Great case: No duty to register if not “released from the sanction for conviction”
An excellent case came out of Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeals last week!
An individual who had been charged with a Failure to Register (FTR) had his charges thrown out by the Trial Court (and the Appeals court now agreed) because the statutory language of 943.0435 did not require he register.
You must read the order to get a full appreciation of the magnitude of this decision: Florida v. James
According to the language of the statute, one must be convicted of one of the enumerated crimes and (II) Has been released on or after October 1, 1997, from the sanction imposed for any conviction of an offense described in sub-sub-subparagraph (I). For purposes of sub-sub-subparagraph (I), a sanction imposed in this state or in any other jurisdiction includes, but is not limited to, a fine, probation, community control, parole, conditional release, control release, or incarceration in a state prison, federal prison, private correctional facility, or local detention facility.
James didn’t register, but argued that he wasn’t required to because he had not yet been released from the sanction imposed by his conviction – he still owed money.
This case is potentially ground-breaking for those who are still under sanction for their conviction.
More to come…
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let’s really start getting anal about it all
what if u were “terminated unsuccessfully” because of the fact u didn’t complete SO counseling?? Huh? how bout that?
how many people were supposed to complete SO Counseling as part of their sentence but as we all know that money grabbing scam never ends and when probation ends that is never brought up but it was still part of your sentence or probation orders so technically i think you’re still under sanctions or did not completely pay fine n costs or had them put on you as a lien
so this ruling is the holy grail that will turn into sess pool
So it’s additional punishment then. After your released you gotta go do this the rest of your life. Stupid me I paid all my crap off thinking I’d get restoration of civil rights from Scott so trying to find an angle in…
Dear FAC,
Will the lawyers in Doe v. Swearingen be arguing this for us in the near furture?
Another point that comes to mind is if the duty to register is in someone’s court papers isn’t that a sanction?