Would you have taken the plea had you known… ?
One of the comments that irritates me the most is “well you should have thought of that before you…”.
It was once said to me by a police officer who had just denied every single one of the proposed residences on the list I provided her because it ran afoul of their city’s residency restriction. It had been my third list of more than a dozen rentals, generated after my third trip going around the city with a realtor trying to find a compliant place to live that didn’t look like it was too close to a “place where children congregate”. I was quickly realizing the effort was pointless, because EVERYWHERE was too close to a school bus stop or place where children congregate. As I pleaded with her for guidance because I was days away from being homeless. She just looked at me and said, “well you should have thought of that before you looked at what you did.”
No, actually, I couldn’t have though about the residency restriction because it didn’t exist until years after my offense. At the time I took my plea, nearly 20 years ago, it was completely unforeseeable that someone would come up with that! Had I known that every year the screws would be tightened and new restrictions would be added to the list, I would have never taken my plea.
Which brings us to a poll (which you can answer by clicking on the “Yes” or “No” below). Results will be shared after we have collected a meaningful sample.
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i took a plea as the lawyer said hey would add additional charges and the feds would prosecute at well
plea = 3 years probation or face 20 years in prison min.
here is the kicker when i was 18 i shot the moon and was given a fine for open lewdness, 12 years later when i was accused the state seen that and thought where there was smoke there is fire lazy high priced lawyer did not get the records from the other state with details about that 🙁 lawyers are crooked!!! cops are crooked!!!
That’s a big NOOOOO FOR ME…
Regarding the poll…yes I would take the plea bargin knowing what would be in my future. My offense was against my daughter and I did not want to cause more harm by bringing her into a trial. Second, although she did not want me to go to prison, I could not risk the DA notching another mark on her gun.
The injustice and trampling of our constitutional rights seems a lot like a compressed spring. Somewhere along the way the spring will push back. It cannot happen soon enough as each day the collateral damage potential grows. My relationship with my wife, primary victim daughter and secondary victim daughter has been healed and restored. Before I was off probation, I was asked by my primary victim daughter to walk her down the aisle when she married.
The potential damage now hangs over the heads of a grand daughter and 3 grandsons that one day will find out their “Papa” whom they love, inappropriately touched their mother or aunt. I am old now and with the internet, not even my death will spare these innocent ones the hurt when they learn that truth.
Hell No I would have fought it. When I took the plea there was no public shaming list or anything else. I only took the plea, not because I was guilty but because I was being made an example of and being threaten with a year in prison and I had a 2 yo son and a paraplegic wife who needed me.
I answered yes because not taking my plea would have resulted in my case being kicked back up to the Federal level rather than being kept at the state. There, I was looking at a 5 year minimum federal prison sentence vs. a 6 month sentence, served in a county work-release program.
That said, I am lucky enough to live in a state (Washington) that imposes very few requirements on a Tier 1, low-level registrant such as myself. I likely will never move to another state knowing that I will face much tighter restrictions than I have now if I were to do so.
That is a variable that the Poll doesn’t account for. Someone in Florida who has to worry that Lauren Book will sponsor a bill that can take their children from them is probably looking at this much differently than someone in a rational state.
Is that even something that could be done?
@Joseph, I am curious to know if I left Floriduh and moved to Washington State, would I be under the same requirements you are or would they be worse? Would possession of CP (no intent to distribute) be considered Tier 1 there? And what are your requirements?
True story i never viewed the material downloaded on my computer it was marked normal porn according to my attorney who told me to take a plea because Florida was cracking down on anything involving people under the age of 18. i took the plea the judge said because i did not view the material and it was all downloaded in a 2 day period(for which i worked most of those 2 days) i was to get probation and she (yes the judge was a female saying this) put on my court documents no victims under the age of 18 and took away half of the restrictions most RSO’s have. Now that doesn’t make a difference because the city itself makes their own ordinances for anyone who is registered whether the judge says you can live there or not. had i known any of this i would have taken it to the judge directly or a jury and lived with that decision but because of an inept attorney i took the plea. Living like an RSO in today’s world is not living at all. They keep saying things will get better for us but every time i see another article or news cast its about how they are making life harder for us and not providing any protections at all
I took the deal because of several factors 1st my attorney told me since I’ve never been in trouble before and law enforcement contacted me first I would probably get probation for cat fishing them because I thought it was a individual cat fishing me I’m thinking it’s normal probation but then the state ass wipe says she’s pushing for the maximum 5 years. My attorney said she wouldn’t budge so I let the judge decide. I was out of prison in less than 1year followed by 3 years of the probation nightmare but what burns me up the most is when the judge ordered me to the registry I asked my mouth piece how long do I have to be on it then he tells me it’s mandatory and for life. Then I find out they don’t have to inform you of that little tid bit of information would help greatly in decision making. Life is a long time for a made up crime with no victim
Not only is it a long time but it is also clearly overkill and cruel and unusual punishment even by the most conservative definition of the term!
Bottom line is that we are modern 1st world UNTOUCHABLES who are “allowed” to live in the society but excluded from the vast majority of it.
We are living examples of what the ruling class can do to a regular citizen. We were created (the sex offender status) by them to maintain fear in the general population and illustrate the extent that the government literally owns you and can destroy you if they decide to do so.