NJ Supreme Court finds Ex Post Facto violations as applied to 4 sex offenders
Yesterday, the New Jersey Supreme Court found that 2014 changes to the “community supervision for life” component of sex offender registration, which included enhanced punishment, could not be applied retroactively against 4 registrants whose offenses pre-dated the changed law.
In finding the laws violate the ex post facto provisions of the NJ and Federal Constitution, the court held:
“The Federal and State Ex Post Facto Clauses bar the retroactive application of the 2014 Amendment to defendants’ CSL violations. The 2014 Amendment retroactively increased the punishment for defendants’ earlier committed sex offenses by enhancing the penal ties for violations of the terms of their supervised release. The Amendment, therefore, is an ex post facto law that violates the Federal and State Constitutions as applied to defendants.The Court affirms the judgment of the Appellate Division dismissing defendants’ indictments.”
A copy of the full decision can be found here: https://www.njcourts.gov/attorneys/assets/opinions/supreme/a_91_16.pdf?cacheID=KCFsuXH
The correlation to Florida would be the recently enacted law that increases the punishment for a registration violation to include a mandatory minimum sentence of 6 months probation with GPS monitoring. In the words of the court, “a law that retroactively imposes additional punishment to an already completed crime disadvantages a defendant”.
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i can be sued and escape civil pentilitys by filing bankruptcy, ignore it, etc.. and not go to prison but her the gov. calls these laws civil and one can’t escape them no mater what!
last night I watched a film called The Pianist and was shocked how it resembled what Florida does to registered citizens so basically we have replaced the jews of Warsaw, Poland and live in Nazi Florida. One other thing about Pennsylvania I received a call from a gentlemen who has been off of probation for a few years and he said that Pennsylvania passed a law that will require ALL registered Citizens to go through life time counseling. Is this true?
Saying a suit in Florida should include all punishments established on date of release , retroactively is unconstitutional.
in 1999 i was to be on the so reg. for 5 years that was part of my sentence! i don’t know why it is not expost when it went to 10 then 15 then 25/life
This was one of the reasons our founding fathers went to war with King George.
When I was sentence for my crime, and I did it, I was ordered to do 8 years in Prison followed by 10 years probation. During the time I reported to my P.O. they never told me I could petition the Court to remove my Probation and the next thing I knew I was promoted to the Sex Offender List. Is this a “grandfathered” in. What I had been doing during the Probation time made no difference. I guess they thought since I was on Probation, I was out in the world “raping and pillaging. the country. It is frustrating to have to continue “paying”Air Force Base near me. At first it was being barred for 5 years. At the end of the five years,I got another letter from the Base Commander baring me for another 10 years. This came about when I was trying to get the offense removed from the computer so I could access the Base. I am only allowed to use the Medical Facilities and I have to notify the Security Police when I will becoming and the time. I have, not been able to meet face to face with anyone in the Security department. This came about at least 10 years after I got out of Prison, and I don’t get letters back when I submit paper work trying to change this act of injustice.
The ” as applied ” angle seems to work in cases than the class action angle. Colorado and now New Jersey. I only wonder if we have a similar ” as applied ” challenge with defendants in challenging the registry.
Man, I’m so tempted to do an as applied challenge at some point, but I have to see where I’m really at. If I would be a good candidate for it. Speak to an attorney(same one that got me out of probation – she is good). Study the Colorado and now NJ case. All of that. There is also $$$ to think about as well.