Edited: Another Out of State Challenge Fails in 11th Circuit
The opinion (Lindsey v Swearingen – Opinion), issued yesterday in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, held that Florida does not need to give Full Faith and Credit to an Oklahoma Order removing someone from the Oklahoma Registry, because the Oklahoma Order did not apply to the Florida Registry.
The bad: This is another in a series of bad decisions for people out of state challenging their continued presence on the Florida registry.
The good: The case really hinged on whether the Florida Court had to give Full Faith and Credit to the Oklahoma Order and not the constitutionality of whether keeping people on it’s registry who have left the state meets it’s “legitimate interest protecting the health and welfare of its citizens from persons convicted of sex offenses.” The opportunity remains for a future case to ask ‘how does keeping people on the Florida registry who have left the state meet that legitimate interest?’.
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If it’s true that Florida continues to receive federal funding to manage the registry based on the numbers of registered citizens, it would seem Florida is defrauding the government of money. If Florida is getting funded for roughly 80k registrants when we have roughly 26k actually living in the state, shouldn’t that be a problem? That can be raised with the Federal government if it hasn’t already?
This has been written about by Steven Yoder in the Appeal (https://theappeal.org/floridas-sex-offender-registry-proves-inescapable/) so it’s a widely known issue. WO, would you step up to take lead on your suggestion that this be raised to the Feds?
So, if a person that is no longer required to register in his “home” state moves to Florida, he will then be required to register in Florida? Are all states like this? I am about to be off the registry in my home state (after being on it for 10 years) and am looking to move to another state, and that particular state has a longer SO registration period (20 years) That particular state’s laws say that anyone required to register in another state must register in the new state. However, I am not required to register in my home state. So, therefore, if they are saying that only people required to register in another state have to register in the new state, then do I actually have to register in the new state?
Yes. If you are required to register under Florida laws you will have to register even if you completed your registration period in another state.
No. Not all states are like that.
You should consult with an attorney licensed in the state you are planning to move to.
There is logic then there is FloriDUH logic.
Though I feel sorry that Lindsey lost the case, the question begs, why didn’t he research the Floriduh statute before moving here?
This loss makes it obvious that the Floriduh registry is retroactive back to 1997.
From my perspective, I would have never left a state where I was removed from the registry.