4-23-2014 California:The California Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to review a lower court's ruling striking down sex-offender restrictions in Orange County that were among the strictest in the state.
Lower court ruling was People v Godinez which the DA appealed but the high court has refused the appeal leaving Godinez controlling the issue.The move means that local bans in dozens of California communities are trumped by state law, as the 4th District Court of Appeal found in January.
"We're obviously disappointed," Susan Kang Schroeder, chief of staff for Orange County's district attorney, told City News Service. "We put our heart and soul in every brief and every argument to protect the children of Orange County from dangerous sex offenders. ... We still believe it was the right thing to do."
Orange County's restrictions passed in 2011 barred offenders from parks and beaches unless they had written permission from the sheriff.
But in 2012, a county court overturned the misdemeanor conviction of a sex offender, Hugo Godinez, for going to a company picnic at a Fountain Valley park and asked the appeals court to rule on the case and the legality of the regulations.
The appeals judges found that the rule conflicts with laws passed by the state that already provide a "comprehensive statutory scheme regulating the daily life of sex offenders."
On the urging of Orange County's district attorney, several other localities passed similar measures. Many of them were also facing legal challenges and one, Lake Forest, has already repealed its rules.
The Sheriff's Department had already stopped enforcing the law in response. ..Source.. by Sacramanto Bee.com
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