South Carolina Supreme Court rules that lifetime placement on the sex offender registry is unconstitutional
The S.C. Supreme Court has ruled the state’s lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender is unconstitutional and those who demonstrate a low risk of re offending may have their names purged with a judge’s permission.
You can read the Court’s opinion here: https://www.sccourts.org/opinions/HTMLFiles/SC/28033.pdf
https://law.justia.com/cases/south-carolina/supreme-court/2021/28033.html
Watch oral arguments here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTPq69kGgiE
Discover more from Florida Action Committee (FAC)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
So? If I move to South Carolina, and a Judge removes me from the sex offender registry, does that mean I am no longer a sex offender? Also, am I then allowed to move back to Florida and not have to register? And will Florida then have to remove me from their registry?
No. Not at all.
The way I read it , The defendant was removed from the registry but anyone else would have to wait till the state changes the law. Plus go through an evaluation. Also in SC just like other states that you complete your registry requirements but move to another state with different requirements your right back on the registry again.
Yes can you please email me his attorney cause Florida is saying the only reason they won’t remove is due to sc so please let me know his attorney name please
Donald
Good luck and hope you have the funds to take on these challenges. Many of us can barely pay for food so nair chance of us ever being removed. I may have to sell a kidney to go back to court.
What is even scarier, when I first went to court, back 30 years ago, I didn’t even go to trial. But between bonding out 3 times (They kept holding back charges do every time I bonded out, I got re-arrested) paying lawyers, and other fees and expenses, I had to sell my house and my car.
I spent over $75,000 just to be sent to prison for longer than someone who murdered someone. The judge at the time even spoke and said that the only suspects (She used a harsher word) she hated more than murderers were sex offenders. I knew I was screwed right then.
I blame myself for not telling my lawyer right then and there to pull my plea and go to trial. But, I didn’t have the money and was told if I lost at trial the judge for sure would punish me for that with a life sentence. He said at the time there was no worse judge I could have gotten.
Another way I knew I was screwed, when I got sentenced, my atttorney went into the hallway and vommited into the trash bin. He did redeem himself with my (even more expensive) appeal. That took almost 10 years. Also Florida at that time was handing out massive gain time due to overcrowding. So I only did 4 of that part of 10 years. Then was to do another 12 years probation.
CherokeeJack:
It sure seems you could’ve gotten your case re-heard based on the judge’s bias and prejudice. It certainly would’ve been an easy appeal.
AJ
I appealed the sentence (And won the 3rd time) I was not appealing the guilty plea because I thought if I just pleaded guilty to everything and not put anyone through a trial I would be given a lighter sentence. Boy was a I wrong.
I did not have the money for a trial (Spent it all on bonding out twice). My parents offered to mortgage their home for a trial but was not going to make my parents pay for what I did. (Although they paid in heartache over my arrest)
You can’t even die and get off the registry !!!
Jerry
Well if i am dead, I would probably be less worried about being in the registry. And for me personally, I know I would be in a better place.
I do not know if when we get to Heaven we get any super powers, but I doubt God is going to allow me to let lighting strike the registry headquarters LOL
Tired
A wise man once said “It is more likely to win Powerball than to be removed from the Florida Registry”.
Ok, not really a wise man, it was me, but …………….
I’m no expert, but hot damn this one seems like a VERY big win.
Slowly but surely commonsense and facts are slowly balancing out the overwhelming weight of paranoia and ignorance currently dictating “justice”. I remember a time when marijuana was illegal and now look at all the states legalizing recreational use……..Its all about how quickly or slowly the pendulum swings.
Rick
But, the powers to be realized they could regulate the crap out of the Pot industry and make money with fees, licenses etc.
Closing down registries will lose millions for states so not sure they will go for it. Having said that, less cops having to waste time on registrations, address checks and stupid fake stings would put more cops on the roads / patrol solving / stopping real crimes.
Who would you rather have locked up? A Car jacker who beat an old lady or someone who was one day late registering?
Not so sure about that. Abolishing the registry would actually save states multiple tons of money, but proposing it would be political suicide. Very few politicians (i.e., anyone whose living depends on elections, including judges) are willing to risk their livelihood to do what’s right or makes sense.
In SC the registrants pay a yearly fee to the state to maintain it and the Judges are appointed and not elected
This is great news and a DEFINITIVE answer to prayer for those of us here in SC!
Maybe is me, but we are talking about Florida here. Here is like trying to understand the interactions of Quantum Mechanics in relation to Space and Time inside a Black Hole. I don’t see much effect because the state will do whatever the state wants to do with little federal oversight unless the SCOTUS rules something different and we all know how that one goes. I am not being pessimist, I just do agree with Dustin, the stakes for a politician to accept that the registry is unconstitutional is mind-blowing high and with the current political climate, I highly doubt there will be any difference during the rest of our lives. My hopes rest in the SCOTUS, if they rule that the registry is illegal and unconstitutional, then everything changes, in the interim, Florida will never change the status of their fattest money making cow just to please a segment of the population they clearly hate and despise. So what that leaves us?…in reality?…nothing….just keep hoping and dreaming…at least, hoping and dreaming will not land us in jail and/or prison.
Manny
By the state I guess you mean Ron Desantis ? He seems to do what he wants without caring what anyone else thinks. He has already said he is running for President in 2024. I hope he does and loses, then he will be out of a job.
Alright! Now how do we get the Feds on board with this so that when we relocate out of corrupt Florida (and take all our money with us) we no longer have to mess with this foolishness? Or how will this affect our efforts here at getting justice out of this corrupt state?
Oh wait, I just read it, you should have led with this. It was ruled PUNITIVE.
The circuit
court held SORA’s lifetime registration requirement is punitive under the Eighth
Amendment and violates Respondent’s rights to due process and equal protection
CherokeeJack
The way I read it they didn’t say the registry was punitive but that that being on it for life was. But personally I don’t see that there is any difference.
David
Sorry that is what I meant to type, you are correct, for life part. Sorry about the overlook
The only way that would help other than just giving people some minimal due process rights is it South Carolina did not previously require you to register for life. Then you have an ex post facto possibility. But I suspect that South Carolina has always been lifetime registration. Like Florida
DavidM:
For the court to rule something to be Cruel and Unusual Punishment they would, by rule and definition, have to have found it to be punitive.
It’s this same line of logic that continues to give me hope with cases like Snyder because to find something to be ex post facto punishment a court must first find it punitive. That fact then makes it nearly impossible for the current law(s) as adjudicated to stand because it/they are no longer part of a “non-punitive regulatory scheme.”