happens next… Florida never removes you from their registry. Even if your only tie to Florida is a short (three day or more) vacation or business trip, you will remain on Florida’s registry for life! Well, shortly after Peters returned to Indiana, the Sheriff’s department notified him that instead of getting off in 2023, because of his vacation in Florida, he now had to register in Indiana for life!!!
Peters, having just had a major rug pulled out from under him, sued and lost in the trial court. Thankfully, Peters had the resilience and the resources to appeal. But the Court of Appeals affirmed (he lost). Both the trial and appellate courts basically ruled that Peters’ lifetime requirement in Florida (even though he’s no longer in Florida, didn’t commit his crime in Florida, never actually lived in Florida, just made a very unfortunate (and probably unknowing) decision to visit here briefly), triggered a lifetime registration requirement in Indiana.
Even more thankfully, Peters didn’t give up. Where most people would have run out of steam (or more likely, run out of money) he fought his case to the Indiana Supreme Court. And Won!!!
The Court ruled that Peters’ didn’t actually have a registration obligation in Florida since he was no longer working, living, or attending school in the state. Because he didn’t have to register in Florida, it can’t be used to extend his Indiana registration. Just because the State of Florida is unnecessarily cruel and chooses to continue to display the listings of people who are no longer in the state [NOTE That’s FAC commentary, not what the Court found], it can’t be used to move the finish line on his Indiana registration obligation.
The opinion can be found here:
Peters v. Quackenbush
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Sounds like moving from one state to another after being exonerated from the sex registry in Florida should not have been counted against him. 10 yrs is 10 yrs whether you finish your obligation in Florida or another state. I don’t blame the guy for going to court for the win.
And you guys lay off of Cherokee or are you judging another or are we all sex offenders or being corrupted by government achevement by many of their abuses and false narratives. Miscarriages of justice sounds like corruption to me.
Saddles
Thanks but I am a big boy and can handle myself. I have been shot, stabbed and even physically attacked many times (None of them when I was in law enforcement lol).
Not mad at the people bashing us in comments, mad that we get censored daily but FAC allows nasty comment from outsiders to go through. Case in point, there was a fight in here yesterday in German language between two posters. I wrote in German for them both to stop it and chill. That was never approved or posted.
German posts have been removed. They should not have been allowed through. We will have to do a better job of moderating.
Everyone on Earth can do a better job in my opinion. None of us are perfect but we should all try to be better, kind and thoughtful. No, I am not perfect, but I love positive people. Even as a kid I faced negativity.
My health is failing on a daily basis, and I would like to at least have one 24-hour period of not being on the registry before I die. But at my age, doesn’t seem I will see it in my lifetime. But the way the World is headed, it may not matter anyway. The registry may end up being the least of our problems to worry about. Some will know what I am talking about.