Why Florida Keeps Out-of-State Registrants on Its Registry for Life

In Florida, leaving the state does not necessarily mean leaving its registry behind. Florida’s law reaches people who establish even a temporary residence there, and once someone has registered, moving away or being released from registration elsewhere does not necessarily mean removal from Florida’s public website. Lindsey v. Swearingen explains why – the Constitution does not require Florida to adopt another state’s decision to end registration, or to remove a former registrant’s information simply because that person has left.

Douglas Lindsey was convicted in Oklahoma in 1999 and required to register there. In 2009, an Oklahoma court terminated his registration after an individualized finding that he posed a low risk of reoffending. He moved to Florida in 2011, and the state did not tell him he had to register until 2017. When he asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to honor Oklahoma’s order, it refused. He returned to Oklahoma in 2020, but his photograph and offense information stayed on Florida’s website. He sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, raising full faith and credit, equal protection, and right-to-travel claims.

The Northern District of Florida dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim in 2022. Full faith and credit obliges Florida to respect what the Oklahoma judgment decided – that Lindsey need not register in Oklahoma – but not to adopt Oklahoma’s policy about who registers in Florida. Once a person has registered, “the United States Constitution does not require Florida to purge or deny public access to the prior registration” merely because he has left. Lindsey v. Swearingen, 582 F. Supp. 3d 1127, 1132 (N.D. Fla. 2022). The Eleventh Circuit affirmed on the full faith and credit claim, holding that Florida “need not dispense with its preferred method” of protecting its citizens “because another jurisdiction has less restrictive requirements on sex offender registration.” Lindsey v. Comm’r of Fla. Dep’t of L. Enf’t, No. 22-10420, 2022 WL 4231823, at *3 (11th Cir. Sept. 14, 2022) (per curiam) (unpublished).

Registration is triggered by establishing a residence in Florida – even a “temporary residence,” defined extraordinarily broadly as any place a qualifying registrant stays three or more days in the aggregate during a calendar year. A short vacation or work trip may be enough. Once registered, section 943.0435(11) provides that a person “shall maintain registration with the department for the duration of his or her life” absent a full pardon or a conviction set aside. A petition is available after twenty-five arrest-free years, but not to people convicted of the many offenses the statute excludes. And as the Eleventh Circuit put it, the Act “does not provide a mechanism for removal from the Florida Registry upon domiciling outside the state.”

That stale listing does not stay in Florida. Federal law directs that the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website “shall include relevant information for each sex offender and other person listed on a jurisdiction’s Internet site.” 34 U.S.C. § 20922(b). A Florida entry therefore surfaces in nationwide searches and background checks no matter where the person now lives, creating consequences for employment and housing far beyond the state’s borders.

Lindsey at least reached the substance; many out-of-state challenges never got that far. Florida uses a four-year limitations period for these claims, and the clock starts the day the registrant initially registers in Florida. Later events do not restart it. In McGroarty v. Swearingen (11th Cir. 2020) and Huff v. Swearingen (11th Cir. 2021), the Eleventh Circuit drew a distinction between continuing harm and continuing legal violations. Florida’s continued publication of a registrant’s information may keep causing harm, but that ongoing harm does not restart or extend the four-year limitations period.

Momeni v. Swearingen applies the same rule in state court and shows how severe it is. Momeni was convicted in Oregon, registered in Florida in 2012, returned to Oregon in 2019, and was released from Oregon’s registry in March 2020. He sued in Leon County circuit court under the Florida Constitution. In May 2023 the court dismissed with prejudice, reasoning that he “was aware or should have been aware” in 2012 that Florida registration was for life. His deadline expired in 2016 – four years before Oregon released him, and years before he had anything to complain about. The lesson is urgent: consult an attorney promptly to avoid statute-of-limitations problems.

While the online FL registration remains present, it need never be updated by the registrant. This leaves a stale, dated, never updated listing. It’s hard to imagine how this listing could possibly assist FL citizens in protecting themselves in any manner.
Nonetheless, as these courts have read the Constitution, Florida need not honor another state’s decision that someone no longer must register, nor take down a record after that person has left the state. That is a choice reflected in Florida’s statutory scheme, and unless the Legislature changes it, thousands will remain on Florida’s registry despite having been released everywhere else.

Thanks to NARSOL for providing this write-up.